I-Banker Working Hard, Playing Hard, Inviting Ridicule

http://www.bankersball.com/2006/10/15/i-banker-working-hard-playing-hard-inviting-ridicule/

On the heels of ambitious Yale student Aleksey Vayner, whose video resume for UBS leaked onto the Web and garnered hundreds of shocked and amused comments on investment banking blogs, a new feature video based on the nightlife of a young analyst emerged this week.

The "A.J." video, filled with priceless snippets of a young financier and his nerdy friends living it up in New York City, has amused bloggers calling for a trilogy. But Wall Street banks, it seems, do not find the prospect of their employees engaging in such revelry to be quite so humorous.

A camera crew for the Web site Code.TV followed A.J., a 23 year-old self-proclaimed "analyst at a large investment bank," and several of his friends for a night of what he calls "models and bottles." In a montage of interviews and clips, his night is captured as he drives a gunmetal Porsche Boxster — which may or may not belong to him — to the hip Chelsea nightspot Cain.

Inside the club, the video shows A.J. living it up like a hip-hop star: He dances with an array scantily clad women and enjoys $200 dollar cocktails. As AJ's lifestyle video extravaganza closes, he touts his investment banking buddies: "The guys I roll with, I mean, they're the real deal. They work hard, they play hard — and they have the money to play hard."

The video that has become the laughingstock of Wall Street offices and blogs has spread like wildfire over the Web and stirred up a fiery debate.

On one side of the fence, anonymous bloggers on the Wall Street-themed Web site Bankersball.com have called A.J. a guy who "clearly got beat up in high school" and "makes us look bad," while others have commended A.J., saying he "kinda adds to the Wall Street mystique." One infatuated female blogger wrote that she is in love with the big spender.

Another Internet blog, Gawker.com, published a link to a personal page on the Rupert Murdoch-owned Web site MySpace that allegedly belongs to A.J. "The Power Broker"Von Suarma, as he calls himself. It stated he attended Fordham University and is a fixed income analyst at Morgan Stanley.

There exists no record of an employee at Morgan Stanley, however, with the last name Von Suarma or Suarma. So who is this A.J. character?

One thing is clear: Now that the video has become a laughingstock in some Wall Street circles, A.J. isn't nearly as keen on promoting himself as he once was. Accordingly, his alleged My-Space page has been removed. Comments by "Friends and supporters of A.J." on Gawker.com said the account was deleted because of the blog's exploitation of an innocent man.

Mr. Vayner's video, where the Yalieturned-Tony Robbins describes himself as a "model for personal success and development,"has become the butt of so many Wall Street jokes that the new video has bloggers asking the question: Why?

A headline under a link to the video at the Wall Street-themed blog Bankersball.com reads: "You would think with all the Vayner-mania, any banker/banker wannabe would stay out of the limelight. But no."

A.J., if he does indeed exist as portrayed on the Internet, should have cause to be concerned. Strict publicity policies at most Wall Street firms require employees to check with the proper department (usually Corporate Communications or Public Relations) before speaking to the press.

The Sun called Morgan Stanley to inquire about such employee policies, but the call was not returned.

If A.J.'s true identity is released, he could very well be fired. Which could put a serious cap on those big nights out — at least in the immediate future.

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한 때 인터넷을 강타했던 불후의 명작 "Living like a king"을 생각나게 하는 찌질이구만..