NatGeo’s engaging miniseries captures the chaos of creation during the late 1990s dotcom boom in Silicon Valley and highlights the danger investors still face when desire trumps diligence
It’s hard to say whether Michael Fenne, the most infamous CEO of the early Internet era, was actually as darkly charming in real life as he is portrayed by actor Steve Zahn in Valley of the Boom, the miniseries aired on the National Geographic Channel.
One fact was never in dispute during perhaps the most epic personal injury trial ever slugged out in a California courtroom: Kylie and Blaine Asam had watched helplessly as flames slowly consumed their family’s SUV on the Foothill freeway and burned their parents and brother to death in the early morning hours of November 22, 2009. While Blaine survived the initial crash, he would not survive the accident: he committed suicide after leaving a note that read he wanted to be with his mom, dad and brother.
Beverly Capasso was a respected and experienced health administrator in South Florida. In May 2017, after beating out several competitors she was named interim president and CEO of the troubled Broward Health system, a job that pays up to $955,000 a year.
That is when all hell broke loose.
From its earliest days, Hollywood’s pop stars and famous actors have been an irresistible target for thieves, hustlers, swindlers and scam artists hoping to siphon off some of Tinsel Town’s vast wealth.
Industry analysts are projecting that 2017 will be a banner year for start-ups. But while venture capitalists are poised to unleash a tidal wave of cash into promising new businesses, dreaming of hitching their wagon to the next unicorn, it remains to be seen whether professional investors will have learned any of the hard lessons of the past decade.
After 50 years of providing investigation services to clients across the country, Searchers has been acquired by Sapient Investigations, one of the premier business intelligence firms in the nation today.
Searchers founder Lee Beck, the legendary investigator whose clients ranged from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to the Recording Industry Association of America, chose Sapient Investigations as the inheritor of his professional love and labor.
The University of Southern California’s Pat Haden fumbled the hiring and firing of head football coach Steve Sarkisian. Was it because he failed to conduct proper due diligence?
As a former NFL quarterback, Pat Haden has faced his share of tough spots. But in October 2015, as the University of Southern California’s Athletic Director, Haden peered out at the assembled media and it must have looked more grim than the fabled ‘silver and black attack’ of the Oakland Raiders.
(The following story is a factual account of an investor’s efforts to enforce a civil judgment. Names have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of the investor.)
On a crisp January morning in 2014, in a ramshackle motel room not far from Pismo Beach, California, Ryan Pound watched the lukewarm, fetid water of the bathtub slowly change color as crimson clouds billowed from the veins he had opened in each arm.
What was racing through the mind of Emad Tawfilis on March 16, 2015 as he ran for his life through the Napa Valley vineyard in which he had invested more than $1.2 million? Shot and bleeding, Tawfilis frantically dialed 911 to report his estranged business partner was pursuing him in a Toyota SUV, gunning the engine as he moved in for the kill.
The legal marijuana business is booming. With medical marijuana laws and pot decriminalization sweeping across the country – voters in Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia approved ballot measures in November’s mid-term elections – observers project that over the next five years annual cannabis industry revenues in the U.S. could mushroom to more than $10 billion.
But despite the apparent evolution of marijuana from pariah to legal golden goose, investing in the marijuana business can still be the equivalent of a bad trip.
