BikeNow Inc. Seeks 2 Million
BikeNow Inc.
Headquarters: Boston
Employees: 3
Founded: 2008
Web: www.bcycle.com
E-mail: amytrus@gmail.com
Phone: 301-461-6170
The Pitch: BikeNow is seeking funding to buy and install its technology, pay its staff and market its product.
Bike Now Boston www.bcycle.com
PITCHING THE TECHNOLOGY
BikeNow’s product is an automated bicycle-share program for the Boston area, which it positions as a Zipcar Inc.-style service for bikes.
Users would swipe a card at a solar-powered station and ride off on one of the company’s bikes.
The company says it was formed in response to a city of Boston request for proposals for bike-sharing programs and is modeled on Paris’ Velib bike-share program. The startup plans to roll out 1,500 bikes at 150 locations, translating to 9,000 rides a day.
BikeNow plans to generate revenue through subscriptions, helmet sales, rental fees, sponsorships and advertising on bikes and stations.
PITCHING THE PEOPLE
Who is on the management team? Amy Trus, Jeff Dang and James Sinclair, co-founders.
Have executives been involved in a cashout prior to this venture? No.
Who is on the board of advisers? Erik Molander, entrepreneurship professor at Boston University and former director of CSX Transportation Inc.; Ben Morris, owner, Boston Pedicab Inc.; Cambridge city councilman Craig Kelley; and Mark Williams, finance professor at BU.
PITCHING THE BUSINESS
How much money is being sought? BikeNow is seeking $2 million.
What partnerships, collaborations or affiliations are already in place? The startup says it’s partnered with B-cycle LLC — which supplies its technology — Trek Bicycle Corp., health insurance company Humana Inc., and advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
List any federal or state grants, contracts or awards received: BikeNow was a finalist in the BU $50K Business Plan Competition.
What’s the market size being pursued? BikeNow says it expects to attract about 2.4 percent of the 900,000 people living in Boston, Brookline and Cambridge — 22,000 people — and 200,000 tourists in its first year.
Who are the likely competitors, direct or indirect? BikeNow competes with corporate bike share programs, bicycle ownership, public transportation and car ownership.
Is the company profitable? No.
Margaret M. Greer, Smith Barney Financial Advisor, Waltham, MA, Arrested
After airport arrest, driver apparently trolled Craigslist for witnesses
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
The posting on Craigslist by a user named “Matron” appeared at 3:59 a.m. on Monday, just hours after a high-powered Wellesley portfolio manager had been released from police custody following an explosive parking altercation with a state trooper at Logan International Airport.
Margaret M. Greer |
Matron described herself as “a middle aged lady driving a silver van” and explained that she had, “an altercation with a Mass State Cop outside terminal B around 8:15 pm.”I am seeking witnesses who were there and saw the State Trooper bang on my car and try to get through my door,” Matron wrote in a posting that was deleted this afternoon following this story’s publication on Boston.com. “Several State Police cruisers pursued me and arrested me on the Mass Pike. Please help me, if you saw this event.”
The description nearly matches the arrest Sunday night of the portfolio manager, Margaret M. Greer, who is accused of hitting a trooper with her side mirror, driving at him so he had to run backward for 15 feet, and dragging him for a short distance as she drove away. The one exception: Greer’s “silver van” was a silver Mercedes Benz ML320 sport utility vehicle.
There is no definitive evidence that Greer used the alias Matron and trolled Craigslist for witnesses who saw her dispute with the trooper. Greer did not respond to a message yesterday seeking comment. Her attorney, Carol Ann Starkey, declined to discuss or confirm “anything about any discussion that occurred on the Internet.”
“Mrs. Greer is taking these allegations very seriously,” Starkey said. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our own side of the story. It doesn’t mean that we don’t strongly refute what the government’s recitation of the facts has been to date. We are going to let our facts unroll in a courtroom, not in the court of public opinion.”
Authorities confirmed that they are scrutinizing the Craigslist posting and the string of responses that followed.
“Prosecutors are aware of the postings and are examining them for any potential connection to our Logan Airport case,” said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.
If Greer did post the solicitation on Craigslist, she did not uncover any witnesses — or sympathy — in cyberspace.
“You fled the police?” wrote a user with the name “justanotherpost.” “I am sorry but just by what you have written here, I would suggest you give up looking for ‘witnesses’ to bolster some kind of entitlement you seem to think you have, and, instead, cooperate with the police as much as possible to straighten the mess you have gotten yourself into.”
A poster named “golf22″ chimed in: “I’m sure the District Attorney appreciates your help in rounding up witnesses to testify against you as to the several illegal actions you took.”
And Mr_Twister added: “We’ll all be ‘VERY’ happy when the judge throws the book at you.”
Matron defended herself, saying she was “blocked in by a bus on one side, and cars parked in front of me, and behind.” The chase on the turnpike “was slow speed, and required five state cruisers,” Matron wrote, “I was freaked out and traveling at 50.”
