Dead Financiers "TELL NO TALES!" Finn Caspersen/James S. McDonald

September 16, 2009
Suicide Victim Finn Caspersen May Have Hidden Millions Abroad
By LYNNLEY BROWNING

He seemed, in many ways, like a man from another time, a Gatsbyesque figure who glided through a world of old money, private clubs and pedigree horses, his family name emblazoned on Ivy League halls.

Then, in an instant, he was gone — his privileged life ended, by his own hand, with a single gunshot to the head.

No one can know exactly what Finn M. W. Caspersen, a prominent philanthropist and the heir to the Beneficial Corporation fortune, was thinking when he decided to take his life on Labor Day. Although Mr. Caspersen, 67, was battling kidney cancer, his suicide shocked his family and friends.

But Mr. Caspersen, a patron of Harvard and Princeton who gave away tens of millions of dollars to charity, apparently harbored a secret: He was suspected of dodging many millions in federal taxes. The authorities, it seemed, were closing in.

At the time of his death, investigators were building a case against Mr. Caspersen on suspicion of using secret offshore bank accounts to evade taxes.
-snip-

As the inquiries continue, the names of more well-to-do people are likely to come to light. Those who have hidden money offshore face a difficult choice: They have a week to turn themselves over to the Internal Revenue Service or gamble that they will not be caught. The I.R.S. is offering amnesty to those who disclose their offshore holdings by Sept. 23. After that, offenders could face criminal prosecution.

The Caspersen case centers on bank accounts in Liechtenstein, which, like Switzerland, is a leading offshore haven. The I.R.S. learned that Mr. Caspersen held an account at LGT, the private bank controlled with Liechtenstein’s royal family, according to the person close to the investigation. Liechtenstein pledged last December to disclose the names of some wealthy Americans with bank accounts there, but it was unclear if Mr. Caspersen’s name was among them or how the I.R.S. learned of any account in his name.
The questions are unlikely to end with Mr. Caspersen’s death. His family was associated with Beneficial, the consumer lending giant, for most of the 20th century. Mr. Caspersen ran the company for 20 years before selling it to Household International in 1998 for $8.6 billion.

-snip-

According to the person familiar with the investigation, federal authorities recently placed liens on the personal trusts of Mr. Caspersen’s four sons, Finn M. W. Caspersen Jr., Erik M. W. Caspersen; Samuel M. W. Caspersen; and Andrew W. W. Caspersen.

Like Mr. Caspersen, his sons are graduates of Harvard Law School, where the Caspersen Room houses rare books, documents and artwork. Last year, Mr. Caspersen pledged $30 million to Harvard Law, the largest single donation in the school’s history.

Henry Christensen III, a lawyer for Mr. Caspersen’s sons, declined to comment.

People who knew Mr. Caspersen characterized him as larger than life. Lawrence E. Bathgate II, a New Jersey lawyer who is a former national Republican Party finance chairman, came to know Mr. Caspersen when Thomas H. Kean first ran for governor in 1981. He said the governor’s backers wanted to make a splash when he won but were hampered by restrictions on how much they could raise for inaugural events.

Nonetheless, Mr. Caspersen made one black-tie party memorable by arranging for an antique wooden carriage, led by four matched horses, to bring the departing governor and the incoming governor to the party at the governor’s mansion on a cold winter night in 1982. The footman was in period costume, as was the man who held four reins by the hand.
Mr. Caspersen, an accomplished equestrian, was the driver, Mr. Bathgate said.

-snip-

Shortly before his death, Mr. Caspersen placed his estate and nearby land in Westerly on the market for $10.9 million and began to step back from various philanthropic efforts.

He unexpectedly resigned from the Dean’s Advisory Council at Harvard Law School — he was in the class of 1966 — and quit as chairman of the board of the Peddie School, the prep school in Hightstown, N.J., from which he graduated in 1959.
He also resigned from the town commission in Jupiter Island, Fla., where he lived, and quietly stepped down as the chairman of the Hodson Trust, a foundation that has awarded $210 million in scholarships and was established by his ancestor Clarence Hodson, the founder of Beneficial Loan Society, later the Beneficial Corporation. But friends said Mr. Caspersen never spoke of his troubles. His friend William B. Warren was a guest in Mr. Caspersen’s Rhode Island house only days before he took his life. “He was cheerful,” Mr. Warren said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/business/16suicide.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1253110225-FmPlWnChjj7EMZI1SDXlkQ
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James S. McDonald, CEO of Rockefeller & Co., dead in apparent suicide at 56
Sam Gustin
Sep 15th 2009 at 10:40AM


James S. McDonald, the CEO of money-management firm Rockefeller & Co., died Sunday from an apparently self-inflicted wound. McDonald, who also sat on the board of the NYSE Euronext, the giant stock exchange, was 56 years old. In a statement obtained by the Wall Street Journal Monday night, Barclay McFadden III, who called himself a friend of McDonald's family, said McDonald "took his own life," and said the family would have no further comment.

McDonald's apparent suicide came less than one week after Finn M. W. Casperson, the former chairman and CEO of Beneficial Corp. and another prominent financial figure, was found dead from a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head near his own home in Westerly, Rhode Island.

The circumstances surrounding McDonald's passing were still unclear Tuesday morning, though he is believed to have taken his own life in New Bedford, Mass. Reached by DailyFinance, a detective with the New Bedford police department was unable to provide further details.

Colin Campbell, Chairman of Rockefeller & Co., which began as the "family office" of legendary industrialist John D. Rockefeller, issued a statement saying, "Jim McDonald was an exceptional individual who provided strong leadership of Rockefeller & Co. for over eight years. He will be missed by all of us privileged to have known and worked with him."

McDonald had been CEO of the New York-based Rockefeller & Co., which was originally founded in 1882 to manage the assets of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller and his family, since 2001. Today, the firm has some $28 billion under management for clients that include foundations, endowments, and private investors. Rockefeller & Co. doesn't disclose the performance of its investment portfolio.

McDonald graduated from Harvard University and earned a law degree from University of Virginia. Prior to joining Rockefeller & Co., he ran Pell, Rudman Trust Co. in Boston. McDonald was also chairman of the Japan Society in New York.

Richard Adamonis, a spokesman for NYSE Euronext where Mr. McDonald had served on the board of directors since 2003, issued the following statement: "The NYSE Euronext community mourns the loss and offers our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Jim McDonald, an outstanding and accomplished individual who served our capital markets and NYSE Euronext with great commitment and integrity."

more at.......

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/09/15/james-s-mcdonald-ceo-of-rockefeller-and-co-dead-in-apparent-su/

:shrug:

Remember when the s*** first hit the fan 18 months ago, and there were a splattering of spectacluar suicides? Most were in Europe, where AIG and Lehmans had the biggest footprint, but then it all stopped when Paulson pummelled Congress into submission?

Well, even the blackmail of Congress is wearing off. The rubes are wondering where their jobs went. The pressure is mounting, and the clownish criminals, who believed all the rescue and green shoots are finding that Reality can only be avoided with the massive application of money, wheich they haven't got any more.

End of circle.