Wall Street $100 Million Man Makes Vermont Downton Abbey

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-12/wall-street-100-million-man-makes-vermont-downton-abbey.html


Andrew J. Hall, now chairman and CEO of Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s commodities-trading unit Phibro LLC, and his daughter Emma Hall, stand for a photo during a fundraiser at Sotheby's in New York.

Andrew J. Hall, the former Citigroup (C) Inc. oil trader whose pay package of about $100 million ensnared him in the fight over compensation at bailed- out banks in 2009, is selling handmade lavender soap and grass- fed Angus beef from a farm in Reading, Vermont.

Hall, now chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)’s commodity-trading unit Phibro, has bought more than 2,400 acres in Reading, according to local real estate records. He has torn down at least half a dozen homes in the 666-person central Vermont town and opened an appointment-only art museum there last year. His holdings, including Newhall Farm, are valued at more than $13.8 million, the records show.

“Look at the rest of the world, it’s going to hell in a wheelbarrow, and he’s trying to keep a little section of Vermont the way it was,” said John Mitchell, a former town auditor.

Hall’s impact on the 251-year-old town, a four-and-a-half- hour drive from New York City, shows what Wall Street pay that attracts Washington’s attention can buy. While Mitchell called Hall’s work in Reading “wonderful,” more than a dozen other residents said they were less sure, citing razed homes, the lower tax rate Hall pays on some of his land and a dispute with a next-door neighbor over power lines.

[cali]

1. Grrr. just what VT needs.

Not. This guy belongs in prison for at least 20 years.

[global1]

2. How Long Before He Turns Vermont Into A Red State?.....nt

[cali]

4. Really? You think one asswipe can turn VT into a red state? Uh, no.

Fuck, AIG owns Stowe and pretty much always has. Is Stowe a red town? No. The Rockefellers pretty much own Woodstock, VT, and have for a very long time. Is Woodstock a red town? No.

[HiPointDem]

6. can you explain the sense in which aig owns stowe and the rockefellers own woodstock?

[cali]

9. sure. owns as in owns re Stowe Mountain Resort

STOWE, Vt. — Troubled insurance giant American International Group has sold Stowe Mountain Resort to a subsidiary, ending more than a year of uncertainty about the future of the Vermont ski area.

Chartis, formed last summer by AIG, acquired the resort Dec. 31. Terms weren't disclosed.

AIG, which received about $182 billion in federal bailout money last year after nearly collapsing, said in May that it was taking offers on Stowe in a bid to divest itself of non-
core assets. Two months later, AIG spun off its property casualty and general insurance business to the new subsidiary.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/ski/2010-01-07-stowe-mountain-resort-sold_N.htm

In other words, AIG sold Stowe Mountain to... itself. And you own Stowe Mountain and you pretty much own the town.

<snip>

His attachment derives from a fact unrealized by much of the outside world: The resort is 100% owned by AIG (nyse: AIG - news - people ). The insurer, which is struggling to survive even after receiving a $150 billion government bailout and ceding 80% ownership to the American taxpayer, has invested $200 million in the project thus far but needs to spend another $200 million to finish it.

Stowe Mountain makes few mentions of its corporate parent on its Web site, and it is next to impossible to find mention of the resort on AIG's site. AIG's most recent annual report is no more forthcoming. The word "Stowe" is not to be found and there's only a single line in the SEC filing that reveals the insurer's 100% ownership of Mt. Mansfield Company--the official corporate name of the ski resort.

<snip>

The relationship began when AIG's founder, Cornelius Vander Starr, visited the ski town for the first time in 1943. Six years later, Starr launched the Mt. Mansfield Company, which he owned until he sold it to AIG in 1970. AIG owns one of the two mountains at the resort, while the other is leased from the state of Vermont. Many of AIG's highest ranking executives built and bought homes in Stowe. Some chose to retire there.

<snip>

http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/20/aig-stowe-vermont-biz-wall-cz_cc_1120stowe.html

<snip>

Much of Woodstock's charm comes from its benefactor, the aforementioned Rockefeller, who died in 2004. The town's famous resort, the Woodstock Inn, with a Robert Trent Jones golf course, spa and fitness center, was once part of his RockResorts chain, but he moved it into a charitable trust, along with Suicide Six, the town's ski area. Rockefeller's donations also led to the recent creation of Vermont's sole national park (Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park), a five-minute stroll from Main Street.

<snip>

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/secondhomes/2008-06-12-woodstock-quechee-vermont_N.htm

[HiPointDem]

10. thanks.

[mainer]

3. So ... he's preserving farmland and he's a bad guy?

I'm not sure about why everyone's so upset about him, aside from the fact he has money and has spent some of it accumulating 2400 acres, which he's now farming. If instead he'd developed it and sold off the lots for houses, would that make him better?

Here in Maine, we call the organization Farmland Trust (which essentially does the same thing) a liberal hero.

[cali]

5. He's not just a bad guy. He's one of the worst. Read up on him.

And his "efforts"- which include buying up houses and razing them so he has an unimpeded view are NOT fucking needed here. You have the Farmland Trust which was established in 1999. Vermont has been doing this and much, much more for 35 years. http://www.vlt.org/

There's Act 250, an environmental court which is part of the VT judiciary.

Vermont is the greenest state in the country. http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/vermont-rated-greenest-state-in-us-west-virginia-the-worst.html

Vermont has done more for land preservation than any other state. And it's been doing it for nearly half a century.

We sure as fuck don't need this disgusting piece of dog shit criminal.

[Mopar151]

7. There are plenty of well-to-do Vermonters who conserve and preserve

They are not trying to make a billionaire's theme park - you know, the one without poor people and their pitiful struggle to make a living spoiling the views and breaking the precious silence.

[cali]

8. yes there are, but unlike Hall they aren't criminals of the worst kind.