When the posters turned nasty — and one recognized the story from the news — Matron sharpened her rhetoric.
“Wake up people, you are being controlled by a government who thinks they can do anything … When has it become a crime to pull up to the curb to pick up your husband at the airport? Oh, in a bus lane?” she wrote. “I am very disappointed at the antipathy I have received from this forum. I thought the craigslist community was more empathetic and dedicated to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
A lecture followed.
“Why did the State Police come after me?” Matron wrote. “Because it’s so easy! The same reason that the IRS audits every pizza parlor owner in town, but never audits Enron Corporation. The same reason the SEC audits all those you know who are registered brokers, but never audited Bernie Madoff. Why do the police logs in your town fill up with teenagers and immigrants? Because it’s easy for the cops to pick on these helpless people, and so much more difficult for them to go after the really hard criminals. I am distressed that you cannot see this. Please do not think you are holier than me, because you are not.
“When it happens to you, I hope I can be there to support you.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Airport dust-up got nasty, trooper says
Motorist in SUV accused of assault
Perhaps you’ve been there, idling in front of an airport terminal hoping your family member or long-lost college buddy appears before the approaching state trooper shoos you away. Margaret M. Greer was told to move along Sunday evening as she waited for her husband at Logan Airport, but police say she didn’t go quietly – and ended up in court because of it.
Greer, a portfolio manager from Wellesley, allegedly lowered the window of her Mercedes Benz ML320 SUV just an inch when the trooper, Sergeant Danial Wildgrube, approached and told her she would have to move because she was obstructing traffic in a bus lane. Greer merely pointed to a nearby vehicle and told him to take care of that motorist first, Wildgrube said in his report of the incident. He said he repeated the demand, but she shut her window and ignored him.
What ensued before shocked onlookers was a protracted confrontation in which, court papers allege, Greer nearly ran the trooper over as she repeatedly drove out of reach, only to be chased down by the trooper as he tried in vain to wrest Greer from her car.
“I’m not stopping the car! Get away from me,” Greer shouted repeatedly, according to one witness, George Kaniwec.
Greer, 57, was charged yesterday in East Boston District Court with assault and battery on a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, and failure to stop for a police officer. Her lawyer, Carol Starkey, entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf, and Greer is to return to court May 13 for a preliminary hearing.
“Mrs. Greer is a highly respected member of the community and has pled not guilty to all allegations,” Starkey said later. “There are two sides to every story, and we strongly contest the facts as presented by the Commonwealth and look forward to presenting our side of the story. It’s very upsetting and traumatizing to her. . . . Anyone who has picked up or dropped off anyone at the airport may understand there’s two sides to the story.”
Wellesley Town Clerk Kathleen Nagle said Greer served two terms on the five-member elected School Committee, from 1995 to 2000, and served from 1995 to 2003 as an elected member of Town Meeting. Greer did not return calls made yesterday to her home and to her employer, Citi Smith Barney.
Greer’s driving record is mostly clean, with one “at fault” accident in 2004, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
On Sunday, Wildgrube’s report says, the trooper got out his ticket book after she refused to move her car and walked to the front of the vehicle to take down the license number. Then, he reported, Greer gunned her engine and sped off, clipping him with her side mirror and forcing him to leap out of the way.
Wildgrube said he yelled at Greer to stop, but she continued driving until she was stopped by traffic a short distance away. The trooper approached again, opened the driver’s-side door, and told her to get out because she was under arrest, but Greer refused and drove away again, he alleged.
Wildgrube said he caught up to her a third time as she sat in traffic in front of the terminal. He moved to the front of the vehicle and put his arms up. She allegedly hit the gas again, causing the trooper to place his hands on the hood. “She pushed me approximately 15 feet while I ran backwards fearing that I would fall under the car,” Wildgrube wrote. “All the while she was looking directly at me.”
Wildgrube said he was forced away from the car again, falling to the ground. He got up, opened the driver’s-side door, and attempted to undo her seatbelt, he alleges, but she started driving away, dragging him along.
Wildgrube said he broke free and Greer drove away, but he radioed in her plate number.
Greer was stopped by other state troopers on the Massachusetts Turnpike, near the entrance to the Copley tunnel.
Although troopers said they noticed a slight odor of alcohol on her breath and found a small glass in the vehicle containing an alcoholic beverage, they did not ask Greer to submit to a field sobriety test. David Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety, said Greer did not appear to be impaired.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said: “If a trooper asks you to move your car from a bus lane, you do it. . . . The trooper gave her every opportunity to do the right thing and she blew it. Now she’s looking at a felony charge.”
Brian R. Ballou can be reached at bballou@globe.com. 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dragged trooper: Wellesley woman smelled of booze
A state trooper attempting to shoo a Mercedes Benz SUV illegally idling in a bus lane at Logan International Airport was hit and dragged by the obstinate driver, a 57-year-old Wellesley woman, as she allegedly sped off to avoid getting a ticket.
