'Ace' In The Hole - Banking Legend Accused Of 'Harassment'
A breathless Gasparino broke the 'story' live Wednesday on CNBC (although the story doesn't appear to be on its website). It seems one of Charlie's reliable sources have told him (after all this time) that one of the last acts Greenberg's successor Jimmy Cayne did as CEO in late 2007 was to pay $2m to get rid of claims from a Bear female salesperson, who apparently alleged that Greenberg, 81, was involved in some form of 'inappropriate touching'. She is said to have had a witness. The money is said to have made the prospect of a lawsuit go away.
Writing in The Daily Beast', Gasparino says that he spoke to 'Ace' about the allegations, who, while not denying that the payout was made, called them 'ridiculous' and 'bullshit'. Charlie says that Cayne, who was once Greenberg's protege but later became his bitter enemy, elected to pay what was basically 'hush' money as he was fighting to save his firm at the time, and had no wish for any bad publicity or distraction.
A former Bear Stearns employee told Here Is The City: 'Ace touching someone up ? Look, he may be an old man, but he ain't a dirty old man! This is laughable. Ace is a legend!'.
Greenberg continues to ply his trade as a broker at JPMorgan, where he is a vice chairman. He rocks up most days, and has been working for Bear (and its successor organisation) for almost 60 years.