The Six Degrees of Separation was a Pulitzer prize winning drama about a young man pretending he was Sidney Portier’s son to impress an affluent family. It spun off the probably better known salon game of movie trivia, the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but basically, the scenario played out on Wall Street recently, with Carl Icahn in the “role” of Portier.
Charles Lewis 84, a former executive at Lehman Brothers, which went under during the financial crisis, promised a couple that he would give them a 15% return on $860, 000 by putting it in his buddy old pal Carl’s magical (and imaginary) “Icahn bank.” Even before he made up the whopper about his closeness with the famous hedge fund manager, Lewis inspired confidence because he writes a financial newsletter called “The Lewis Letter.”
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Albert L. Jacobs and his wife are suing Charles Lewis for $1 million for losing their money. Lewis has promised to repay, according to the New York Post, as long as he doesn’t have to admit that he lied about being Carl Icahn’s friend (this condition, however, seems tantamount to an admission, but whatever).
Jacobs 75 thought things seemed a bit fishy, contacted Carl Ichan who said there was no “Icahn bank” and he had never heard of Lewis (apparently not even through his emails, but why would Carl Icahn need someone else’s investing advice?). Lewis’ attorney says his client, “refuses to acknowledge a fraud.”
