Riddle of banker shot in latex catsuit

[emad]

Sunday Times
Fiona Fleck, Geneva



POLICE investigating the murder of Edouard Stern, 50, a multi-millionaire French banker found shot dead at his home in a latex rubber suit, are studying starkly conflicting views of his character as they comb his private and professional lives for clues to his killing.

The details of Stern’s unusual attire, which were leaked to the Swiss press, have heightened speculation about what one associate called a “fervent” private life, supposedly embracing sado-masochistic acts in Geneva’s red light district.

Because detectives found no sign of a break-in at his luxurious fifth-floor flat, there is suspicion that Stern, a separated father of three children, may have known his killer.

Yesterday, however, a close friend stepped forward to present a very different picture of the banker.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1512638,00.html

[donco6]

1. Pay link

Got anything free?

[seemslikeadream]

2. here's another

For some years Stern was heir-apparent to his father-in-law, Michel David-Weill, chairman and controlling shareholder of the investment bank Lazard Freres. A great-grandson of one of the firm's founders, David-Weill had run the tripartite group - which has operations in Paris, London and New York - since 1977; and in 1992 he brought in Stern to be a senior partner in Paris and New York.

Stern also became a significant shareholder in Lazard's holding companies, and a power struggle swiftly ensued between the two men. It was reported that Stern's aggressive manner led to his being ejected from two of the bank's senior committees. He departed angrily in 1997 to run his own investment fund, leaving a vacuum that was filled by the arrival of the Wall Street veteran Bruce Wasserstein as David-Weill's eventual successor.

Although Stern had close links with two of Lazard's biggest French customers (the Elf oil company and the cosmetics group L'Oréal), David-Weill said that smooth handling of clients was not Stern's strong suit: "He is much more talented as a businessman than in service activities." The French press labelled Stern le gendre incontrôlable (the uncontrollable son-in-law).

The circumstances of his death remain unexplained: Stern led a private and somewhat mysterious life in Geneva, and was said to have told friends recently that he felt threatened. Theories in financial circles include the possible involvement of the Russian mafia.

Edouard Stern was born on October 18 1954, the son of a Jewish father and a French mother. He graduated from the Ecole Superieure de Science Economiques et Commerciales in Paris, and joined his family's private investment house, Banque Stern, in 1977.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/05/db0503.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/03/05/ixportal.html

if you go to google news you can access the whole Times article

[emad]

3. Check your inbox!

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[donco6]

4. Thanks! eom

[donco6]

5. Hmmm. They can figure it out pretty easily.

The latex community is usually pretty small and aware of one another.

I do think it would be quite a feat to dress a dead body in latex, however.

[emad]

6. Another free link, from yesterday's Independent....

Murdered banker was 'wearing a latex suit'
By John Lichfield in Paris
05 March 2005


The investigation into the murder of the French banker Edouard Stern took a bizarre twist yesterday with a report that he was shot while wearing a latex bodysuit.

The report, by the Geneva newspaper Le Temps - a report neither confirmed nor denied by investigators - appeared to point to a personal motive for the killing. Investigators were, however, said to be keeping an open mind.

M. Stern, 50, a keen poker player, was known to frequent risqué night-clubs in Geneva. Police believe that he may have been murdered by someone with whom he was having a sado-masochistic relationship.

Swiss newspapers said that the police were also investigating the possibility that the rubber suit might be an attempt to throw them off the scent of a contract killing. M. Stern, a member of an ancient French-Jewish banking family, lost money in investments in Eastern Europe or Russia. He is rumoured in Geneva to have told friends that he felt under threat.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=616966

[Benhurst]

7. While I prefer 100% wool suits, we shouldn't be snobbish about

those who don't wear natural fibers. :silly:

[elehhhhna]

8. Stern's (darned hard to find) photo:

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/societe/20050304.OBS0280.html