Investment manager Margaret Greer was released on personal recognizance yesterday following her arraignment in East Boston District Court on charges of assault and battery on a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon and failure to stop for police. An automatic plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf by the court.
According to state police Sgt. Danial Wildgrube’s report, Greer had a “slight odor of an alcoholic beverage” on her breath.
Greer’s defense attorney, Carol Ann Starkey, declined to answer questions about the alleged incident, but told the Herald today her client “is a highly respected member of her community and she pled absolutely not guilty to all of these allegations.”
“There are two sides to every story,” said Starkey, “and we strongly contest the facts as presented by the commonwealth in this case. We take the allegations very seriously and we look forward to presenting our side of the story in a court of law.”
Sunday night, Greer, parked in a marked bus lane, told Sgt. Wildgrube she was waiting for her husband and rolled up her window to ignore the officer when he first gave her the option of circling Terminal B or relocating her vehicle to a cell phone lot, according to the police report.
When she allegedly refused, Wildgrube approached the Mercedes ML320 to write her a ticket. Greer allegedly hit the gas, clipping him with her passenger side mirror, the Suffolk District Attorney reports.
While she was blocked by oncoming traffic, Wildgrube opened the driver’s side door and ordered her out, but Greer allegedly drove on and shut the door, prosecutors said.
Stopped in traffic again, Wildgrube made another attempt to get Greer out, but she allegedly accelerated directly at him, forcing him to run backward about 15 feet, prosecutors said. He managed to get the driver’s side door open, but as he was unfastening her seat belt, Greer allegedly sped away with him, a report states
The trooper freed himself and broadcast the vehicle’s plate and description to fellow police, who stopped and arrested Greer on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
“I had about 60 people on my bus. They were terrified by what they saw. My legs are still shaking,” a bus driver who witnessed the alleged assault at Logan told investigators.
A Newburyport man who had just stepped off a flight from Dallas said he saw the trooper “shouting for the woman to stop” with his hands extended.
“She kept the car in gear and shouted repeatedly, ‘I’m not stopping the car, get away from me’ ” the witness told police. “Then she gunned the engine and took off.”
Prosecutors said when Greer was booked, she refused to answer questions about whether she had ingested drugs or alcohol.
They also said she denied having been at the airport, claiming instead she was driving home from her work at Merrill Lynch in Boston. Yet, according to her online profile, Greer works at Citi Smith Barney.
Reached at her home today, Greer took a business card from a reporter but declined to comment.
Greer is listed as a portfolio manager at Smith Barney’s Waltham office with a finance license in 18 states. The Harvard Business School graduate and former Wellesley School Committee member lives at 24 Windsor Road in Wellesley in a mansion with an online assessed value of $1.5 million. Her husband, Gordon Greer, also 57, is a stock broker, according to public records.
As a condition of her release, Greer has been ordered to stay away from Logan. She is due back in court May 13.
Joe Dwinell and Marie Szaniszlo contributed to this story.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1162499
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Margaret Greer – The Wicked Witch of Wellesley
http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/2009/04/wicked-witch-of-wellesley.html
“a portfolio manager from Wellesley…. a highly respected member of the community…. served two terms on the five-member elected School Committee…. and served… as an elected member of the Town Meeting”
Seems like a nice lady, right?
“troopers said they noticed a slight odor of alcohol on her breath and found a small glass in the vehicle containing an alcoholic beverage, they did not ask Greer to submit to a field sobriety test…. did not appear to be impaired”
WTF?!!!!!
As you read this account of elite excess and arrogance, ask yourself if you would receive the same treatment?
“Airport dust-up got nasty, trooper says; Motorist in SUV accused of assault” by Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | April 1, 2009Perhaps you’ve been there, idling in front of an airport terminal hoping your family member or long-lost college buddy appears before the approaching state trooper shoos you away. Margaret M. Greer was told to move along Sunday evening as she waited for her husband at Logan Airport, but police say she didn’t go quietly – and ended up in court because of it.
Greer, a portfolio manager from Wellesley, allegedly lowered the window of her Mercedes Benz ML320 SUV just an inch when the trooper, Sergeant Danial Wildgrube, approached and told her she would have to move because she was obstructing traffic in a bus lane. Greer merely pointed to a nearby vehicle and told him to take care of that motorist first, Wildgrube said in his report of the incident. He said he repeated the demand, but she shut her window and ignored him.
What ensued before shocked onlookers was a protracted confrontation in which, court papers allege, Greer nearly ran the trooper over as she repeatedly drove out of reach, only to be chased down by the trooper as he tried in vain to wrest Greer from her car.
