For seven straight Sundays, a
cadre of Romanian expats have been protesting outside John Paulson's 28,500-square-foot Manhattan apartment, New York Magazine's Kristen French reports.
What do they have against the legendary hedge funder? French explains:
...To demand that the billionaire withdraw his investment from Gabriel Resources. The Canadian company has been trying for fourteen years to get the Romanian government to green-light its development of Europe's largest open-pit gold mine in a picturesque and historic town called Rosia Montana. (Hundreds of lawsuits from NGOs over the years have held it up.) Paulson drew the protestors' ire because he is the biggest financial backer of Gabriel, with a 16 percent stake. Then they discovered his wife, Jenny Zaharia, is Romanian. "That was another slap on our faces, so to speak," said Simona, an educational therapist who works with special needs kids and is a regular at the Sunday protests. Paulson's hedge fund Paulson & Co. has made big bets on gold in recent years but unloaded some of its holdings this summer as prices tanked. Still, Paulson has said he remains long-term bullish on gold.
Protestors are passing out literature and sporting "Paulson, hands of Romania" and "GTFO" signs.
Read the full report at New York Magazine »
