High rolling Fry's Electronics executive charged with fraud
The LA Times reported on the fraud charges filed against Omar Siddiqui, a top executive at Fry's Electronics. He was a big time gambler in Las Vegas, once losing $8 million in a single day at the tables. He's suspected of having squandered $167 million at casinos in the last ten years.
The story, written by Richard C. Paddock, has lots of juicy tidbits about Siddiqui's arrogance and William Bennett-like addiction to gambling.
• On Dec. 19, two dozen federal agents descended on Fry's corporate offices in San Jose and marched Siddiqui away in handcuffs. Siddiqui, the IRS contends, financed his gambling by taking at least $65.6 million in kickbacks. Charged with nine counts of money laundering and wire fraud, he faces 140 years in prison.High rolling Fry's Electronics executive charged with fraud• Short and balding, Ausaf Umar Siddiqui -- who goes by Omar -- was an immaculate dresser fond of expensive suits. He owned a Ferrari, a Mercedes and a Palo Alto town house.
• At the Venetian, a casino executive said Siddiqui often stayed in a lavish Chairman Suite. The 7,000-square-foot apartment has a fountain by the front door, expensive art on the walls, four bedrooms, huge walk-in closets, a fitness room, a salon, 24-hour butler service and 26 television screens.
Near the suites, the Venetian provides a private gambling lounge for high rollers. Guests are served wine worth as much as $25,000 a bottle. Siddiqui preferred to gamble in the Salon, a semi-private area on the main floor.
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$8 in a single day!? My god!
"Short and balding" is kind of a cheap shot.
But blowing $8 in a single day! The hubris!
Come to think of it, at $8 (tops!) a day it would take (at least!) 20,875,000 days to blow $167 million. Hot crap, the real story here is that the guy obviously has a time machine!
I have lost more than $8 in a single day in Las Vegas. I think it should be $8 million?
$8 in a day...
Reckless chap
I lost $1.50 and I had to walk away.
Wow. Losing $167 million over ten years puts the eight bucks he lost over one day in perspective. :)
That's 57,191 years and 8 months. So ZOMG he's also found the fountain of youth! OR... maybe he's a ROBOT? A time traveling, short, balding ROBOT?
I lost $10 in the lint trap once. I need help.
8 whole dollars, well ... Oh, never mind!
Losing $8 in a day at the pokies would not be possible with my system of gambling.
Which essentially is I only gamble when I have less than the price of a drink left in my wallet. I will then gamble the money left until I either have nothing left, or a drinks worth of cash. It's the best system.
Wait, what? How is that "William Bennet-like?" Did I miss a multi-million fraud case?
Ahh, itsumishi, I got nicely drunk that way once. The nickel slot was my friend for a brief period.
this man demonstrate Reagan "trickle own" theory.
piss trickle down.
money stay with boss, go Vegas.
So he 'lost' the money 'in Vegas'.
Case closed, no money launderers in Vegas after all.
Man, when I worked at Micro Center several years back, a Fry's moved in a couple of blocks away. At first we lots some business, but we quickly gained it back, because, while their prices and selection may be better, their people are largely mean-spirited. Maybe we need a theory of trick-down douchebaggery?
"He owned a Ferrari, a Mercedes and a Palo Alto town house."
I have been to the Palo Alto Fry's so many times! And driven past so many Palo Alto townhouses! I almost feel like I know this guy!
As if the gimmicky themed stores weren't enough of an insight into the psyches of their creators (the one in Palo Alto has a cowboys-and-Indians theme; the quote from a Native American friend about it goes, "Uh, guys? I'm still in the room.")
As long as businesses continue to equate egomania with leadership, we will continue to see stories like these.
At least he didn't bring down the company and cost all the workers their jobs.
Fry's employees are not only mean-spirited, they're arrogant and completely uneducated in their departments. The store's policies also proactively label every customer a thief (ever tried to return something?).
MicroCenter, all the way, dude!
@15: which Micro Centre was that? The one off Lawrence? If so, Fry's didn't move in, they just moved to a larger site a block away from their previous one.
While the customer service is hit and miss (at best), Fry's is around the only location near here which can supply your need for Mac formatted Zip disks -and - 1.44Mb floppies! Woo hoo!
One week I had to return a scanner to Frys four times. The first one had obviously already been opened and was defective. After returning that, I tried a different model. When that didn't work, I bought the first kind again. Once home, realized I'd bought the one I had returned a few days earlier. After returning that one, I spotted the second one I had returned back on the shelves. Finally I bought one that worked. But they screwed me on the rebate.
- Hortense Gonzales
I live literally next door to a Fry's electronics (the one in Woodland Hills with the Alice in Wonderland theme), so I'm a pretty frequent customer. It makes my life a lot easier to just never expect any tiny bit of customer service, ever. That way I'm pleasantly surprised when I get, say, a smile from the cashier or something similar.
zip disks and floppies! luddite 4 life!
At least now I know where all my rebate checks went...
$8 million in one day? $167 over the past ten years? that is outrageous! The courts know how to deal with white collar crime in this country. I have seen cases like this go to court many times. that dude is looking at some serious time, like six or seven months and a $200.00 dollar fine.
If you're interested in stories like this, you should check Adam Resnick's book "Bust". It's on remainder a lot of places... (I know that's a ringing endorsement...)
Perhaps Mr. Siddiqui can obtain a job as a "cultural critic" on right-wing TV; in contrast to Bennett, his gambling $$ did not come about as a result of his "public service", after all (and hence no tax-payer funded career advancement).
If the execs of Fry's like gambling so much, why don't they tell their staff to stop trying to inspect my bag on the way out? That's got much better odds than a Vegas craps table.
One think I've noticed at Fry's is that they'll tend to put the returned units on show with the display items: you know, the ones with the foam inserts all messed up, no remote, etc. It's always a good idea to ask an assistant to get you a fresh unit from the back of house instead.
Also, in terms of managing product, they don't do so good: the local store was still selling copies of Tabla Rasa for $50, two weeks after the servers for that MMORPG were shut down...
(BTW my external floppy drive and Zip drive both use Bluetooth: no USB required!*)
(* not really, I've not used either format in a decade or so.)