The jester's last laugh
June 18, 2014 5:04 PM Subscribe
What do you do after working for Bank of America, betting against the lives of AIDS patients, becoming the financial adviser and official court jester to the King of Tonga, getting sued for embezzling and accused of massive passport fraud? You turn to creating smooth jazz, of course. The life of Jesse Bogdonoff. Previously.
Maybe a decent additional link is to the play made about his life. From his Google plus page, he got a music degree from San Francisco State in the 80s and a business degree from the University of Phoenix in 1999.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:12 PM on June 18, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:12 PM on June 18, 2014
Smooth jazz? How many crimes can one man commit in a lifetime?
posted by uosuaq at 5:15 PM on June 18, 2014 [21 favorites]
posted by uosuaq at 5:15 PM on June 18, 2014 [21 favorites]
To be fair here, Bogdonoff was never accused of passport fraud.
The link containing that phrase says The ageing King Tupou IV had $US20 million ($A26 million) sitting in a cheque account with the bank, the proceeds from selling Tongan passports in the 1980s and '90s.
The linked Wikipedia article says Bogdonoff managed the Tonga Trust Fund after it had been funded by the Tongan government in 1986 in a scheme in which the Tongan government sold passports to frightened Hong Kong nationals
So it seems that the Tongan government was doing the passport fraud thing in the 1980s, and Bogdonoff just took the proceeds and ran with them (or ran them into the ground) in the 1990s.
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:53 PM on June 18, 2014
The link containing that phrase says The ageing King Tupou IV had $US20 million ($A26 million) sitting in a cheque account with the bank, the proceeds from selling Tongan passports in the 1980s and '90s.
The linked Wikipedia article says Bogdonoff managed the Tonga Trust Fund after it had been funded by the Tongan government in 1986 in a scheme in which the Tongan government sold passports to frightened Hong Kong nationals
So it seems that the Tongan government was doing the passport fraud thing in the 1980s, and Bogdonoff just took the proceeds and ran with them (or ran them into the ground) in the 1990s.
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:53 PM on June 18, 2014
crazy_yeti, perhaps he was conflating Sidney Bechet and Warren Vaché.....?
posted by On the Corner at 2:10 AM on June 19, 2014
posted by On the Corner at 2:10 AM on June 19, 2014
Considering his history, I think he was combing Sidney Bechet with Warren Buffett.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:53 AM on June 19, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:53 AM on June 19, 2014
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posted by crazy_yeti at 5:11 PM on June 18, 2014