Uh, some people really should leave home without it
Amex Sues (customer) CEO Over $241,000 Topless Bill
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Yet another example of Corporate Excess and stupidity in the U.S.A. - Apparently the CEO of the company Savvis Inc., one Mr. Robert A. McCormick went clubbing with a few friends in a strip club by the name of Scores back in October 2003. That part does not seem to be in dispute.
What is in dispute, however, is the size of the bill that was run up, and the fact that to this point Mr. McCormick has apparently not paid his bill, or at least Savvis Inc. hasn't paid the bill run up by it's CEO.
Some folks might recognize part of the headline as an old American Express commercial/advertisement tag-line: "Don't Leave Home Without It" -- unless your name is Robert A. McCormick and you don't mind running up bills and then later disputing the charges.
The whole case brings up a host of questions about why someone would even have the ability to run up charges over $241,000 on a credit card that has to be paid off at the end of every month (American Express typically does not work as a revolving charge card, they send you a statement for the entire bill for a month's charges and the balance in full is to be paid off once the statement arrives).
For Mr. McCormick to run up charges in the amounts listed in the original article below (headline will be linked), he had to have some impressive credit history with American Express. Probably not that tough if it was a Corporate card (which it seems to have been) and if he used it frequently, but then again $241,000 worth of charges in a single day would be pretty darned impressive and should have raised many flags. Read the original article in it's entirety for more details on why it would seem that Mr. McCormick has no legs to stand on (though perhaps for his money he bought himself a nice stripper pole from the club) in this dispute.
Either way, it seems to be yet another fine example of a grossly over-paid CEO, given excess and debauchery in one night that is on the order of 6 to 8 times what an average employee in this country might earn. I wonder if the teachers he had along the way -- you know, fine people that earn lowly wages in the $30,000 - $45,000 neighborhood -- feel good about the fact that one of their former students is wasting that much money in just one night out.
Hmmm, where do I find the line to support taxing exorbitant incomes on CEOs again? I just might be ready to support such an effort, at least for ones that demonstrate such (alleged) complete stupidity.
Amex Sues (a corporate customer) CEO Over $241,000 Topless Bill
By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press Writer
American Express is suing the CEO of a communications company for payment of $241,000 worth of disputed credit card charges at a Manhattan topless club.
American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men.
After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications company said its chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit.
"We firmly believe that Mr. McCormick was the victim of fraud," said Deena Williamson, Savvis's deputy general counsel. She declined to comment further.
Lonnie Hanover, a Scores spokesman, said he had not talked to all of the employees involved with McCormick and could not say what the CEO purchased.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday against McCormick and Savvis is at least the third in the past two years involving contested credit card charges at Scores. One patron sued the club after he got a $28,000 bill and another disputed $129,000 in charges.
After a lawsuit last year, Hanover said that "high rollers" visiting Scores' "super elite Presidents' Club" spend thousands of dollars on single bottles of champagne and tip strippers as much as $10,000 for lap dances and for spending time with them.
The district attorney's office has said it is investigating alleged overcharging at Scores.
Hanover said that each time a patron spends $10,000, Scores calls the customer's credit card company to get the charges approved. Scores even fingerprints the customer and requires him to get on the telephone with a credit card representative, he said.
"We got authorization for all of the charges," Hanover said of McCormick's visit. "We followed proper procedures and documentation, and we were paid."
Court papers say American Express asked McCormick several times to provide in writing his basis for calling the charges fraudulent. McCormick failed to respond, and when he was billed again he once again objected to the charges, the lawsuit says.
... more at linked article
emphasis added
I would also call attention to the idea that Scores has had multiple cases of such fraud reported, in numbers that are pretty darned obscene. Personally I hope they did follow their procedures in each case, and I hope the guilty parties are nailed to the wall for the charges they ran up. Not that I'm that big a fan of strip clubs and such, but it's pretty darned stupid that anyone would go to such a place, run up charges like these, let themselves be fingerprinted and provide verbal authorization to representatives of credit card companies and then try to dispute the charges as fraudulent.
