Author: muckety

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Writing the first draft of history is always perilous.

In September 2004, in a story about a then new lawsuit that accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing the idea for Facebook from fellow Harvard students, The Boston Globe wrote: “There isn’t much money at stake.”

Oops.

Today Facebook is valued on paper at $15 billion or so, making Zuckerberg’s 20 percent stake worth … Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

That’s what makes coverage of Zuckerberg and his legal headaches in the November/December issue of 02138, an independent magazine named for Harvard’s zip code, so …

Based on interviews and a close reading of court documents filed in ConnectU v. Facebook, author Luke O’Brien writes, “the case raises troubling questions about the ethics of this new billionaire.” O’Brien is a Harvard alum.

The founders of ConnectU are twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and fellow student Divya Narendra.

Zuckerberg’s reaction to the piece and accompanying documents posted online also fanned interest. The documents included his Harvard application, a portion of his personal online diary, and segments of depositions taken in the case. They contained private information such as Zuckerberg’s social security number and the home address of his parents.

Zuckerberg’s lawyers tried to get 01238 to take down the documents. The publication redacted his ID information last week, but continued to post the items.

Kara Swisher and Silicon Alley Insider commented on the irony of Zuckerberg fighting to maintain his personal privacy when Facebook encourages its users to share personal information. CNET interviewed O’Brien, detailing how he obtained the documents. The New York Times followed with a few new details about the documents today.

Mixed with all this drama is some revealing stuff in the 01238 story and the documents about the beginnings of Facebook and how Zuckerberg operates. Some examples:

– O’Brien writes that Zuckerberg once handed out business cards that read: “I’m CEO. . . bitch.”

– According to the transcript of a Zuckerberg deposition, he originally owned two-thirds of Facebook and another student, Eduardo Saverin, owned one-third. That was quickly adjusted to accommodate another partner, Dustin Moskovitz, with Zuckerberg at 65%, Saverin 30% and Moskovitz 5%.

Saverin is no longer with the company and has his own legal battle against Zuckerberg.

– In his story, O’Brien writes that after a chance meeting between Saverin and Cameron Winklevoss in 2004, Winklevoss recalls Saverin saying: “Sorry that he screwed you. . . Mark screwed [me] too.”

– In another deposition, Zuckerberg details the focused life of a Web developer. He was asked what he did every day during the summer of 2004, hunkered down in Palo Alto working on his fledgling site.

“Woke up, walked from my bedroom to the living room and programmed,” Zuckerberg responded.

What time in the morning did he wake up?

“It probably wasn’t the morning,” he said.

– Asked to describe how he started Facebook, Zuckerberg responded: “Well, I mean, I made a bunch of stuff while I was at Harvard that was mostly just to get information out to people around you.”

– Perhaps the most intriguing question of all is what happened to Zuckerberg’s original source code for Facebook? O’Brien points out that in a New Yorker article last year, Zuckerberg said there was “really good documentation” of his code that would prove he didn’t steal anything from the Winklevoss twins and Narendra.

So far, O’Brien writes, none of the code has come out in court. And Zuckerberg’s attorneys contend that “nearly all the early Facebook code has disappeared.”

That could be another oops for an early draft of history.

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Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, was indicted today on charges of looting his mother’s estate, valued at nearly $200 million.

The indictment charges Marshall with grand larceny, conspiracy, forgery, criminal possession of stolen property, scheme to defraud, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing.

Also charged was Francis X. Morrissey Jr., an attorney whom Marshall hired to handle estate matters for his mother.

“The indictment charges that Marshall and Morrissey took advantage of Mrs. Astor’s diminished mental capacity in a scheme to defraud her and others out of millions of dollars,” New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced.

Morgenthau said Marshall abused his power of attorney and persuaded his mother to sell assets by falsely telling her that she was running out of money. He said Marshall and Morrissey were accused of talking Mrs. Astor into signing two changes to the will, leaving the entire estate to her son. A signature on a third amendment had been forged, Morgenthau said.

Astor, a well-known philanthropist and society matron, died in August at age 105.

The criminal investigation was sparked by allegations from Marshall’s son Philip, who filed a civil suit accusing his father of stealing from Mrs. Astor and failing to properly care for her.

The district attorney’s office said in a press release today that investigation had shown that Marshall was a paid financial adviser for his mother for many years. As long ago as 2001, her doctors told him she was suffering from Alzheimer’s and had limited ability to understand complicated issues.

Marshall allegedly induced his mother to sell one of her favorite paintings, Up the Avenue from Thirty-Fourth Street, by Childe Hassam. Rather than selling it at auction, Marshall sold it through a private gallery for $10 million and took a $2 million commission.

