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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Sam Waksal Sells Paintings to Pay Loans
Aired May 15, 2003 - 07:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: This is Andy Serwer over here.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
HEMMER: I feel like a million bucks today.
SERWER: It's always good here, Bill.
HEMMER: Sam Waksal had a bit of a garage sale, huh? Good morning.
SERWER: Yes, absolutely. Good morning to you, guys.
You know, it used to be the IRS and the taxman was what always nailed the bad guys. Now it's the art dealers. I mean, this is amazing. The other night there was an auction at Sotheby's here in New York, and Sam Waksal, the founder and former CEO of ImClone Systems, the biotech company at the center of the Martha Stewart stock trading scandal, had to sell some paintings on the cheap.
What do they call that? A motivated seller. That's the de Kooning there, I hope. That's the de Kooning. All right, that's called "Untitled V." I don't know what happened to "Untitled IV."
What do you think, Bill, do you like that?
HEMMER: It's probably still out there open for bid.
SERWER: Yes, it probably still is. OK, he had to raise about $4.4 million to pay back Bank of America, and he only got $2.4. That would leave him about $2 million short.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: That's right.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So somebody got a steal on some paintings.
SERWER: Well, yes, exactly. And, you know, what is it with these guys? They try to pump themselves up, and then the first thing they do is run over to Sotheby's and Christie's and buy these fancy paintings. I mean, it happened with Dennis Kozlowski from Tyco, same thing. In fact, these -- I like that one. That's called "Landscape with Seated Figure." What do you think, Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: I'm having a hard time making out what I'm looking at.
SERWER: I don't see the figure.
HEMMER: I'm going to pass.
WHITFIELD: I'm not sure.
SERWER: Yes. A couple of a million bucks will get you -- I think that was an $800,000 painting.
WHITFIELD: Wow!
SERWER: These paintings actually were some of the paintings that Waksal sent to New Jersey -- he didn't really send them there -- empty crates out there to avoid the sales tax. So, you know, you've got many layers here.
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
SERWER: The bottom line, though, someone comes in an auction, they know this guy has got to sell, they're going to name the price, right? The buyer, not the seller.
WHITFIELD: Wow! Another good reason why you should have some pretty pricey art, because if you get in trouble then it might help get you out of it.
SERWER: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about the markets. Not so good again yesterday.
SERWER: Yes, a little bit of a slip there yesterday. The Dow was down about 31 points. And the same with the other indexes there following suit. Not a whole lot of direction on the futures yet. We have a flurry of economic reports today, 30. Inventories and production. Dell Computer reports after the bell. IBM's CEO says that business is stabilizing. Good pulse.
HEMMER: We'll see.
WHITFIELD: All right, I like that.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
WHITFIELD: That's encouraging.
SERWER: OK.
WHITFIELD: Thanks, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Loans>
Aired May 15, 2003 - 07:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: This is Andy Serwer over here.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
HEMMER: I feel like a million bucks today.
SERWER: It's always good here, Bill.
HEMMER: Sam Waksal had a bit of a garage sale, huh? Good morning.
SERWER: Yes, absolutely. Good morning to you, guys.
You know, it used to be the IRS and the taxman was what always nailed the bad guys. Now it's the art dealers. I mean, this is amazing. The other night there was an auction at Sotheby's here in New York, and Sam Waksal, the founder and former CEO of ImClone Systems, the biotech company at the center of the Martha Stewart stock trading scandal, had to sell some paintings on the cheap.
What do they call that? A motivated seller. That's the de Kooning there, I hope. That's the de Kooning. All right, that's called "Untitled V." I don't know what happened to "Untitled IV."
What do you think, Bill, do you like that?
HEMMER: It's probably still out there open for bid.
SERWER: Yes, it probably still is. OK, he had to raise about $4.4 million to pay back Bank of America, and he only got $2.4. That would leave him about $2 million short.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: That's right.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So somebody got a steal on some paintings.
SERWER: Well, yes, exactly. And, you know, what is it with these guys? They try to pump themselves up, and then the first thing they do is run over to Sotheby's and Christie's and buy these fancy paintings. I mean, it happened with Dennis Kozlowski from Tyco, same thing. In fact, these -- I like that one. That's called "Landscape with Seated Figure." What do you think, Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: I'm having a hard time making out what I'm looking at.
SERWER: I don't see the figure.
HEMMER: I'm going to pass.
WHITFIELD: I'm not sure.
SERWER: Yes. A couple of a million bucks will get you -- I think that was an $800,000 painting.
WHITFIELD: Wow!
SERWER: These paintings actually were some of the paintings that Waksal sent to New Jersey -- he didn't really send them there -- empty crates out there to avoid the sales tax. So, you know, you've got many layers here.
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
SERWER: The bottom line, though, someone comes in an auction, they know this guy has got to sell, they're going to name the price, right? The buyer, not the seller.
WHITFIELD: Wow! Another good reason why you should have some pretty pricey art, because if you get in trouble then it might help get you out of it.
SERWER: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about the markets. Not so good again yesterday.
SERWER: Yes, a little bit of a slip there yesterday. The Dow was down about 31 points. And the same with the other indexes there following suit. Not a whole lot of direction on the futures yet. We have a flurry of economic reports today, 30. Inventories and production. Dell Computer reports after the bell. IBM's CEO says that business is stabilizing. Good pulse.
HEMMER: We'll see.
WHITFIELD: All right, I like that.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
WHITFIELD: That's encouraging.
SERWER: OK.
WHITFIELD: Thanks, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Loans>