“I’m not stopping the car! Get away from me,” Greer shouted repeatedly, according to one witness, George Kaniwec. Greer, 57, was charged yesterday in East Boston District Court with assault and battery on a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, and failure to stop for a police officer. Her lawyer, Carol Starkey, entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf, and Greer is to return to court May 13 for a preliminary hearing.
“Mrs. Greer is a highly respected member of the community and has plead not guilty to all allegations,” Starkey said later. “There are two sides to every story, and we strongly contest the facts as presented by the Commonwealth and look forward to presenting our side of the story. It’s very upsetting and traumatizing to her. . . . Anyone who has picked up or dropped off anyone at the airport may understand there’s two sides to the story.”
Wellesley Town Clerk Kathleen Nagle said Greer served two terms on the five-member elected School Committee, from 1995 to 2000, and served from 1995 to 2003 as an elected member of Town Meeting. Greer did not return calls made yesterday to her home and to her employer, Citi Smith Barney. Greer’s driving record is mostly clean, with one “at fault” accident in 2004, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
On Sunday, Wildgrube’s report says, the trooper got out his ticket book after she refused to move her car and walked to the front of the vehicle to take down the license number. Then, he reported, Greer gunned her engine and sped off, clipping him with her side mirror and forcing him to leap out of the way.
Wildgrube said he yelled at Greer to stop, but she continued driving until she was stopped by traffic a short distance away. The trooper approached again, opened the driver’s-side door, and told her to get out because she was under arrest, but Greer refused and drove away again, he alleged.
Wildgrube said he caught up to her a third time as she sat in traffic in front of the terminal. He moved to the front of the vehicle and put his arms up. She allegedly hit the gas again, causing the trooper to place his hands on the hood. “She pushed me approximately 15 feet while I ran backwards fearing that I would fall under the car,” Wildgrube wrote. “All the while she was looking directly at me.”
Wildgrube said he was forced away from the car again, falling to the ground. He got up, opened the driver’s-side door, and attempted to undo her seatbelt, he alleges, but she started driving away, dragging him along. Wildgrube said he broke free and Greer drove away, but he radioed in her plate number.
Greer was stopped by other state troopers on the Massachusetts Turnpike, near the entrance to the Copley tunnel. Although troopers said they noticed a slight odor of alcohol on her breath and found a small glass in the vehicle containing an alcoholic beverage, they did not ask Greer to submit to a field sobriety test. David Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety, said Greer did not appear to be impaired.
I think THREATENING to RUN OVER a COP is IMPAIRMENT, don’t you?
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said: “If a trooper asks you to move your car from a bus lane, you do it. . . . The trooper gave her every opportunity to do the right thing and she blew it. Now she’s looking at a felony charge.”
WHY no BOOZE CHARGE?
What, he forget!!!!?
WTF?
–more–”
Update: This lady must have been SOMEONE VERY, VERY IMPORTANT to have gotten THIS AMOUNT of PRINT in the Globe. Somebody down there know her or something?
Meg Greer
Second VP – Wealth Management, Financial Advisor
Portfolio Manager, Smith Barney Div., Citigroup Global Markets
Margaret (Meg) Greer is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and holds the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School. She joined Smith Barney as a Financial Consultant in 1997, and has thirty years of individual investing, corporate and small business experience. Meg is a frequent public speaker and has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “Good Day New York,” The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes Magazine and Money Magazine. In addition to her business success, Meg is committed to community service and education. She has served as Vice Chairman of the Wellesley MA School Committee and an elected member of the Wellesley MA Town Meeting. She has been a Board Member and Troop Leader for Patriots’ Trail Girl Scout Council, with whom she created the Smith Barney Financial Camp for Girls. Meg lives in Wellesley, with her husband, Gordon, has two grown children, and works in the Waltham, MA, Smith Barney office.”
And check out the SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHS!!
Globe:
Margaret M. Greer has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting a police officer. (WBZ-TV)
Other:
Let’s see if something (booze) is missing from the Globe report…
“After airport tiff, a plea for help on Craigslist; Witnesses sought to confrontation” by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | April 2, 2009
The posting on Craigslist by a user named Matron appeared at 3:59 a.m. Monday, just hours after a high-powered Wellesley portfolio manager had been released from police custody following an explosive parking altercation with a state trooper at Logan International Airport.
Matron described herself as “a middle-aged lady driving a silver van” and said she had “an altercation with a Mass State Cop outside Terminal B around 8:15 p.m.
“I am seeking witnesses who were there and saw the State Trooper bang on my car and try to get through my door,” Matron wrote in a message deleted, along with a rambling missive, yesterday after Boston.com published a story about the postings. “Several State Police cruisers pursued me and arrested me on the Mass Pike. Please help me, if you saw this event.”
I ALWAYS LEAVE MY STUFF UP!!!!!
The description nearly matches the alleged confrontation Sunday night involving the portfolio manager, Margaret M. Greer, who is accused of sideswiping a trooper with her side-view mirror, driving at him so he had to run backward for 15 feet, and dragging him for a short distance as she drove away. The one difference: Instead of a silver van, Greer was driving a silver Mercedes Benz ML320 sport utility vehicle.
