He had a passion to do well. She had a passion to do good. Together, they touted his investment scheme, which bilked a thousand investors of $80 million. He has confessed to planning and running the swindle; her involvement is under investigation. From conception to collapse the scam was pathetically mismanaged — yet it wound up being one of the largest frauds of its kind in U.S. history. The scheme had high-priced help from respectable, well-connected law, brokerage, accounting, and insurance firms. Without the expertise and the imprimatur of rectitude these institutions provided, it would quickly have come apart.
J. David “Jerry” Dominelli and his lover and business associate, Nancy Hoover, considered themselves in the vanguard of the New Enlightenment — role models for the Yuppies. Heaping contumely on the gluttonous, atavistic establishment they loathed, Hoover and Dominelli created a public profile as rich people who cared, who shared. They fancied themselves as philanthropic. But belying that image, the lovers went on a four-year personal-spending binge that would have embarrassed America’s wealthiest families.
The couple had their own Fantasy Island — a tiny isle in the British West Indies. It wasn’t a lovers’ hideaway. It was a legal and accounting mirage. For tax and regulatory purposes, they told the government that their firm’s financial activities were taking place there.
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