Chapter 17
Crazy Eddie wasn’t so crazy after all
Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it.
Stephen Leacock (1869–1944)
Sam Antar, a qualified CPA and today a reformed criminal, used his accounting skills to commit one of the largest frauds ever committed by a professional accountant. Nowadays Antar runs his own website, which starts with perhaps one of the most curious and fascinating introductory sections that you will ever see. I have produced it verbatim below:
My name is Sam E. Antar. I am a convicted felon, former CPA, and former Chief Financial Officer of Crazy Eddie, Inc. During the 1980s, I helped mastermind with my cousin Eddie Antar and Uncle Sam M. Antar (co-founders of the company) one of the largest securities frauds of its time. Crazy Eddie Antar was coined by US Attorney Michael Chertoff as, ‘the Darth Vader of Capitalism.’ This securities fraud cost investors hundreds of millions of dollars, cost many people their life savings, cost many people their jobs and careers, cost creditors hundreds of millions of dollars, and many people’s suffering that cannot be measured. I was the government’s key witness in both the criminal and civil prosecutions. I also fully cooperated with all civil plaintiffs in the prosecution of their claims. I make no excuses for my criminal conduct. Nor should I receive any praise for my cooperation.
I take full and complete responsibility for my actions and apologize to ...
