Gary Weiss
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consumer affairs, finance, radical politics, wall street, fraud, iran, israel, middle east
Journalist since hot type, author of Retail Gangster: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie (now in paperback!)
Articles by Gary Weiss
MCP Server Monetization 2026
Something has been bothering me about MCP and I think I've figured out what the issue is :) There are tens of thousands of MCP Servers listed in registries and marketplaces, but most of them are not really useful... Good implementations exist, but then they were typically authored by companies with some form of vested interest, in that they want your AI Agent to work smoothly with their products (think AWS, GitHub, Stripe). Makes sense.
A riveting true crime thrill-ride through the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie “Crazy Eddie” Antar, whose home electronics empire took the world by storm—until a federal investigation exposed it as one of the biggest business scams in history When Eddie Antar passed away in 2016, millions of people mourned the loss of someone they’d known as "Crazy Eddie,” the man behind the successful chain of electronic stores and one of the most iconic ad campaigns in history.
The Pathetic Irwin Lipkin: a Bernard Madoff Reminiscence
The recent Madoff two-part series on ABC, starring a very convincing Richard Dreyfuss, brought back a flood of memories of my own very limited experience with this long-vanished but still fascinating story. Apart from this article in the old Condé Nast Portfolio I haven't written much, but I did have the interesting experience of attending one of the last acts of this drama. It was the last criminal proceeding in the case, the August 2015 sentencing of a Madoff factotum named Irwin Lipkin.
If You Don't Think We're in an Ayn Rand Nation.......
Name: Gary Weiss I'm a journalist and author. My latest book is (Hachette Books, August 23, 2022). I was an investigative reporter and Wall Street writer for BusinessWeek, a contributing editor at Condé Nast Portfolio, and have written for the Daily Beast, Parade magazine, Salon, The Street.com, Fortune.com, Barron's and many other publications. I was an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of Journalism. Follow me on Twitter @gary_weiss Email: garyweiss dot email at gmail dot com
Ayn Rand Nation is Now in Paperback
I would be remiss if I did not point out that AYN RAND NATION, my account of the nation's long struggle with the hard-right maxims of the author of "Atlas Shrugged," is out in paperback today. It contains an Afterword that describes how Americans actually adopted a key facet of Rand's philosophy in 2012: they acted in their "rational self-interests" by voting for candidates who would not turn the clock back on Medicare and Social Security.
Gary Weiss, Journalist and Author
Today is the fifth anniversary of the Bernie Madoff scandal. Here is the blog item I wrote on it at the time. Interestingly, the questions that I raised at the time--how did he do it and for how long--have never been satisfactorily and comprehensively answered in the years since. © 2013 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved. ------------------------------ My latest book is AYN RAND NATION: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul,published by St. Martin's Press.
Judge Fines Overstock.com $6.8 Million, Rules It Needs a 'Price Coach'
Sam Antar's blog is out this weekend with an item describing how a California judge has slammed Overstock.com with a $6.8 million penalty for consumer fraud. Ruling on a lawsuit brought by a consortium of California district attorneys, the suit contends that Overstock used phony price comparisons in claiming that it offered customers a bargain. What's interesting about this case, I think, is how Overstock worked overtime to head off the bad news.
Gary Weiss, Journalist and Author
I haven't been blogging in a while. I've been busy with other stuff, and nothing has really raised my hackles enough to bang out something here—at least, until now. What has gotten me annoyed has to do with a gent you may have heard of named Steven Emerson. Now if I said "what has gotten me annoyed is Steve Emerson" you might know why. He's been all over the media, and not in a good way.
Preet Bharara Pours Gasoline on the Fire
The raging diplomatic incident that has breached relations between the U.S. and India--the arrest of a deputy counsel general on visa charges--continued to simmer on Wednesday. TV reports showed images straight out of the sixties, with protesters burning American flags and an effigy (above).
Steven Emerson, Smears, and the Folly of Ideological Labels
So I see that Steven Emerson has been smeared again by the New York Times, and by the same reporter, Robert Mackey. I'm referring to this article. For the third time in a week, Mackey has referred to Emerson as a "self-described expert on Islamist terrorism." He really seems to like the way those words roll off his fingers into his laptop, I guess. The only problem is that they are not accurate.