Marshall is also accused of misappropriating his mother’s money to pay expenses of Delphi Productions, a theatrical production company he founded with his wife, Charlene. Morrissey is a director of the company.

The indictment also says Marshall stole two works of art valued at a combined $1 million, and used his mother’s money to pay for a yacht captain.

Marshall, 83, has repeatedly denied allegations of misconduct. He also has criticized those who have stepped up to intervene on his mother’s behalf – an elite group that includes David Rockefeller, Annette de la Renta and Henry Kissinger.

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Robert A. Levy doesn’t own a gun, but he is at the heart of a Second Amendment case that the Supreme Court agreed to hear last week.

Levy, a millionaire and lawyer with lots of Washington connections, used his money to finance a challenge to the District of Columbia statute that prohibits the ownership of handguns.

The 31-year-old statute also places restricts on the possession of other firearms, including a requirement that the guns in homes be unloaded.

In putting the suit on its calendar, the court took on a Second Amendment case for the first time since 1939.

It limited its consideration to the question of whether the D.C. statute violates the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes.

Levy argues that the statute is unconstitutional because it goes too far.

“Almost no one argues that Second Amendment rights are absolute,” he wrote in an essay published in October. “Like the First Amendment’s right to free speech, the Second Amendment is subject to reasonable regulation – such as a ban on possession by children or felons, or a requirement that guns be registered. But D.C.’s statute is not a regulation. It is a total prohibition.”

Levy stresses that he does not represent the National Rifle Association.

“I’m not a member of any of those pro-gun groups,” Levy told the Washington Post in March. “I don’t want their money. And most importantly, I don’t want their litigation strategy.”

Levy, a Washington native who now lives in Naples, Fla., said that the effort to overturn the statute is his own project.

He and one of his co-counsels, Clark M. Neily III, are donating their services. A third counsel, Alan Gura, is being paid by Levy.

Before they filed the suit in February 2003, the lawyers recruited six plaintiffs, D.C. residents who wanted to keep guns in their homes for self-defense.

The lawyers looked for a diverse, law-abiding group, Levy told the Post.

“No Loony tunes,” Levy said. “You know, you don’t want the guy who just signed up for the militia. We wanted somebody who was clean.”

The suit was rejected in U.S. District Court, but upheld on appeal by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The appeals court ruled that only one of the six plaintiffs, Dick Anthony Heller, a security officer who lives in D.C., had standing to challenge the law because his application for a gun permit had been denied.

A second-career lawyer, Levy had practical experience with both the District Court and the Court of Appeals in D.C., having clerked for judges in both courts.

Levy came to the law from business.

After receiving his Ph.D. from American University in 1966, he founded CDA Investment Technologies, a company that provides financial data and management to investors.

He sold the company for millions in 1986 and remained on as CEO until 1991 when he entered law school at George Mason University. He graduated first in his class in 1994.

Levy is a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute. He’s on the board of the institute, which is a libertarian research foundation. In addition, he’s on the board of trustees for George Mason.

Levy is also on the board of the Federalist Society, a group whose membership includes Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.

Judge Laurence H. Silberman, another Federalist Society member, wrote the 58-page opinion for the Court of Appeals in the D.C. case.

A conservative, Silberman has close ties to the Supreme Court, having sent at least 20 of his law clerks to the high court.

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“Image is everything,” a shaggy-haired Andre Agassi proclaimed as he hawked Canon cameras as a teenager.

Over the next 20 years, the tennis superstar traded handsomely on his world-famous name and image, earning an estimated $200 million through deals with Nike, Adidas, Head, Genworth Financial, Aramis and American Express, among others.

By 2004, Agassi had reached the No. 7 spot on the Forbes magazine list of the world’s 50 highest paid athletes. He capped off his celebrated tennis career earlier this year when Alfred A. Knopf paid $5 million for rights to his life story, earning him admission into the elite and handsomely paid memoir-writing club that includes Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Alan Greenspan and Jack Welch.

Just as his tennis game matured with age, Agassi’s approach to business grew up over the years. Once content to sell other people’s products, Agassi developed an ambitious vision of an entrepreneurial future beyond tennis. He summed up his business philosophy in a July 2007 interview with Bloomberg News: “I’m 15 years removed from sticking my name to stuff. I want to be a partner, not a spokesperson.”

