https://markets.businessinsider.com...assidy-ventures-yomi-rodrig-2021-6-1030556449 ========= In 2015, what 63-year-old Yomi Rodrig thought was a quick meeting in a parking lot to explore opportunities at Goldman Sachs turned into a six-day nightmare during which he says he was held hostage, stolen from, and almost killed. It was a Thursday evening in a suburb of Paris when the Swiss trader was meant to meet someone who worked for the investment bank, a meeting arranged by his acquaintance, Arnaud Mimran. As Rodrig stepped out of his car, he said a man claiming to be Mimran's driver approached him and asked him to get into a vehicle. Minutes after they drove off, the car stopped. "All of a sudden, the two doors opened," he said in court, Bloomberg reported. "Four people grabbed me in the car and said 'French police.'" He said the men, wearing ski masks, threw him into a van and ordered him to lie on the floor. "They told me 'you're going to trade for the next 45 minutes. You have to buy about $16 million in shares via Morgan Stanley until New York trading ends,'" Rodrig recalled. "'Do this and you'll get out alive in an hour; if not, you're dead.'" Rodrig said he was ordered to buy shares in Cassidy Ventures, which at the time he did not know had been acquired by Mimran. The Swiss trader said he quickly called his broker in New York to buy six million shares at $2.60 each. Rodrig received a call back. "They told me 'Yomi, we can't take the order because never in your whole life have you made such a bizarre trade, it doesn't fit your profile,'" the Bloomberg article reported. The kidnappers then resorted to making him buy just one million shares the next day, he said. Strangely, the alleged leader of his kidnapping, Sabir Titouh, was murdered days after the initial kidnapping. With no one in charge, Rodrig was released. "When they freed me they told me 'you were programmed to be killed but you're very lucky,'" the Bloomberg article reported. The 'trap' The alleged kidnapping, according to Rodrig and French investigators, was actually a trap set by Mimran to extort the Swiss trader. While Mimran did not deny setting up the meeting, he maintained he had nothing to do with the kidnapping. He also admitted to knowing Titouh. Mimran, it turned out, needed cash. At that time, he was in debt to several friend and had also had his accounts seized, according to investigators. The 49-year-old French socialite was used to a life of luxury as a former wealth manager. He even told the court he could spend roughly $600,000 a month. He married the daughter of a multi-millionaire, hired American rapper P. Diddy for his son's bar mitzvah, and socialized with the inner circle of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rodrig, it is speculated, may have been a prime candidate for kidnapping due to his own personal wealth. But according to the Swiss trader, while he was at one point worth around $96 million, he was worth around $11 million when he was kidnapped. Now, years later, Rodrig's lawyers said only around $760,000 of the $2.6 million of shares bought were recovered. Rodrig also said he now realized Cassidy is just an empty shell firm listed on a Canadian exchange. Mimran, meanwhile, is currently in custody after being charged in April for the murders of his father-in-law as well as an accomplice in a fraud involving carbon credits. =========
Right from the start I would be curious if I am to talk to someone about a position at Goldman, why are we not meeting at Goldman?
OTR chats are common in every industry. When I'm looking for a client or a job I don't usually use job boards I use my network. So it's not uncommon for me to meet for coffee/beers/food somewhere and discuss the company OTR to feel out if they're worth anything. This also lets me get a candid view inside the company that I'll use to set my rate (enterprises pay big $$$ for developers, start ups generally will not). This guy meeting somewhere secluded to discuss a company does not strike me as strange at all. That being said I probably wouldn't get in the car with someone I just met.
Having been an employee on Wall Street and an employee and employer off Wall Street in the "real" world, meeting in a parking lot is faaaar from typical IMO.
This maybe bravado , but once it felt like a kidnapping I wouldn't have got in the van(2nd vehicle) , I would rather be shot , you only have to look at what happened to Getty , plus if they are willing to shoot you , they're probably capable of torturing you , I'm going to die sooner or later , I'd rather it not be by torture , once kidnapped your life chances are slim.
Wouldn't have changed a thing. He would've still be driven to that public place and would've still be kidnapped during the process. What he should've done is refuse to get into a car of a stranger.
One of the most bizarre kidnapping stories I have ever heard. Sounds even too bizarre to be made up. Never heard of kidnapping somebody just to buy some shares when they could've done it themselves even through an anonymous shell company which they already have and they could've kidnapped anybody to buy shares, why kidnap somebody rich to do it when they weren't even going to ask for ransom?? LOL And then murdering the lead kidnapper and then freeing the hostage because there is no leader??!! That is so fcked up!! If this is made up, whatever he is smoking needs to be made public. What I think what happened was he bought the shares of the Cassidy Ventures himself and is not able to sell them to recover his investment so he made up this bizarre story of kidnapping to show his shares were bought in coercion to try to get them back.