Guess co-founder facing ruin. Lawsuits against employees backfire

[Liberal_in_LA]

Rags brought riches to Guess co-founder Georges Marciano, but now he faces ruin

Convinced that some employees stole from him, Marciano initiated lawsuits that backfired when a judge instead ordered him to pay the accused employees hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.


A knowledgeable guide might have gone on to describe Marciano as a classic American success story -- a poor immigrant who amassed a fortune through hard work and business savvy. The guide might have noted Marciano's two other palatial residences on Sunset Boulevard, his Boeing 737, the art collection boasting works by Marc Chagall and Ed Ruscha, the cellar of priceless wines, the homes in Utah and France, and his self-financed if little-noticed campaign for governor.

These days, there is no reason for the buses to stop. The Ferraris are gone. Creditors have laid claim to Marciano's assets. The gubernatorial campaign is dormant, and the great man himself has disappeared.

"I do not know where Mr. Marciano is residing at this time," his spokeswoman conceded recently.

Marciano, 62, cannot blame his troubles on a Ponzi scheme or the mortgage meltdown. He is poised to lose an empire worth as much as $500 million because he is convinced that some employees stole from him.

That his own accountants and law enforcement agencies found not a cent missing has not dissuaded Marciano from persisting in what he calls "a crusade" to prove the allegations. It has been thus far a losing battle.

Lawsuits that Marciano initiated to recover assets backfired when a judge instead ordered him to pay the accused employees hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Marciano, the design prodigy credited with introducing the world to acid-washed denim and jeans as high fashion, was portrayed during the proceedings as a man unhinged from reality. Reeling from an acrimonious and bitter divorce, he binged on pain medication, pursued women barely out of their teens and, ultimately, made paranoid accusations about those closest to him, according to allegations in court papers, transcripts of testimony and reports by a sheriff's investigator

A self-made man has become, in the eyes of many, a self-destroyed man.

"I do believe it's tragic," said R. Rex Parris, an attorney who represented some of the employees who won libel judgments totaling $425 million against Marciano last summer. "He surrounded himself by people who wouldn't tell him that he was being a jerk, and as sufficient time went by, he started to become disconnected from the world."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-marciano15-2009dec15,0,6182167.story

[xultar]

1. Easy come, easy go.

[corpseratemedia]

2. i guess the acid washed jeans came back to bite him

[Gman2]

3. Man goes pschyzo, so they take all he has. Is this man suffering physically?

Do they even bother to determine whether he is all there? And if he is not all there, can they impoverish him? I am not comfortable with this.

[onethatcares]

4. how does this compare to the Tiger Woods epoch?

or the Hulkster?


425 mil isn't gonna hurt this guy, he'll show up on the front page of some rag at the supermarket in no time.

sheeesh, healthcare is important, wars are important, assholes that try to justify their monetary losses by claiming theft by employees only reflect what they would do.

Peace