United Healthcare, Obamacare, Franz Kafka, and the 'Positive Healthcare Experience'
The letter from United Healthcare was dated December 9, 2013. It said as follows: Dear GARY WEISS, Thank you for choosing United Healthcare. We are excited to be able to provide you a positive healthcare experience and to ensure that you understand your benefits and payment requirements. I was very pleased to receive this letter.
Could Arrest of Indian Diplomat Sink Preet Bharara?
For years, complaints have swirled around the most visible--and inexplicable--outcome of the 2008 financial crisis: Not a single financial executive has been prosecuted for doing engaging in any criminal activity. And no, I don't mean insider trading, a favorite of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. I mean the kind of stuff that almost sank the banking system.
Did You Know That Gary Weiss Speaks?
Yes, he does, or to put it another way, I do. My well-received speaking engagements have spanned many topics, from media bias in the Middle East to Ayn Rand. I've spoken before New York Stock Exchange attorneys on naked short-selling, and I've been on a panel of the North American Securities Administrators Association discussing securities arbitration. Venues have ranged from a college in Texas to Washington to a senior center in Riverdale. One topic that interests me greatly is weight-loss surgery.
The Vindication of Steve Emerson?
In a pair of blog posts early last year I examined the smearing of Steve Emerson, the terrorism expert who was keel-hauled through the media after referring to "no-go zones" in European cities. That was an overstatement at worst, and he apologized for it, but nevertheless he was attacked and denigrated. Then came the terrorist attacks in Paris and, yesterday, in Belgium. The State Department issued a travel alert for all of Europe in the aftermath of the latter.
Gary Weiss, Journalist and Author
The media lately has been calling Donald Trump a "liar" in its own voice. That's accurate. He does lie. But does the media want to be in the liar-calling business? What about all the other liars in the world, from Assad in Syria to Vladimir Putin to a whole bunch of CEOs? My analysis in Columbia Journalism Review, online this morning, can be found here . © 2016 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved. Labels: Columbia Journalism Review, Donald Trump, fraud
Announcement re Mideast Dig (formerly "Mideast Reporter")
A note to readers: Please be advised that I am no longer associated with The Mideast Reporter (N/K/A "Mideast Dig;" Federal EIN 46-4772869; New York State Reg. No. 44-20-78), which I co-founded and co-edited from its inception in 2013 until November 2015. I have had no editorial or marketing role in the venture since then.
Trouble, Right Here in New York City
Con man. Zohran Mamdani accepting the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor on June 24, 2025. Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images By Gary Weiss Ever wonder why “The Music Man” retains its appeal 68 years after its Broadway run and 63 years after its film adaptation? It wasn’t just the great score and fab performances. It was the subject matter: It’s about a con man, and not just any old con man. The musical’s main character, Professor Harold Hill, is a successful con man.
Trouble, Right Here in New York City
By Gary Weiss Ever wonder why “The Music Man” retains its appeal 68 years after its Broadway run and 63 years after its film adaptation? It wasn’t just the great score and fab performances. It was the subject matter: It’s about a con man, and not just any old con man. The musical’s main character, Professor Harold Hill, is a successful con man. A charming con man. A lovable con man. Professor Hill is a ruthless fraud, but his effervescent personality wins over River City.
[2503.08707] A Secure Blockchain-Assisted Framework for Real-Time Maritime Environmental Compliance Monitoring
Today Hugging Face is TRIPLING your donation to arXiv with a 2:1 match! Give today to keep science open for all.
I was horrified to hear friend’s mother was among hostages – rally organiser
More than 300 people gathered outside the Qatari Embassy in central London on Sunday to call on the Qatari government to try and secure the release of hostages. Organisers, from the Bring Them Home Now initiative, said Qatar has “positioned itself as a mediator of hostage release” and plays a “key role” in the endeavour. Orit Eyal-Fibeesh, one of the organisers, told the PA news agency the mother of her close friend was kidnapped.
A machine learning approach to graduate admissions and the role of letters of recommendation
Loading metrics Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article Citation: Zhao Y, Chen X, Xue H, Weiss GM (2023) A machine learning approach to graduate admissions and the role of letters of recommendation. PLoS ONE 18(10): e0291107. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291107 Editor: Nadeem Sarwar, Bahria University - Lahore Campus, PAKISTAN Received: May 24, 2023; Accepted: August 22, 2023; Published: October 25, 2023 Copyright: © 2023 Zhao et al.