There is no definitive evidence that Greer used the alias Matron and trolled Craigslist for witnesses. Greer did not respond to a message yesterday seeking comment. Her lawyer, Carol Ann Starkey, declined to discuss “anything about any discussion that occurred on the Internet.”
“Mrs. Greer is taking these allegations very seriously,” said Starkey, adding that Greer “strongly refuted” the accusations and had her own side of the story for ready for a courtroom.
Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney’s office, said: “Prosecutors are aware of the postings and are examining them for any potential connection to our Logan Airport case.”
If Greer did post the query on Craigslist, she apparently did not uncover any witnesses, or sympathy, in cyberspace. A poster named golf22 wrote: “I’m sure the District Attorney appreciates your help in rounding up witnesses to testify against you as to the several illegal actions you took.”
Mr_Twister added: “We’ll all be *VERY* happy when the judge throws the book at you.”
Greer, 57, pleaded not guilty Monday in East Boston District Court to charges that included assault and battery on a police officer. She is accused of closing her window and ignoring an order to move out of a bus lane from the trooper, Sergeant Danial Wildgrube.
What followed was described in court papers as a battle of wills between a trooper with a ticket book and an executive in a hulking SUV. Matron defended herself, saying she was “blocked in by a bus on one side, and cars parked in front of me, and behind.” The chase on the turnpike “was slow speed, and required five state cruisers,” Matron wrote, “I was freaked out and traveling at 50.”
When the posters turned nasty, Matron sharpened her rhetoric.
Hey, LYING ASSHOLES DESERVE IT!! They BRING IT ON THEMSELVES!!!!!!
“Wake up people, you are being controlled by a government who thinks they can do anything,” she wrote. “. . . When has it become a crime to pull up to the curb to pick up your husband at the airport?”
A rambling lecture followed.
“Why did the State Police come after me?” Matron wrote. “The same reason that the IRS audits every pizza parlor owner in town, but never audits Enron Corporation. The same reason the SEC audits all those you know who are a registered brokers, but never audited Bernie Madoff. . . . Because it’s easy for the cops to pick on these helpless people. . . .
“Please do not think you are holier than me, because you are not,” Matron continued in her posting. “When it happens to you, I hope I can be there to support you.”
Yeah, yeah, CRY ME a RIVER, lady — and THEN GO TAKE a DRINK (that was KINDLY OMITTED from the Globe’s follow-up report, imagine that).
–more–”
And the SYMPATHY does NOT STOP THERE, folks(?)!!!
The full-size pickup truck was there only seconds when the burly State Police trooper approached and blew a whistle that echoed throughout Terminal C at Logan Airport, urging the car to move.
But Paula Anderson just waited. “I was trying to get my son’s attention,” the Saugus woman said, as her son loaded his luggage into the truck yesterday. Then they were off.
Her timing was perfect. But for others, the system of picking up a relative or friend at an airport terminal can be confusing, frustrating, even intimidating.
With federal policies banning parking outside airport terminals, state troopers are quick to move cars picking up passengers who are not yet waiting by the curb with their luggage ready in carts that ironically read, “Go Ahead and Push Me.”
The question is where do you go? Drivers who do not correctly time their arrival, whether they are early or their passenger is still retrieving luggage, can expect to pay to park at a rate of $3 just to enter the lot, and $6 for those who are there for more than 30 minutes. Few know about a cellphone lot where drivers can wait at the other end of the airport.
Some choose to just drive in circles around the terminal until their passenger is curbside. Melissa McCagg of Malden circled the busy roadways three times to pick up a relative after a trooper shoed her away from Terminal C yesterday, after she was there for just seconds.
“They have been moving us constantly,” she said. “They should at least give us a minute.”
This is a “newspaper” I’m reading a reporting on?
Luis Falcon, 27, of Puerto Rico found a perfect spot away from troopers’ view in between two terminals, where parking is still prohibited but in an area that seems to get less scrutiny. Falcon, who had already been shoed away from Terminal C while waiting to pick up his aunt, was checking the rearview mirror for approaching troopers.
“They just told me I got to move,” but never said anything about that spot, he said.
David Procopio, a State Police spokesman, said the federal Transportation Security Administration prohibits curbside parking at terminals as a safety and security policy. He said troopers do have discretion in letting drivers park momentarily, letting them wait if they can see their passenger nearby or if the passenger is just grabbing luggage. Many times the decision depends on the traffic, he said.
But in today’s post-9/11 world, troopers remain vigilant, he said, pointing out cases in which people have parked their car, got out, and entered the terminal, leaving the car alone.
Did she OPINE about THAT WHOPPER of a LIE, Globe?
See why you need to FACE UP to 9/11 TRUTH, readers?
