Lawsuits, poker and the death of a boutique bank
(Reuters) - In September 2008, as Lehman Brothers was breaking into a million pieces, a young investment bank was pushing up through the rubble.
Pali Capital, a boutique firm specializing in derivatives and fixed-income trading, was one of the few financial outfits hiring traders and bankers -- often from the likes of imploding Wall Street
Edge cardbehemoths like Lehman and Merrill Lynch.
With its annual revenue on pace to top $200 million that year, Pali appeared to be an oasis of prosperity. Rodin sculptures adorned its offices and a corporate jet ferried its executives around the world.
The key to Pali's success was its charismatic co-founder and chief executive, Bradley Reifler, a master salesman who was as good at wooing clients as he was at spending money -- his own as well as the firm's. He sometimes commuted to work by helicopter from his sprawling horse farm in upstate New York.
But last month, Pali itself shattered. The firm said it was winding down after failing to sell itself to a group advised by former Bear Stearns Chief Financial Officer Sam Molinaro.
The bank's swift demise surprised industry observers. As with many firms that suddenly fail, not everything at Pali was what it seemed.
For all his enthusiasm and charm, Reifler had a combative side. Most conspicuously, he had a tendency to sue, launching at least a dozen lawsuits against people and companies over the last 10 years.
Reifler's spokesman said he declined to comment and Bert Cohen, Pali's other co-founder, could not be reached and his lawyer did not return calls. But interviews with more than 10 former employees of Pali and Reifler and examination of 11 lawsuits paint a picture of a man who spent freely and had few qualms about going to court if he felt threats to his control.
According to former employees and people who reviewed the company's financial statements, Reifler's penchant
Edge card for litigation helped destroy the bank he spent so many years building.