Don Rickles
Riding a wave of success that lasted more than sixty years, Don Rickles is best known as the "insult" comic who skewered presidents, royalty, celebrities, and friends and fans alike. But there was more to "Mr. Warmth" than a devilish ear-to-ear grin and lightning-fast put-downs. Rickles was a loving husband, an adoring father who suffered a devastating loss, and a loyal friend to the likes of Bob Newhart and Frank Sinatra.
The Rise of the Rest
How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places Are Building the New American Dream Narrated by: Steve Case Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins 4.3 out of 5 stars 4.3 (6 ratings) 1 title per month from Audible’s entire catalog of best sellers, and new releases. Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts. You will get an email reminder before your trial ends. Your Premium Plus plan is $14.95 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
RETAIL GANGSTER: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie By Gary Weiss
RETAIL GANGSTER: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie By Gary Weiss 336 pp. Hachette Books. $29. Reviewed by Ahmed Fathi Anyone who lived in New York City in the halcyon days of the 1980s has a story to tell about Crazy Eddie, the electronics chain that screamed its way into the heart of New Yorkers with memorably obnoxious TV commercials. They featured a disc jockey named Jerry Carroll, who was sometimes mistaken for the real Eddie—a reclusive Brooklyn native named Eddie Antar.
16 August Mystery, Thriller, True Crime Books To Read
Whether you are braving the heat and mosquitoes outside (flip-flops make excellent fly swatters, just saying) or staying inside and observing nature from the windows, you’re going to need a book in your hand. And I’ve got a great roundup of August releases for mystery, thriller, and true crime readers as we all (in the U.S.) begin to say goodbye to summer. We may not be in the publishing flood of January or fall, but summer is still heating up by churning out plenty of crime books to read.
Judd Bagley, Everise Marketing VP, Convicted Forger and Drug Addict, Pushes Conspiracy Theories for the Alt-Right Nutcase Patrick Byrne .
Judd Bagley, a drug addict and confessed forger, has resumed harassing journalists for Overstock ex-CEO Patrick Byrne. Only problem: his current employer’s ethics code. Judd Bagley and daughter leaving Walmart with drug obtained with a forged prescription (police photo) There’s a right and a wrong way to get stuff you don’t like off the Internet. Here’s the right way: Some time ago a convicted securities fraudster contacted me through his lawyer.
Cramer a Hustler? I am Shocked. Shocked!
Watching Jim Cramer getting his ass kicked by Jon Stewart Thursday night left me with mixed feelings, but mostly feelings of deja vu. I mean, is anyone really surprised by any of this? It is nothing new that Cramer engaged in sleazy tactics when he ran a hedge fund. Hell, that was known years ago, and was admitted in his 2002 book Confessions of a Street Addict and one by a former employer, Nicholas Maier, Trading With the Enemy.
Ayn Rand Nation | Gary Weiss | Macmillan
Thirty years after her death, Ayn Rand's ideas have never been more important. Unfettered capitalism, unregulated business, bare-bones government providing no social services, glorification of selfishness, disdain for Judeo-Christian morality—these are the tenets of Rand's harsh philosophy. Now with a new afterword on Rand, Paul Ryan, and the 2012 presidential election, Ayn Rand Nation explores the people and institutions that remain under the spell of the Russian-born novelist.
Cade Metz Pulls a 'Deep Capture' on Slate Star Codex
Cade Metz granting anonymity to a source, while threatening to dox the subject of the article It's no surprise to me that a New York Times reporter named Cade Metz is responsible for the destruction of a superb blog called Slate Star Codex. According to the anonymous author of the blog, a reporter, revealed by to be Metz, contacted him recently to say that he was writing an article on the blog. He "told me it would be a mostly positive piece...
Cade Metz Pulls a ‘Deep Capture’ on Slate Star Codex
Cade Metz granting anonymity to a source, while threatening to dox the subject of the article It’s no surprise to me that a New York Times reporter named Cade Metz is responsible for the destruction of a superb blog called Slate Star Codex. According to the anonymous author of the blog, a Times reporter, revealed by National Review to be Metz, contacted him recently to say that he was writing an article on the blog.
To Dox or Not to Dox: That’s Not Even a Question
Someone is trying to dox the stock market conspiracy theorist Phillip Ross Saunders. The “Sanity Check”in its heyday One of the more odious Wall Street conspiracy theorists is a guy named Phillip Ross Saunders, who went by the pseudonym “Bob O’Brien.” For a time in the early to mid-2000s, he ran a conspiracy website called “TheSanityCheck.com” that pushed ridiculous stock market conspiracy theories and attacked short sellers and members of the financial press, myself included.
