O'Reilly Doing Devastating Expose on Cantor Fitzgerald Tonight

The O'Reilly Factor/Fox News | truthkeeper

[truthkeeper]

Did anyone watch O'Reilly's opening segment? He's exposing an awful story concerning the shabby treatment of surviving family members of Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm that lost 700 of the 1,000 employees in the attack on the towers.

His guests were one of the widows, Linda Fiori, and a writer named MacDonald of Forbes Magazine. The firm CEO, Howard Luttman (not sure about the pronunciation/spelling, maybe someone can correct), has been all over the airwaves crying and carrying on the past couple of weeks about how he is desperately trying to help the stricken families. (I personally saw him on Larry King a couple of weeks ago sobbing away.) The man has been begging for business and donations, saying he's pledging 25% of future business for the families. He presented them as a close-knit, devoted, and caring group; "we're like a family here."

Mrs. Fiore, however, revealed that she has never been contacted by Luttman, even after she called his house and spoke to his wife (or possibly the maid; in any event she was told "I'll have him call you back."). She hasn't received a dime of money from Cantor Fitzgerald, and not one person from the firm came to her husband's funeral, even after she sent the obituary to them. Furthermore, O'Reilly revealed that all paychecks had been stopped four days after the attack. It doesn't look like any money is forthcoming, not even the bonuses these people already earned. Mrs. Fiore was desperate, and said she's been entirely dependent upon her family and neighbors who have been giving her money. She stated, "I don't want a handout from Cantor Fitzgerald...I just want a pamphlet or information stating what they will be doing about the money." (My paraphrasing.)

O'Reilly was plainly disgusted. He asked the writer what kind of man this Luttman was, and her response was not very flattering. She said he took control of the company while the previous owner, Bernie Cantor, was dying. She added that, as a result, he was banned from his funeral. O'Reilly: "Okay, I'm getting the picture about this guy."

I can't tell you how bad this story made this Cantor Fitzgerald CEO look. You'd have to see it for yourself...it's quite an eye-opener. (Watch the rerun.)

[truthkeeper]

Headlong, Luttnick put himself into this position with his nationwide pledges to "take care of the families" monetarily and his asking for money contributions to his firm's foundation. IF he's not following through (or explaining to the families why he can't), he's either a fraud or he can't manage his own firm's money.

THANK YOU. You get the gold star for figuring out the point of my post.

I guess I should have let you write it. ;-)

[mommadooo3]

Back when hurricane Andrew blew through S. Fla, there was a MASSIVE outpouring of monies to help the victims. Most of the monies were sent to places like the Red Cross.

We later came to find out that the monies donated were NOT ALL sent to the victims. Red Cross decided to send a small percentage and KEPT the rest. Their reason? They wanted to keep it in case it was needed for any future emergencies.

Hubby and I will NEVER again donate to Red Cross. It's one thing to collect money in their fund drives. But when people give them money for a SPECIFIC reason, and it DOESN'T make it to the intended recipients, that's down-right dirty.

[poweqi]

I was under the impression that he had life insurance and the company would'nt pay off.

[Howlin]

But Laz never buys ANY...........LOL.

[Keith]

"Sigh, how can people become desperately broke so quickly? "

If the accounts were in his name, she doesn't even have a death certificate yet..these people are in deep sh*t when it comes to getting wills and trusts kicked into gear...

[habs4ever]

So, they offer a discounted present value, and Cantor match the rest immediately? Does that sound reasonable?

[Andrew Byler]

he lost his brother and his business...how is he supposed to make payroll when the employees are all dead??

LETS AT LEAST GIVE THE GUY A FAIR HEARING

Well, his brother is dead, but his company certainly isn't. Here's a < a href="http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.050198/680429.htm">profile from a couple years ago. He lost about 30% of employees, and his headquarters office.

A fair hearing here has already shown that his business got right back up and running, with trading resuming on Thursday after the attack. He certainly ought to be able to meet payroll and bonuses due. The Cantor website promises these are to be paid by 1/1/2002.

[DCPatriot]

You all sound like a bunch of crybaby Liberals.

WHAAAH!!!

There is no more Canter-Fitzgerald. They, like everyone else in the WTC, are no more.

Where in the hell is the money supposed to come from to continue to make these unfortunate survivors "feel" like their economic world hasn't taken a direct hit.

This is BS! SH*T HAPPENS, folks.

[truthkeeper]

The question is not whether the company should take care of the families for life. There is obviously no duty to do so. The question is whether this man is committing fraud by having people send in money under false pretenses. (I don't know the answer to that question.) If he is asking for donations, or business, under false pretenses, then he is potentially guilty of a crime. That's all there is to it.

Another gold star. You're right...simple, isn't it?

[COL. FLAGG]

Why is it responsibility of this company to take care of these people's families

It may not be the responsibity of the company to take of the families, but it would be the decent thing to do.

I don't know how Lutnick can sleep at night. Can you imagine being worth in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 million and NOT using at least 10 to 20 percent of that fortune to do what you can to help YOUR employees? I'm sure many of the seven hundred Cantor employees who perished were not wealthy traders and brokers, but rather people in support and admin positions who were basically middle class.