“In this day and age, that’s a red flag and something we can’t allow,” he said. “We have a job to do; one is to keep the traffic moving and, two, to keep the safety and security of the airport.” For some, the system can be intimidating, as state troopers in uniform whistle and holler at cars to move. Some see it as confusing and many as frustrating.
I’m tired of the Globe playing good cop, bad cop.
This guy was a BAD COP in the Globe’s eyes and WE KNOW WHY!!!!
State Police allege a Wellesley woman refused to move her sport utility vehicle Sunday, then drove at a trooper who tried to record her license plate number. The woman, Margaret M. Greer, 57, a former Wellesley School Committee member, faces several charges, including assault and battery on a police officer. Through a lawyer, she has disputed the police version of events and has pleaded not guilty.
Nothing about the BOOZE in the CAR, ‘eh?
Bob Cummins of Holliston has perfected the system after 13 years driving limousines. He has been frustrated by some troopers who seem a little overzealous, he said, and confused by the system of roads at the airport.
Unless, of course, they are ending the life of young Mr. Woodman.
But Cummins, who was picking up a relative yesterday, has learned to use what is somewhat of an unknown at the airport: the cellphone lot. The lot seems far from the central part of the airport and difficult to find by following signs. But it allows drivers to wait and contact their passenger for a perfect arrival.
Cummins waited with a coffee and a newspaper, then wasted no time picking up a relative who called to say she was ready. “It took me less than two minutes to get here,” he said. “When you follow the rules, it runs perfectly, it really does.”
Fidelity wants to hold your hand
As investors reel, the fund giant and others step up their advice-giving
By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | March 11, 2009
- It’s not easy peddling financial advice when people are queasy about opening their quarterly retirement account statements.
But Fidelity Investments, seizing on what it views as an opportunity in uncertain times, will introduce a three-pronged financial guidance program in an effort to reassure wary investors buffeted by the turbulent economy, the company said yesterday.
Fidelity will host more than 500 free seminars for customers and noncustomers this month at its investment centers across the country, including more than 50 at New England branches. The sessions will cover more than a dozen topics, from market intelligence to retirement road maps, promising “actionable financial strategies” for investors at different stages of their lives. Fidelity said it may extend the seminars beyond March if there’s demand.
- It also is rolling out free online calculators and other Web-based tools to help investors evaluate their portfolios. And it is launching an advertising campaign promoting its program, called Guide to Personal Savings, or GPS, a play on the acronym for the navigational system that guides drivers.
The mutual funds giant, based in Boston, declined to say how much money it will spend on the program.
“Many individuals are looking at their portfolios with a fresh set of eyes,” Kathleen A. Murphy, the president for personal investing at Fidelity, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday. Fidelity’s goal is “to make this process easier” for those people, she said.
Murphy cited research showing 83 percent of Americans have not sought financial help in the past year because they feared it would be too costly or was designed solely for the affluent.
The campaign is designed to educate ordinary investors so they can “get back on track with their finances,” in Murphy’s words, not explicitly to sell stock-based mutual funds.
- Fidelity unveiled its program on a day the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 379.44 points, or 5.8 percent, to 6,926.49 in a bounce-back rally. It was the biggest point gain for the Dow since Nov. 24.
Famously bearish investor Jeremy Grantham, chairman of the Boston investment firm Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo and Co., meanwhile, posted a commentary on his firm’s website yesterday, urging investors to start moving money from cash to stocks and suggesting stocks may now be undervalued by 30 percent.
The broad market retreat has hurt mutual fund firms particularly. More money has flowed out of stock mutual funds than into the funds in five of the seven months ended Jan. 31, the most recent period for which data are available, according to the Lipper unit of the Thomson Reuters research firm. That lowers the amount of assets fund firms manage, which in turn reduces the fees they collect. The lower revenue means fund companies don’t have as much money to reach out and give new customers financial help.
“The assets in the fund industry, like every other industry, are down, especially equity fund assets,” said Greg Ahern, spokesman for the Investment Company Institute, a mutual funds industry group in Washington. “You’re seeing the demand for professional advice increase exponentially at a time like this, not only for advice about retail funds but about 401(k)s and other retirement funds.”
- Analysts said mutual fund companies and other financial firms have stepped up their hand-holding in recent months as the market has tumbled and the financial crisis has deepened, sending out investment newsletters, sponsoring Internet seminars called “Webinars,” and having more frequent phone conversations with rattled customers.
Other firms, such as Vanguard Group and T. Rowe Price, also host free seminars, though they are usually restricted to customers, and offer their own online planning tools. “We are continually coming up with new analyses helping people prepare for retirement and manage through this environment,” said Brian Lewbart, a spokesman for T. Rowe Price, a mutual funds firm based in Baltimore.
