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Patricia Cornwell's Latest Mystery
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How did the acclaimed crime novelist lose $40 million? She’s suing her accountants and business advisers to find out.
Murder victims have met grisly ends for less obvious reasons in Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling Kay Scarpetta novels.
But—after suffering estimated losses of $40 million due to the alleged negligence of her accountants and business advisers—Cornwell is taking the nonlethal approach, and simply suing.
The famed crime writer claims that Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP—a blue-chip New York financial-management firm that specializes in “privately held businesses and high net worth individuals,” including such celebrities as Robert De Niro—mishandled not only her own money, but that of her spouse of two years, Harvard neuroscientist Staci Gruber. Their home state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004.
“Patricia has found this process to be very distracting and upsetting, but I think she has some level of comfort knowing that the lawsuit has been filed and is now in the hands of the court,” said Joan Lukey, Cornwell’s Boston attorney.
“Patricia has found this process to be very distracting and upsetting, but I think she has some level of comfort knowing that the lawsuit has been filed and is now in the hands of the court,” Cornwell’s Boston attorney, Joan Lukey, told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview, noting that Cornwell has just launched a book tour for The Scarpetta Factor, her 17th novel in the hugely successful series. As for Cornwell and Gruber, “I think this has been a very difficult time for both of them.” Cornwell declined to comment.
Her complaint, filed in Boston federal court, singles out Anchin executives Ira Yohalem and Evan Snapper for special attention.
She claims Yohalem, who oversaw Cornwell’s investments at his previous business management and accounting firm, brought her along as a client in 2005 when his company merged with Anchin, where her assets have dropped significantly in value—just how much, she isn't sure. She alleges that Anchin’s financial managers apparently disregarded her stated wish to “invest conservatively.” Yohalem—who was sanctioned last December for “improper professional conduct” by the Securities & Exchange Comission for putting his own money in a restaurant that his accounting firm was auditing—didn’t respond to my detailed voicemail message.
Cornwell accuses Snapper—who once allegedly told her that Anchin would “do everything for its clients including buying and delivering their toilet paper”—of a variety of misdeeds. These apparently include everything from purchasing goods and services on her behalf from favored Anchin clients, to mishandling rental properties, construction jobs, and tax returns, to cutting a check for $5,000 as a bat mitzvah gift for his daughter (“whom Ms. Cornwell has never met,” the lawsuit notes dryly).
“Where did you find it?” a surprised Snapper demanded repeatedly when I asked him for a response to Cornwell’s lawsuit. “I have no comment at this point… We have lawyers,” Snapper continued, declining to identify them, “and I’ll ask them if they want to say anything.” Anchin’s attorneys had not called by late Monday afternoon.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
It's hard to feel sorry for Ms. Cromwell and her $40 mil loss. She's just as culpable as her managers for her negligence. You'd think from her writings she would undertand human behavior a little better. Power = Greed. She gave her accountants/managers power, naturally there were greedy.
She definitely should have listened to the woman worth $1 billion dollars.
Well, I feel sorry for Ms. Cornwell because you never expect to be cheated by people you trust and who are in the business of taking care of other people's money.
However, I totally agree with Oprah . . . always sign your own checks. People do get greedy!!
And I, too, feel sorry for Ms Cornwell and hope she can recoup some of that loss. Putting that management firm out of business would be sweet.
I am curious, however, that in writing this article why it was necessary for Ms Cornwell's spouse to be identified as lesbian instead of by her occupation, which would have been done if Staci was male. What in the hell did that have to do with Cornwell's financial loss??
Huh? i quote:
"her spouse of two years, Harvard neuroscientist Staci Gruber"
trying a bit hard to find something to be offended about i think
"that of her spouse of two years, Harvard neuroscientist Staci Gruber. Their home state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004".
Again, how was this statement germane to Ms Cornwell's loss of money?
I don't think that sexual orientation has anything to do with the investors who screwed Ms Cornwell out of her money, unless that was why they screwed her. Didn't find that in the article, did you?
If rich, high profile, relatively sophisticated people like Patricia Cornwell can be taken in by a "blue chip" firm, you have to ask yourself what protects the rest of us whose need for financial counseling and tax advice. Just another unregulated/uneregulated industry like banking and brokerage who get away with murder until they get caught--which oftentimes is never.
If there's any criminality people should go to jail...Otherwise I find it hard to sympathize...It's just to easy to keep track of your money via computer...If I had forty million, I'd check it everyday just to get that Forty million dollar rush of fun.
You can't fault Cornwell. Look at what happened to our economy, which we all hoped was managed by the best and the brightest, only to have our net worth devastated by these Harvard-educated yahoos. And after we bailed out the banks and the money barons, they're back to their old bonus tricks and it's all starting over again.
Really, these days who hasn't misplaced a million or two--but geez, 40 million? I bet Madoffs got it! I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress!.
I always do.
She seems as good at managing her affairs as Annie Leibowitz is. Maybe they should shack up. George Patton
Seriously, this makes Cornwell and her wife Dumb and Dumber.....
Sounds like Cornwell doesn't understand market risk. Could her $40mm loss simply be the result of the market pull-back? If Greenspan, Lehman, Citi, Bof A, Merrill, etc didn't see it coming, no one's going to hold the firm accountable. But Cornwell will be out another couple mil in legal fees. This is really embarrassing for them -- another stupid, ugly episode in a life chock-full of them.
Is this recital of Cornwell's losses supposed to make people who have lost their homes, their jobs, or most of their retirement portfolio less distressed? As appalling as this situation is, I can't believe she is more gullible than our representatives and senators in Congress.
The author of this article was entirely correct to include "...her spouse of two years, Harvard neuroscientist Staci Gruber. Their home state of Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004."
First, the loss affects both Ms. Cornwell and her spouse. Spousal names and careers would be reported in any such article. That's standard journalistic practice.
Second, clarifying that Dr. Gruber is female is also entirely correct, as Staci (and its variants) is a unisex first name, used by both males and females.
Until the United States gets to the point where the civil right of marriage (or domestic partnership, with full legal benefits) is legally protected for ALL of its citizens, I applaud the author for reminding the readers that "spouse" refers to both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. I also applaud Ms. Cornwell for being out - and I envy her right to marry.
Thank you.
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