It really must be nice to get so filthy stinkin' drunk and stoned as to not be able to see the number of digits on the bill one is signing for....
What is in dispute, however, is the size of the bill that was run up, and the fact that to this point Mr. McCormick has apparently not paid his bill, or at least Savvis Inc. hasn't paid the bill run up by it's CEO.
Some folks might recognize part of the headline as an old American Express commercial/advertisement tag-line: "Don't Leave Home Without It" -- unless your name is Robert A. McCormick and you don't mind running up bills and then later disputing the charges.
The whole case brings up a host of questions about why someone would even have the ability to run up charges over $241,000 on a credit card that has to be paid off at the end of every month (American Express typically does not work as a revolving charge card, they send you a statement for the entire bill for a month's charges and the balance in full is to be paid off once the statement arrives).
For Mr. McCormick to run up charges in the amounts listed in the original article below (headline will be linked), he had to have some impressive credit history with American Express. Probably not that tough if it was a Corporate card (which it seems to have been) and if he used it frequently, but then again $241,000 worth of charges in a single day would be pretty darned impressive and should have raised many flags. Read the original article in it's entirety for more details on why it would seem that Mr. McCormick has no legs to stand on (though perhaps for his money he bought himself a nice stripper pole from the club) in this dispute.
Either way, it seems to be yet another fine example of a grossly over-paid CEO, given excess and debauchery in one night that is on the order of 6 to 8 times what an average employee in this country might earn. I wonder if the teachers he had along the way -- you know, fine people that earn lowly wages in the $30,000 - $45,000 neighborhood -- feel good about the fact that one of their former students is wasting that much money in just one night out.
Hmmm, where do I find the line to support taxing exorbitant incomes on CEOs again? I just might be ready to support such an effort, at least for ones that demonstrate such (alleged) complete stupidity.
Amex Sues (a corporate customer) CEO Over $241,000 Topless Bill
By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press Writer
American Express is suing the CEO of a communications company for payment of $241,000 worth of disputed credit card charges at a Manhattan topless club.
American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men.
After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications company said its chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit.
"We firmly believe that Mr. McCormick was the victim of fraud," said Deena Williamson, Savvis's deputy general counsel. She declined to comment further.
Lonnie Hanover, a Scores spokesman, said he had not talked to all of the employees involved with McCormick and could not say what the CEO purchased.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday against McCormick and Savvis is at least the third in the past two years involving contested credit card charges at Scores. One patron sued the club after he got a $28,000 bill and another disputed $129,000 in charges.
After a lawsuit last year, Hanover said that "high rollers" visiting Scores' "super elite Presidents' Club" spend thousands of dollars on single bottles of champagne and tip strippers as much as $10,000 for lap dances and for spending time with them.
The district attorney's office has said it is investigating alleged overcharging at Scores.
Hanover said that each time a patron spends $10,000, Scores calls the customer's credit card company to get the charges approved. Scores even fingerprints the customer and requires him to get on the telephone with a credit card representative, he said.
"We got authorization for all of the charges," Hanover said of McCormick's visit. "We followed proper procedures and documentation, and we were paid."
Court papers say American Express asked McCormick several times to provide in writing his basis for calling the charges fraudulent. McCormick failed to respond, and when he was billed again he once again objected to the charges, the lawsuit says.
... more at linked article
emphasis added
I would also call attention to the idea that Scores has had multiple cases of such fraud reported, in numbers that are pretty darned obscene. Personally I hope they did follow their procedures in each case, and I hope the guilty parties are nailed to the wall for the charges they ran up. Not that I'm that big a fan of strip clubs and such, but it's pretty darned stupid that anyone would go to such a place, run up charges like these, let themselves be fingerprinted and provide verbal authorization to representatives of credit card companies and then try to dispute the charges as fraudulent.
It really must be nice to get so filthy stinkin' drunk and stoned as to not be able to see the number of digits on the bill one is signing for....
