Little more than a year before he was criticized for breaking ranks with regulators for being the first to accuse Standard Chartered of laundering Iranian money, Benjamin Lawsky, New York’s top banking official, was insisting on his own brand of justice at a charity carnival game.
Bloomberg reports that in May 2011, just after he learned New York’s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo would nominate him to head the state’s fledgling Department of Financial Services, Lawsky brought his young child to the St. Mark’s fair in New Canaan, Connecticut, one of the New York area’s wealthiest suburbs. The event attracts local luminaries such as musician Paul Simon and hedge-fund managers and their families from nearby Greenwich. Stephen Roach, then Morgan Stanley’s non-executive chairman for Asian operations, served as a volunteer cashier at the food concession.
Lawsky’s child approached a shooting gallery, which rewarded the best marksman with a selection of colorful stuffed toys. It soon became clear to Lawsky that the weapon his child had chosen was a dud, and that a different gun seemed to win every time, no matter who was at the trigger.
Rather than take the easy path of placing his child at the sure-fire rifle, Lawsky pointed out the imbalance to the game’s operator, who fixed it.
After another go, Lawsky and his child left the booth in the company of a plush animal.
Hit the link below to access the complete Bloomberg article:
Standard Chartered Nemesis Has History as Strict Enforcer
The Billionaire's Apprentice
The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess
