If I Ran the FDIC...
Business Week asks, Should This Man Be a Banker?. The man in question is Stephen Ross, who founded the Related Companies development firm.Maybe he should, and maybe he shouldn't. But perhaps the regulators (not to mention the folks at Business Week ought to ask themselves why two companies which featured Stephen Ross in their executive suites are now either wothless or next to worthless.
In January 2007, Centerline Holding Company traded for about $20 per share. It now trades at 9.5 cents per share. Stephen Ross (and his partner Jeff Blau) resigned from the Centerline Board of Trustees in June to "address certain potential conflicts of interest." At the time, Ross was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Blau was a Managing Trustee.
In January 2007, American Mortgage Acceptance Corporation, a REIT afiliated with Related, traded at about $16 per share. Blau is a member of the board of Trustee of American Mortgage, whose stock, when it trades, changes hands at 1.5 cents per share nowadays.
To put it kindly, these fellows have not had a good last few years as fiduciaries.
Labels: American Mortgage Acceptance Corporation, Centerline Holding Company, Jeff Blau, Related, Stephen Ross