Kirk Wright, a Florida hedge fund manager, hung himself when faced with a 710-year sentence for 47 counts of fraud, and swindling $185 million from clients including 78 NFL players. This is the gaudy, pink-festooned Lamborghini he bought his wife.
Remember 2008? It seems like so long ago doesn't it? Only two years ago the financial markets were imploding after years of recklessness and Florida-based Kirk Wright was a poster boy for everything wrong. He started out on the up-and-up, investing money for his friends and his own mother, but as things progressed they got out of control. Wright defrauded as many as 500 investors, including 78 members of the NFL Players Association, stealing between $115 and $185 million, offering only printouts from Ameritrade as evidence of his spectacular and recurring profits. When he was caught and prosecuted, facing an impressive 710 year sentence, he decided hanging himself in his jail cell was the easy way out. So he did just that on May 24, 2008. Morbid but true.
But back in 2007, this car is the kind of thing Mr. Wright was buying for his wife with defrauded investor cash (along with a $55,000 engagement ring). It's a $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo with a custom-made rhinestone-bedazzled logo a subtle three inches wider than the original, a pink Alcantara interior, and custom-painted Asanti wheels.
After arrest, the Lamborghini was impounded and eventually purchased from Police impound by EuroMotorSport in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The import shop is currently in the process of reselling it with the intent of donating a portion of the profits to the scammed investors. You want to see an example of what got the US into the current economic mess? This is it.
(Thanks for the pictures Alex!)
Photo Credit: Alex's Flickr page, More pictures at the Dupont Registry listing