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Bear’s Puff Daddy: WSJ says Cayne liked the ganja
It’s no secret that Bear Chairman and CEO Jimmy Cayne likes to unwind playing lots of bridge and golf.
But like a college sophomore after a week of finals, he reportedly enjoys smoking weed to relax the nerves.
Buried in the Wall Street Journal’s retelling of Bear’s hedge fund meltdown this summer, is an account of Cayne, back in 2004, smoking reefer in the john of a Memphis hotel.
According to the Journal:
“After a day of competitive bridge at a Doubletree hotel in Memphis, in 2004, Mr. Cayne invited a fellow player and a woman to smoke pot with him, according to someone who was there, and led the two to a lobby men’s room where he intended to light up. The other player declined, says the person who was there, but the woman followed the septuagenarian Mr. Cayne inside and shared a joint, to the amusement of a passerby. ”
Mr. Cayne denied emphatically that any such wacky weed incident occurred. “There is no chance that it happened,” he said. “Zero chance.”
If the allegations are true, maybe that explains how Cayne was able to stay so relaxed during the crisis this summer? (C’mon, we’re just kidding here…)
In an unrelated matter, legendary marijuana man Tommy Chong, of the 70s comedy stoner duo Cheech & Chong, bunked with “Wolf of Wall Street” author Jordan Belfort at California’s Taft Correctional Facility. Belfort, who was serving time for stock fraud, writes in his book that he was a prime brokerage client at Cayne’s Bear Stearns.
Not that DealZone would endorse marijuana smoking, but hey, life on Wall Street can be stressful, right?
(With reporting by Tim McLaughlin)
(Photos. Top, Cheech & Chong www.allposters.com
Middle, Cayne. Below, Belfort.
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Why would Deal Zone not endorse marijuana smoking? Its better than drinking alcohol. Alcohol is a drug that kills thousands each year while marijuana has never killed anything other than a few brain cells.
The better point is that Cayne has been shooting 18 with Maury Povich. I doubt the two of them are hashing out a business deal, though they would make a great TV special together:
http://www.starkmanassociates.com/index. php/2007/11/05/bear-stearns-jimmy-cayne/
[...] Cayne took what he could before the deal faces potential reviews by Congress. The transaction could still fall apart and take the stock to zero. Cayne will be long gone then, back to playing bridge, golfing, and allegedly smoking pot. [...]
Of course stress, even without a doubt.