Raoul Felder Finds a Way to Stay Relevant
Press-obsessed divorce attorney Raoul Felder has found a clever way to stay in the spotlight in these turbulent economic times: He's suing the money management firm AllianceBernstein for $5 million for losing $200,000 he invested in a hedge fund based on AllianceBernstein's advice. It's been a few years since the 74-year-old attorney has been the center of the spotlight. (His most notable clients in recent years: Rudy Giuliani in his divorce from Donna Hanover, and David Gest in his split from Liza Minnelli. Until, that is, Gest fired him for overdoing it with the press.) But Felder seems to have figured out a great way to take center-stage amid the financial crisis: Sue the firm that managed your portfolio for 25 times what you lost, and then give a dozen interviews about how the system is corrupt and you're just standing up for the little man.
"It's like the owner of a restaurant who tells the wait staff, 'Push the chopped liver,' even though it's spoiled. It may make the customer sick, but they get their money. Anything for money," Felder told the Post today. "These are very greedy people." Lest Felder come off as just another disgruntled investor upset about his own losses (like about 10 million other people), Felder says getting his $200K back (plus $4.8 million in punitive damages) isn't the point of the suit. It's about teaching Wall Street a lesson: If he wins, he plans to pass the damages on to charity, "maybe to some of these other people who were ruined by the stock market." We can see it now: Felder walking the streets of Manhattan with a photographer and camera crew behind him as he hands out dollar bills to every person he passes on the street.
