A middle class dentist of about 55 has an affair with a woman who has a borderline personality disorder. She threatens his comfortable, established life and his marriage and he “must” takes steps to put an end to the problem. In doing so, he crosses a line from which there is no return.
Mark Dreier, a lawyer who graduated from Yale (so did George Bush) and created a very prominent litigation firm in New York, was recently convicted for fraud and other crimes. He was interviewed by Bryan Burrough for an article for Vanity Fair Magazine (yes I do read it sometimes). His story which makes for great reading. He crossed the line when he ran out of money to build his own law firm, then sold a fraudulent $20M note to a hedge fund. The note was issued purportedly by a client who is a major developer in New York. The issuer of the note was fictitious; the financial statements of the issuer were pasted onto letterhead of his client’s accountant. The hedge fund did no due diligence. Dreier was going to pay it back as soon as his law firm started making money. Within a few years, Dreier had 3 estates, an $18M yacht, millions of dollars of art and various other toys. And he had by that time increased his Ponzi scheme to over $400M.
We didn’t hear much about Dreier because the Madoff story broke just a few weeks later.
Why do some people cross the line and not others? What motivates or allows a person to cross the line. Madoff, Dreier, Liknaitsky, Q.C.- (Alberta), Melnitzer, Q.C. – Ontario Aaron Mortgage (BC)(a lawyer was involved), etc. are in a sense mundane. Their motivation, however disguised or rationalized, was to achieve status and wealth not available through legitimate means.
The story of the dentist in “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is more complicated and one which resonates because a person who is so well-intentioned and upstanding crosses the line to eliminate the threat to his family, a threat of his own creation. There are other movies which deal with spurned mistresses, most notably “Fatal Attraction”.
But Fatal Attraction is far less subtle and leaves the audience with less to think about. The male protagonist, played by Michael Douglas, is stalked by a one-night stand played by Glenn Close.
Novels and movies portray situations in which people feel compelled, despite the consequences, to do something which will destroy their lives by betraying their values, ethics or morals. The result is often devastating. It is the essence of modern tragedy.
When our lives are under any form of siege or threat, it becomes tempting to cross the line. That threat can come from as simple and innocent an event as making a mistake in handling a file and not facing the consequences squarely and immediately.
It is always most difficult to do the right thing when the consequences seem most dire to the person facing the dilemma, but to an objective observer the problem may have a relatively straightforward solution.
Life is not really a slippery slope. It is best to think about things before you cross the line than have an epiphany after you cross the line, looking back only too late with the benefit of hindsight .
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