Agassi, now 37, is doing just that. He and his wife, German tennis great Steffi Graf, preside over a rapidly expanding business empire that includes real estate, restaurants, night clubs, fitness centers and philanthropy. Shortly after his retirement in 2006, Agassi announced his most ambitious project: the Fairmont Tamarack, a $600-million investment on a 225-room condo-hotel property in Idaho that The New York Times calls a “resort for the 21st century.” The company sold 124 units at the initial offering in March 2007. Prices range from $700,000 to more than $5 million.

Agassi’s transformation from tennis bad boy into beloved champion and business tycoon has been a remarkable one. He turned professional at 16 and initially seemed to be more flash than substance, but eventually reached the world’s top ranking in 1995, won an Olympic gold medal and achieved what only five other men in the sport have done — win all four majors.

Tennis was Agassi’s day job, but he also became a successful part-time entrepreneur. He and his close advisers, including childhood friend and manager Perry Rogers, invested in banks, casinos, fitness centers and restaurants. In 2002, Agassi partnered with renowned chef Michael Mina to open “concept” restaurants in San Francisco, San Jose, Dana Point, Atlantic City and Las Vegas, including at the MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and Bellagio.

Not all his ventures succeeded: He partnered with hockey great Wayne Gretzky and Super Bowl quarterback Joe Montana, in the failed Official All Star Cafe, opened by Planet Hollywood creator Robert Earl in 1995. More typical were such lucrative deals as the sale of two Golden Nugget casinos to Landry’s Restaurants Inc. for a $24-million profit and his role in the creation of Pure, the posh Las Vegas night spot named by E! as the hottest club in the country. (”The place absolutely prints money,” Rogers boasted to Bloomberg.)

A month before his final appearance at the 2006 U.S. Open, Agassi met with AOL co-founder Steve Case, now with Exclusive Resorts, which operates luxury vacation homes for a one-time fee of as much as $425,000 and additional annual dues of up to $27,500. Agassi had been a member of Exclusive Resorts and as Agassi Graf Development LLC, has signed on with Case in a 650-acre, $800-million development in Cacique, Costa Rica, scheduled to open in 2010. Agassi and Graf will design the fitness and tennis centers.

In Graf, Agassi has a partner who eclipsed his achievements on court but shares his business ideals off. Graf turned professional at 13 and held the number one ranking for 377 weeks, a record for any male or female player since rankings began. She won 107 singles titles, including 22 Grand Slams, and an Olympic gold; was named the greatest female tennis player of the 20th century in 1999; and in 2004 was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Graf’s prize money totals almost $22 million over her 17-year career and, like Agassi, she continues to earn from endorsing Adidas, Head, Barilla (the Italian pasta maker), Mrs. Sporty (a European health and fitness chain) and Teekanne (a tea company).

The couple also has partnered with manufacturer Kreiss to create a line of high-end furniture. More recently the two have been featured in Louis Vuitton ads, along with former Soviet Union head Michael Gorbachev.

But all along their tennis and business careers, Agassi and Graf have been committed to philanthropy. The Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation has supported more than 20 organizations in southern Nevada for at-risk children and has raised more than $60 million since it was founded in 1994. Agassi funds the foundation’s operating costs and has given $20 million of his own money. Among its board members are Elton John, celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and award-winning songwriter David Foster.

“There’s not a deal I have — not a partnership or endorsement deal, not an investment deal, not a facet of my business — where the foundation isn’t tied directly in,” Agassi told The Chronicle of Philanthropy. “I look at it real simple: If I’m going to be in with a company, they better care about the fabric of my foundation’s future — or else I have no interest in them.”

Graf’s Germany-based foundation, Children for Tomorrow, provides psychological counseling for displaced children from war-torn countries. It has projects in South Africa, Kosovo, Hamburg, Eritrea and Mozambique.

“When you win on the tennis court, you win,” Agassi told the Chronicle. “When you put hope in a child’s eyes, the world wins.”

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Matt Damon, People’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2007, is in good company.

The magazine started the award in 1985, with Mel Gibson. Past winners include: Mark Harmon, Harry Hamlin, John F. Kennedy Jr., Sean Connery, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Nick Nolte, Richard Gere, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Affleck, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Matthew McConaughey.

We realized we could connect all the winners to each other through their work and personal relations. Ocean’s Eleven boasts the highest concentration of Sexiest Men, with two-time winners George Clooney and Brad Pitt starring alongside Damon.

Clooney and Pitt have been campaigning for Damon since 2001. At his crowning last year, Clooney told People: “If you’ve been around him, you know he’s sexy. His eyes pop. They have a twinkle. He’s got a good smile.”

Ben Affleck, Damon’s old friend and co-writer of Good Will Hunting, beat him to the title in 2002. His co-star in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Jude Law, was Sexiest Man of 2004.

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