I’m fascinated by the unfolding story of Mortgages Ltd. The suicide adds an emotional dimension most financial stories lack.
Mortgages Ltd. has gone in less than two years from being Arizona’s largest private commercial real-estate lender to a company plunged into bankruptcy following the suicide of its CEO, Scott Coles.
I have a quibble about that sentence. It makes is sound like the suicide caused the bankruptcy rather than the other way around.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Brian Amster 09.01.08 at 7:42 am
The Mortgages Ltd. debacle was caused by greed and denial. Coles knew what was happening - lawsuits from borrowers for failure to perfrom, lawsuits from investors thinking they should be able to continue receiving high returns for high risk investments. Coles determined that his company would never recover, and investors who had never “lost a dime” before were being wiped out. Unfortunately in the end, it had become a Billion $$$ ponzi scheme.
Joe 09.01.08 at 1:12 pm
The New Times actually had a better and more in depth story. Fascinating to read about this company. It also seemed to me Coles got too greedy at the end.