Were you worried there wasn’t going to be an update to the pettiest story of all time? Worry no longer. Here’s a quick recap for those of you who haven’t been keeping score, which seems ridiculous to us since this story is about shrubs, but whatever, that’s your journey. Anyway, Goldman Sachs MD Marc Spilker wanted to widen his path to the beach at his house in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, his neighbor, Kynikos founder Jim Chanos had a problem with this, since his row of hedges would have to be taken out in order for Spilker’s family to be able to “maximize their beach enjoyment.” Spilker cited a deed that said he could have 15 feet, Chanos produced one that said otherwise. Then this week they went to court to negotiate; Spilker claimed to only want a few feet (i.e. 6-7), Chanos gave it to him and asked for it to be put in writing.
The (soon-to-be-promoted?) Goldman Sachs employee apparently then had a change of heart, re: abiding by the terms of the agreement, and yesterday afternoon decided he’d rip down the remaining hedges on Chanos’s property. Oh, and new neighbor Stevie Cohen, who shares the path to the beach, has thrown his support to Spilker.
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 3:24PM
levin speaks german...interesting...
Posted by Baruch Singer , Jun 27, 2007 3:27PM
Mazel Tov boys!!!!
Posted by anon , Jun 27, 2007 3:28PM
Chanos is being persecuted because he's short-only.
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 3:57PM
is this german?
DB's coverage of this story is real pulitzer material. more compelling and even less important than options backdating
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 4:02PM
the tag's german, idiot.
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 4:20PM
oh, didn't see the tag. take it easy there guy.
Posted by jt , Jun 27, 2007 4:22PM
didn't spiker mow down the hedges 2+ weeks ago, or was that picture totally photoshopped?
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 4:24PM
two weeks ago spilker knocked down a portion of the hedges, yesterday he knocked down the rest of them
Posted by jt , Jun 27, 2007 4:28PM
ah, i didn't get to walk down further lane yet today, thanks.
and is it me or given the info presented, spiker has no right to infringe on chanos hedges (although i guess whether he infringes on his hedge fund is another story)
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 4:30PM
I thought he just moved them? Please clarify the details this important market moving event.
Yeah d-bag read the friggin tags ya moron! C'mon who doesnt read the tags? For pete's sake.
Posted by Bulging Bracket , Jun 27, 2007 5:41PM
JT: er, that's the point of the fight. Whose document controls? Chanos' "save the hedge" from the 80s or Spilker's "15 feet ROW" from the 50s?
Fighting with the neighbors sucks. What's weird is that neither of these two are lawyers or doctors. Business people tend to be more rational, but these two are too used to the fawning praise of there poisitions and don't deal with equals often enough.
Posted by , Jun 27, 2007 8:56PM
Now that the hedges are torn down, Chanos can now build a brick wall along the property line. Try tearing that down.
If Spilker has the right to widen the path, why is only Chanos' property being targeted? How come the fenced area to the right isn't affected? Should Spilker have the right to also tear down the fence?
Posted by Hedley Lamarr , Jun 27, 2007 11:20PM
Why can't we have news stories like this all the time?
Posted by anon , Jun 27, 2007 11:34PM
That lane really is quite narrow with those hedges there. If they were my hedges I would volunteer to relocate them further into my property. But then again I'm a rational person who is neither a banker nor a 100% short fund manager.
Posted by jt , Jun 28, 2007 1:45AM
chanos should just man up and short spiker already, or at least just send bulldozers over to mow down his house
Posted by Anon , Jun 28, 2007 7:02AM
Chanos does come out better in this than Spilker, doesn't he? They could have worked this out in court slowly, methodically, and with respect. But the jerk Spilker chose to make an enemy of his neighbor because he wants what he wants when he wants it, and he wants it yesterday. The jerk should be fired from Goldman Sachs. He's as bad as the creepy judge/lawyer in D.C. who sued the drycleaners for millions of dollars.
Posted by LippyTex , Jun 28, 2007 8:27AM
Well, the GS guy's career is probably over. GS isn't a fan of this sort of publicity. But, there's always LTCM I guess.
Posted by , Jun 28, 2007 9:10AM
Considering he was just promoted to head of all of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, I view that as highly unlikely LippyTex.
Posted by , Jun 28, 2007 9:31AM
it's actually not confirmed that spilker was promoted, just a rumor.
Posted by , Jun 29, 2007 1:27AM
Goldman is taking property a la Kelo? Wasn't Kelo also about prime beach property?