Fidelity’s program may be unique, analysts said, not only because it is backed by advertising but because it is tailored to investors – including noncustomers – spooked by the recession. The campaign, reaching out to individual investors and employees who are investing retirement funds through managed workplace accounts, is following the playbook of businesses that seek to capitalize on bad conditions to boost their market share in downturns, they said.
- “A lot of fund firms are ramping up communications,” said Dan Sondhelm, partner at SunStar Strategies, an Arlington, Va., marketing consulting firm for the financial industry. “They’re getting more phone calls and Web hits than ever because investors are scared. But not a lot of firms can afford to invest in advertising right now when their revenue is down 50 or 60 percent” because of the stock market slump.
Fidelity said details of its program, including its interactive online calculators and the times and locations of its educational seminars, will be posted on its website, www.fidelity.com.
Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com.
An Arrest in the House of Ayer
John Doorly – John F. Doorly
John F. Doorly has been charged with stealing $20 million from the family trust of Frederick Ayer and is looking at 20 years in jail.
Authorities allege that Doorly, the 60-year-old former chief operating officer at Tenens Corp., used his position to steal funds to buy himself, his family and his girlfrends real estate, cars, three airplanes, timeshares and golf club memberships at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Fla.
Our own Francis Storrs wrote about Doorly in the December, 2007 issue of Boston magazine.
Storrs describes the fateful events on March 21, 2006 when the family fired Doorly.
His head reeling, Doorly pulled his Cadillac Escalade out of Essex Street’s driveway and started dialing his cell phone, trying to manage the pieces of a secret life that was starting to emerge. His first call was to his mistress, Sarah Hunt (a former Ayer family employee herself), who had been named in the suit as a beneficiary of his stolen money. She couldn’t believe that Doorly had been fired. Neither could Peter Broom, the guy who serviced his jet down in Florida. When Doorly reached him, it was to tell Broom not to contact him through his Essex Street e-mail address. Broom was puzzled by the instructions: He’d always assumed that Doorly was Essex Street, that the vast fortune was his own. It was a common misconception among those in Doorly’s circle, one that he worked hard to cultivate—one that he himself might even have come to believe.
A Stranger in the House of Ayer
Illustration by David M. Brinley for Boston magazine
Case highlights family office risk
Boston Business Journal – by Craig M. Douglas & Todd Wallack Journal staff
Lowell industrialist Frederick Ayer Sr. and his descendants built a $600 million fortune over more than a century. But a family confidant allegedly siphoned about $58 million away in a few years, exploiting his position with the family office that manages the estate, according to a lawsuit by the firm.
That case, being played out in the Business Litigation Session of Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, offers a rare glimpse at the inner workings of the clubby and highly guarded world of family offices, the corporate entities often tasked with managing the day-to-day operations of large family trusts and other wealthy estates. The saga also highlights a little discussed but unavoidable fact in the arena of wealth management: Many family offices are vulnerable to fraud, especially by trusted insiders.
“It’s a fear that every wealth owner has,” said John Benevides, president of Family Office Exchange LLC, a Chicago company that advises more than one-tenth of the estimated 3,500 family offices in North America.
Adds Carrie Seligman, director of U.S. Trust’s estate and financial planning division in Boston: “If a trustee is bad, fraud isn’t difficult. It’s like giving away the keys to the safe.”
In the case of the Ayers, court documents and interviews indicate the trusts may have been especially vulnerable because of the complexity of the estate, relaxed oversight and what the family claims are auditing failures.
Tenens Corp., the family company charged with managing the estate for more than 100 relatives, operated in relative obscurity for years under the name Essex Street Advisors from a woodsy, non-descript group of offices in Beverly.
But the tranquility was shattered in March 2006 when Essex Street CEO Caleb Loring III terminated a longtime employee, John F. Doorly, after learning about a suspicious transaction, according to court filings.
Within days, Essex filed suit against Doorly, accusing him of stealing millions of dollars from the family fortune — money he allegedly spent on everything from a Gulfstream jet to gifts for his mistress and family, including a luxury condo in Boston’s Back Bay for his son’s girlfriend.
Doorly, 57, denied stealing any money, insisting many of the withdrawals were used for loans and investments that are still earning money for the Ayer estate. In fact, he argues that the jet and other properties were long on the family’s books, but were simply unnoticed due to lax oversight.
Doorly, a graduate of St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, joined Essex Street in 1973, when he was a self-described computer operator. He never earned a college degree, but he eventually became the company’s chief operating officer, managing most of the company’s daily operations, including the payroll and some of the family’s investments.
But over the last 14 months, Essex Street said in the lawsuit, its forensic accountants uncovered evidence that Doorly used a variety of schemes to steal more than $58 million, far more than Essex initially thought was missing.
Even more troubling, Essex Street alleged the embezzlement began at least a decade ago without detection.
According to court papers, it appears Ayer family members didn’t identify the missing money earlier for several reasons. Among them:
- The complexity of the trust. According to the lawsuit, Essex Street maintained a network of 300 trusts for more than 100 family members, making money difficult to track.
