Todays Humor--> Frankel: I Sought To Feed Hungry
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Martin Frankel, the former financier accused of bilking insurance companies out of more than $200 million, says in a television interview he only wanted to make money so he could help with the problem of world hunger.
In an interview to be aired tonight on the ABC News program ``20/20,'' the former Greenwich, Conn., resident said ``I think that's probably the main reason that I'm here. I love people too much.''
Frankel, 45, said his goal was not to get rich but to ``feed all the hungry people in the world.''
The interview was taped in the Hamburg, Germany, prison where Frankel is being held.
Investigators say Frankel bought up small insurance companies in states with reputations for lax regulation, then looted the companies.
Frankel allegedly ran an unlicensed brokerage from a fortress-like, two-mansion compound in Greenwich. He disappeared in May 1999, leaving behind piles of smoldering documents.
Months later he was arrested in Germany. Investigators found a stack of forged travel documents and a stash of cash and diamonds.
Frankel has said he will resist extradition to the United States. German charges of passport fraud must be resolved before extradition proceedings can begin.
In the interview, Frankel denies living a lavish lifestyle. Former employees, some of them women recruited through personal ads in New York newspapers, have said Frankel showered them with gifts that included luxury cars and clothes.
Frankel told ABC he was just looking for a soul mate.
``I wanted a woman who loved me, who respected me, who wanted to stand by me and stick with me and be with me forever and always be with me,'' he said.
In the United States, Frankel faces state and federal charges and, if convicted, could spend the rest of his life in prison. He said such a lengthy prison term would not be fair, and hopes that Germany will refuse to allow his extradition on human rights grounds.
``What is the difference, basically, between life in prison without ever getting out, and death?'' Frankel said. ``To put someone in jail for the rest of their life, without ever getting out, violates human dignity and human rights.''
AP-NY-05-12-00 1024EDT |
