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Money, sex and the city: How powerful men fall
By John Gong |
May 21, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MONEY and sex are the two perpetual reasons that drive men's hormone levels high.
It always baffles me to see those men in high places who seem to have it all, I mean those so-called alpha males who are still greedy enough to grab a bit more.
More money and more sex.
And it is usually this bit more that pushes them over the cliff edge, lands them in trouble, and in some cases, makes them cross the legal boundary, resulting in the total destruction of their lives and their loved ones.
Two scandalous events in New York City last week attest one more time to this observation.
First, about money.
Raj Rajaratnam could have been the man that makes me feel ashamed of myself. Instead, the shame is all on him. Born and brought up in Sri Lanka, he arrived in the US not so many years before I did.
We both followed the usual model by which immigrants pursue American dreams - seeking high education first. He went to Wharton for a MBA, and I went to Texas for a PhD.
Two decades later, he was running the world's largest hedge fund, the US$7 billion Galleon fund. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at US$1.8 billion, putting him in 236th place among the richest Americans in 2009. About the same time, I returned to China from the US with a bag of, well, a few journal publications.
I am still proud of myself though after all these years, but let me be honest: I would have a little sense of shame in myself upon reading about Rajaratnam's self-made billions, if what happened next never occurred.
Classical greed
It's a classic example of greed triumphing over intelligence. Last week, a 12-member jury in Manhattan convicted Rajaratnam with 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.
The biggest insider-trading case ever busted in the US reveals a history of Rajaratnam's trafficking in insider tips provided by a web of contacts at the top tier of American business going back many years.
Next, about sex.
On May 15, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the 62-year-old head of the International Monetary Fund, was taken off the first-class cabin of a Paris-bound flight, and detained by the New York Police Department on sexual assault charges.
The grey-haired Frenchman allegedly lunged at a hotel chambermaid, dragged her around his US$3,000-a-night hotel room in Manhattan, caveman-style, and attempted to force her into performing oral sex for him.
Come on! French politicians are known to be serial seducers, and French voters usually do not bother them much.
Playing fire
But if the guy can afford a US$3,000 a night hotel room, can't he just wait until going back to his native home in France to address his sexual needs, instead of playing fire with the American justice system?
Who does he think he is that he can get away with this kind of reckless debauchery in a country where the first lesson during corporate orientation sessions for new employees is usually about workplace sexual harassment?
The sordid and tawdry details of Strauss-Kahun's case will line the tabloids in New York City many pages over in the next few days.
Conspiracy theories take no time to brew hot. Yet one thing good about the American justice system is that no one is above the law, even people in high places. Yes, money can buy sex, and love maybe, but it can't buy justice.
The two cases naturally lead my imagination to similar scenarios in China.
There have been quite a few prosecutions of high-profile insider-trading cases in the last few years.
The Huang brothers, the majority owners of the Gome electronics retail chain, were sent to jail partly due to insider-trading.
The former mayor of Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, Li Qihong, has also been indicted for insider-trading.
Both are examples of good prosecutorial work for which I thank the law enforcement in bringing these rogue traders to justice. But my guess is that there are many more rogue traders out there still taking a free ride. And they need to be brought to justice.
On sex, China has a long way to go. China still doesn't have a sexual harassment statute, and many men in powerful positions get away with occasionally or habitually harassing women in the workplace.
Let's just imagine if Strauss-Kahun groped a chambermaid in a hotel room in Beijing.
This hypothetical case inevitably boils down to picking sides between his words and her words.
Would the Beijing police department believe a menial laborer instead of an IMF president who looks so dignified? Would the Beijing police department have the audacity to arrest him in the presence of an abundance of evidence?
These are good questions, but I don't have the confidence to give straightforward "yes" answers.
(The author is an associate professor of economics at Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics. His e-mail: johngong@gmail.com)
It always baffles me to see those men in high places who seem to have it all, I mean those so-called alpha males who are still greedy enough to grab a bit more.
More money and more sex.
And it is usually this bit more that pushes them over the cliff edge, lands them in trouble, and in some cases, makes them cross the legal boundary, resulting in the total destruction of their lives and their loved ones.
Two scandalous events in New York City last week attest one more time to this observation.
First, about money.
Raj Rajaratnam could have been the man that makes me feel ashamed of myself. Instead, the shame is all on him. Born and brought up in Sri Lanka, he arrived in the US not so many years before I did.
We both followed the usual model by which immigrants pursue American dreams - seeking high education first. He went to Wharton for a MBA, and I went to Texas for a PhD.
Two decades later, he was running the world's largest hedge fund, the US$7 billion Galleon fund. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at US$1.8 billion, putting him in 236th place among the richest Americans in 2009. About the same time, I returned to China from the US with a bag of, well, a few journal publications.
I am still proud of myself though after all these years, but let me be honest: I would have a little sense of shame in myself upon reading about Rajaratnam's self-made billions, if what happened next never occurred.
Classical greed
It's a classic example of greed triumphing over intelligence. Last week, a 12-member jury in Manhattan convicted Rajaratnam with 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.
The biggest insider-trading case ever busted in the US reveals a history of Rajaratnam's trafficking in insider tips provided by a web of contacts at the top tier of American business going back many years.
Next, about sex.
On May 15, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the 62-year-old head of the International Monetary Fund, was taken off the first-class cabin of a Paris-bound flight, and detained by the New York Police Department on sexual assault charges.
The grey-haired Frenchman allegedly lunged at a hotel chambermaid, dragged her around his US$3,000-a-night hotel room in Manhattan, caveman-style, and attempted to force her into performing oral sex for him.
Come on! French politicians are known to be serial seducers, and French voters usually do not bother them much.
Playing fire
But if the guy can afford a US$3,000 a night hotel room, can't he just wait until going back to his native home in France to address his sexual needs, instead of playing fire with the American justice system?
Who does he think he is that he can get away with this kind of reckless debauchery in a country where the first lesson during corporate orientation sessions for new employees is usually about workplace sexual harassment?
The sordid and tawdry details of Strauss-Kahun's case will line the tabloids in New York City many pages over in the next few days.
Conspiracy theories take no time to brew hot. Yet one thing good about the American justice system is that no one is above the law, even people in high places. Yes, money can buy sex, and love maybe, but it can't buy justice.
The two cases naturally lead my imagination to similar scenarios in China.
There have been quite a few prosecutions of high-profile insider-trading cases in the last few years.
The Huang brothers, the majority owners of the Gome electronics retail chain, were sent to jail partly due to insider-trading.
The former mayor of Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, Li Qihong, has also been indicted for insider-trading.
Both are examples of good prosecutorial work for which I thank the law enforcement in bringing these rogue traders to justice. But my guess is that there are many more rogue traders out there still taking a free ride. And they need to be brought to justice.
On sex, China has a long way to go. China still doesn't have a sexual harassment statute, and many men in powerful positions get away with occasionally or habitually harassing women in the workplace.
Let's just imagine if Strauss-Kahun groped a chambermaid in a hotel room in Beijing.
This hypothetical case inevitably boils down to picking sides between his words and her words.
Would the Beijing police department believe a menial laborer instead of an IMF president who looks so dignified? Would the Beijing police department have the audacity to arrest him in the presence of an abundance of evidence?
These are good questions, but I don't have the confidence to give straightforward "yes" answers.
(The author is an associate professor of economics at Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics. His e-mail: johngong@gmail.com)
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