Rather than operate as a single trust, the Ayer estate was set up as a so-called “separate shares” trust, whereby new trusts were added as the family tree grew. And each of the trusts requires trustees. But trust experts say separate-shares trusts can be complicated as the number of beneficiaries grows, as trustees often run into roadblocks when making decisions that require input from all family members.
“Some beneficiaries are very passive,” said Bob Holdway, a vice president with Fiduciary Trust in Boston, speaking generally. “As a good trustee, you try and reach out to them. But there are always some who are used to running on auto pilot.”
- Inadequate oversight. Doorly testified that Loring, the CEO, and other trustees were rarely in the office, leaving Doorly to manage the operation largely on his own.
“I would be the first one in, last one out, seven days a week averaging 70 hours doing my work as well as work that should have been performed by Caleb Loring III,” Doorly said in his sworn affidavit.
A Loring associate, speaking on the condition he not be identified, said the characterization is unfair.
- Auditing failures. Although Essex hired outside auditors, it appears they didn’t catch the missing money. Essex accused one auditor, Vitale Caturano & Co., of following Doorly’s instructions to ignore many of the accounts, leaving Essex Street vulnerable. Vitale said it did what it was hired to do.
Essex has sued Vitale and others in the case to try to recoup the missing money. But it has saved most of its ire for Doorly, calling him in a prepared statement a trusted employee who “abused that trust by looting the family’s cash accounts to enrich himself.” The family also vowed to pursue any parties who benefited from or aided the alleged theft.
Benevides says there are a number of safeguards families can put in place to protect themselves, including annual audits, strong internal financial controls and the screening of new hires. His firm’s research indicates that nearly three-quarters of its members had audits in the last two years, though audits can vary widely in scope.
But Benevides warns: “As any auditor will tell you, if someone has the intent to defraud, it is very difficult to detect.”
Essex Street has recovered around $9 million in cash and real estate from Doorly and Doorly-affiliated entities, according to court filings. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel recently ruled that Doorly defied a court order to disclose and freeze his total income and assets. Doorly has since been forced to roll hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash into an escrow account.
It’s unclear, however, how much more Essex Street will be able to recoup. As of January, Doorly said he had an annuity worth $1.4 million, a time share at the Ritz Carlton in Jupiter, Fla., and two Cadillacs and a Jaguar. He also has claimed that Essex Street’s accounts hold around $2.5 million of his money.
Meanwhile, his personal life appears to be unraveling. Earlier this year, Doorly’s wife of 34 years, Maryjane Doorly, divorced him after learning through court filings that Doorly had a mistress. And as of a few months ago, John Doorly, who now lives in Peabody, was unemployed.
Meanwhile, the office of U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan has issued a number of subpoeanas as it investigates the matter, a person directly involved in the case said.
Craig M. Douglas can be reached at cdouglas@bizjournals.com. Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@bizjournals.com.
U.S.: Exec John F. Doorly jetted off with $20M from Ayer trust
A Topsfield man has been charged with stealing $20 million from a family trust and spending it on Gulfstream jets, a waterfront condo in Florida, golf club memberships and girlfriends.
John F. Doorly faces up to 20 years in jail on multiple counts of mail fraud and money laundering arising from an alleged scheme to defraud more than 100 descendants of 19th century industrialist Frederick Ayer, according to the indictment filed in District Court by U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.
Ayer and his family built a $600 million fortune over more than a century. The Ayers include descendants of World War II hero Gen. George Patton, who married into the Ayer family in 1910.
Authorities allege that Doorly, the 60-year-old former chief operating officer at Tenens Corp., used his position to steal funds to buy himself, his family and his girlfrends real estate, cars, three airplanes, timeshares and golf club memberships at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Fla. Doorly was fired in March 2006 after the company said it learned of his alleged scheme.
In a separate civil lawsuit, the Ayer family alleges Doorly engaged in “systematic looting” of $57 million from the trust.
Similar, though on a much smaller scale, to the case of Bernard Madoff – the former Nasdaq chairman who has been charged with a $50 billion Ponzi scheme – investigators allege Doorly hid the theft by manipulating internal accounting systems and sent false statements to trust beneficiaries.
The indictment says that from 1999 to 2006 Doorly transferred millions of dollars from the trust for his own purposes, including payments of extravagant credit card expenses.
Doorly’s attorney, Marc R. Salinas, said his client denies all the allegations and will plead not guilty.
Through a spokesman, the Ayer family said they are pleased Doorly has been indicted.
“Doorly led a double life and exploited the trust of his victims, stealing their money for personal extravagances for himself, his wife and son, and his mistress,” the statement said. “He looted this family out of tens of millions of dollars and joins the likes of disgraced money manager Madoff. We are heartbroken by Doorly’s personal betrayal and stunned by the scope and audacity of his criminal acts.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1156521
