Angry protesters descend on hedge funder’s Hamptons home
By Richard Johnson July 13, 2015 | 5:58pm
Protesters rally near Dan Loeb's Hamptons home. Photo: Doug Kuntz / PatrickMcMullan.com
Richard Johnson
Wealthy Hamptons homeowners are worried after busloads of angry demonstrators descended Saturday on hedge-fund honcho Daniel Loeb’s house on the beach in East Hampton.
The Hedge Clippers, a coalition that seems to be backed mainly by the teachers union, brought 250 chanting, placard-waving protesters, mostly from the city, to the quiet, tree-lined lane next to the fancy, private Maidstone Club.
“It’s much nicer than Zuccotti Park,” said one Hamptonite, referring to the site of the Occupy Wall Street encampment. “This is not a good development. It’s literally barbarians at the gate.”
Loeb was hosting a fund-raiser for Gov. Cuomo, and the crowd chanted, “Cuomo, Cuomo, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.” But the event was aimed more at Loeb, board chairman of Success Academy Charter Schools. Placards read, “Hedge funds = inequality.”
Organizer Michael Fink, who was ticketed because he didn’t have a permit for a gathering of more than 50 people, admitted to reporter Taylor Vecsey, “There’s a lot of people here who’ve absolutely never been to the Hamptons. Some people who’ve never been to the ocean here on Long Island.”
Guests inside included former Sen. Al D’Amato and Loeb’s fellow hedgies, Boykin Curry and Barry Rosenstein. Rosenstein bought a Hamptons house for $147 million last year.
None of the protesters were arrested, despite blocking traffic. The Town of East Hampton was sued last week for $5 million by a gay couple arrested in 2012 trying to crash — via sailboat — a Mitt Romney fund-raiser at Ronald Perelman’s estate on Georgica Pond. The gay activists claim police brutality.
“I’m extremely nervous,” one party planner told me. Fund-raising by presidential candidates is about to get busy in the Hamptons. “This could scare people away from hosting events and attending events.” |