Take a look at the Cantor Fitzgerald website. On 12 SEP 01, Lutnick, in a press release, stated the following:

"We are fully committed to providing our employees and their loved ones with the tools to cope with this unprecedented tradegy."said Howard Lutnick, Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and eSpeed. "We are all feeling the devastation of this incredible loss and will join together to cope at this terrible time."

[cynicom]

innocent.....

Your language and your demeaner are both indicative of your character, thus it goes well with your posting on this thread.

[Alberta's Child]

Amen. I knew a contractor who told me that the people who paid him the fastest were the ones with the least money, while his wealthiest clients took forever and a day to pay.

[Alberta's Child]

I see. Something doesn't seem right here. I wonder if these problems are the result of Cantor Fitzgerald's insurance company having some financial difficulties.

[SuziQ]

In my opinion, this woman is doing a disservice to all the families of the 700+ souls of the Cantor Fitzgerald employees still lying under the wreckage of the WTC. For goodness sake, it has only been 3 weeks, and the man is trying to put his business back together. Presumably all the records of his company are lying with his dead employees, so he's had to start from square one. Does this woman ever want to see any money? I assume she does because she's been all over bad mouthing the guy. But in order to provide for the families, he's got to get the business going again.

He may be a real SOB for all I know, but to come out on TV and start dissing the guy is just crappy! Maybe she just wants the guy to fail, I don't know, but he sure can't help her or the other families if his business isn't making any money, and going around spreading stories about him is not going to help him much around town, now is it?

I posted about this on a thread last night, but doesn't this woman have any money to fall back on? Can she sell her late husband's car? She may have to change the lifestyle to which she had become accustomed; she won't be the first widow to have to do so. And she shouldn't expect Mr. Luttnick to foot her bills forever; she's going to have to make her own way in the world. What if her husband had died in a traffic accident on his way home from the job. Would she STILL be looking to Mr. Luttnik to help her out? Surely she and her husband MUST have made some arrangements in case of his sudden death, if he had been the family breadwinner.

I just think it is tacky and somewhat of a calumny to be claiming ill intentions of him all over the airwaves.

[bluefish]

Take a look at the Cantor Fitzgerald website. On 12 SEP 01, Lutnick, in a press release, stated the following: "We are fully committed to providing our employees and their loved ones with the tools to cope with this unprecedented tradegy."said Howard Lutnick, Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and eSpeed. "We are all feeling the devastation of this incredible loss and will join together to cope at this terrible time."
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And yet everybody here is convicting him of "fraud" b/c he didn't time warp to September 10th and personally put a million dollars in each account of the family members of those who would be killed the next day!

[Mo1]

I didn't say a thing ... I just thought it ... ok ...

[culpeper]

That whole story about Luttnick making a power grab for the firm is a load of bull. Luttnick's parents were both killed when he was a kid and he was raised by Bernie Cantor himself as if he was his own son. Bernie put him to work at the firm after college and the guy was a star. Everyone there knew Luttnick would eventually run the firm anyway. Bernie's wife was just pissed that she didn't have a say in running the firm, although she was still a partner. I know this because five friends of mine were partners there and I was one of Cantor's largest customers at the time. As far as not shelling out any cash right now, the company was obliterated. The brokers there made the money for the firm, they are gone, the office is gone, they have zero cash flow. A firm like Cantor Fitzgerald doesn't operate off of a large capital base because they don't need to, they don't take positions they are just middlemen. Luttnick basically has to rebuild the whole company.

[Sungirl]

$7 million and that his net worth was in the high tens of millions. Does he really need more?

And the CEO of one of the airliners made $12 million LAST YEAR Alone....I brought it up and was ridiculed in here. I think it is outrageous how much money these figureheads make!!

[writmeister]

I missed that part. However, I cannot see relying on what my employer gives me to protect my family. Of course, what my employer gives me probably wouldn't cover funeral costs. But that is there choice to offer and my choice to accept.

[lawgirl]

I agree with you HLL. A lot of what this guy said was said RIGHT after the tragedy, and you can promise the sun and moon and then when your lawyers get a hold of you and the accountants....I am sure it is not a pretty picture.

And for those of you whining about how much this man has--so what! Are you a bunch of socialists? He has no obligation to pay anyone out of his money.

As for this widow--I am sorry for you,but don't go on TV whining and bitching about a non-legally binding promise you got from someone. PLUS--what about the $$$$$ the Red Cross is giving out?? Last week they said each family would be getting $18,000 to last them the next 3 months. THAT IS $6,000 A MONTH!!!!!!!!!! I am sorry, but know what??? If my husband gets hit by a bus tomorrow, I don't get anything and if I didn't do the right pre-death financial planning, too damn bad for me. $6000 is what my husband and I bring in every THREE months, and I don't think these people should open their mouths- if they are living beyond their means I have no sympathy for them. It sounds to me like they will be doing VERY VERY well from this tragedy, plus their kids will be going to school free, blah blah blah blah. 500 million raised "for the families"-sorry people but that translates to a LOT of cash when you split it among 6000 families---these people will be doing JUST fine, and none of the rest of us that are hit by tragedy everyday are going to get anything like that.