The actor, Kirk Douglas, now a sprightly 97 year old, was utterly broke
when he was in his mid fifties. His lawyer/ adviser, who had power of attorney
over his affairs, cleaned out his bank account by getting loans on properties
that Kirk had owned. By the time Kirk found out it was too late and the lawyer
gone. Along came the movie, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, that saved Kirk
and the rest is a happy history.
A carbon copy of this story happened to Gabriel Bryne, the Irish talk show host, who was around the same age as Kirk when it happened to him. The
only marked difference was that it was Mr Bryne’s accountant that time around.
If you must trust in God when it comes to money, make sure no one else is
involved when it comes to parting with it, or when it is about to be shared
with someone else other than your wife. Succinctly put: sign your own cheques,
and no harm to read the fine print while you are at it as well.
Bernie Madoff comes to mind; king of all the conmen. The actor, John Malkovich, said
he was ‘ruined’ financially by the scam that the infamous Bernie was running.
His simple statement spoke volumes for him and for too many others.
In the movie Scarface, the main character bemoans the fact
that he just gave €10 million dollars to a very dodgy bank and all he got was a
piece of paper in return otherwise called a receipt. He could have been easily
referring to the latest line of Bankster’s in the media as well that took drug money
to launder for murderous dealers like Scarface. Bangsters cheating gangsters- can you spot
the difference.
A good conman will try to transfer his guilt be telling
anyone that would listen that he only ever conned a greedy man, that is
ultimately him. The only note of
caution must be: never trust anyone with your money, not even yourself, for a
healthy skepticism will ensure that you will not run away with your own hype
before someone else runs away with your own money.
By Barry Clifford
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