Fox News - Salon.com
Imagine an asteroid plummeting toward Earth. You are an astrophysicist, so you have done the calculations. You know the trajectory and azimuth and mass of the thing, and you know that this speck in the sky will soon be turning all of humanity into carpet sweepings. That describes the predicament facing the reporters and editors of Dow Jones & Co., publishers of the Wall Street Journal, as they watch asteroid Rupert Murdoch stream their way.
Bernie Sanders, Meet Benny the Goniff
I wouldn’t buy fruit from Benny, and I’m not buying Bernie’s empty promises Whoaaaaaaaa! We got empty promises here! When I was a kid, a guy known locally as “Benny the Goniff” used to sell fruit in front of a butcher shop on Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx. “Goniff” is the Yiddish word for “crook.” I mentioned Benny in my 2012 book Ayn Rand Nation: See the similarities? Benny bellowed. Bernie bellows. Benny lied. Bernie lies. Actually I’m not being fair to Benny. Bernie Sanders is a far worse liar.
No Roddy Boyd, You Didn't Get 23 Insys Executives Indicted
Roddy Boyd (circled) posing with Stormy Daniels after appearing in a hedge fund publicity video Here's a lesson from Investigative Journalism 101. If someone you wrote about was later sent to prison, it means you were right. The guy was a scummer. That's all. 99% of the time it does not mean that you SENT him to jail. Not even Woodward & Bernstein claim they "got Nixon to resign." They did fine work and won a Pulitzer.
Roddy Boyd 'Investigates' Fraser Perring
Roddy Boyd top donor Marc Cohodes and Fraser Perring. Boyd downplayed Perring's close relationship with Cohodes while ripping off my blog, in which this screenshot appeared nearly two years ago. (Note: I examined Roddy Boyd's false "I got 'em indicted" fundraising claims in this subsequent Medium piece Roddy Boyd, "CEO" and sole employee of the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation, has discovered Fraser Perring! On Nov.
One Family’s Journey Through Guardianship Hell
One Family’s Journey Through Guardianship Hell By: Gary Weiss/ Next Avenue Posted on: Wednesday, July 31, 2019 < < Back to Learning their five mistakes could help you avoid a similar fate Family in happier times (Ada Vocino, Patricia Femia and Patricia’s kids) Credit: Courtesy of Gary Weiss The last time Patricia Femia saw her mother, Ada Vocino, was February 14, 2013 — Valentine’s Day. But this was anything but a heartfelt meeting.
One Family's Journey Through Guardianship Hell
By Gary Weiss, Next Avenue Contributor Family in happier times (Ada Vocino, Patricia Femia and Patricia's kids) Courtesy of Gary Weiss The last time Patricia Femia saw her mother, Ada Vocino, was February 14, 2013 — Valentine’s Day. But this was anything but a heartfelt meeting. The two women were in the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown, N.J. and were there for war. Patricia was Ada’s only child.
How Scammers Use Gift Cards to Steal Your Money
Bloomberg / Getty Images En español | When Denise McKendry entered the Kroger store in Midlothian, Va., on Feb. 25, the schoolteacher was visibly distraught. She was on her cellphone, talking to a man who had identified himself as Officer Johnson from the IRS. He had explained, in threatening and sometimes nasty terms, that McKendry owed $5,207 in back taxes and that she’d be arrested if she did not pay it off.
Fake New Impresario Patrick Byrne Gets Canadian Court Deadline
Another setback for Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, as he fights the There’s been a victory in the struggle against fake news, and chances are you’ve never heard about it. At the end of this month Byrne has a moment of truth: he must either post with the court nearly C$1.5 million in a long-shot effort to overturn the libel verdict, or let a humiliating court judgment stand.
The True Cost of My Weight-Loss Surgery
When the doctor asked me how long I wanted to live, I lied. “Seventy,” I said. It was May 2010, and I was undergoing my annual physical. Topic A, as usual, was my weight, which was edging toward 300 pounds. Every year my GP would ask me that same question. Usually I’d answer “80,” prompting him to respond, “How many overweight 80-year-olds do you see on the street?” He was right. Even 70 was pushing it.
Overstock's Latest Risk: Social Media
The always-entertaining Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) has an unconventional (and unintentionally humorous) "risk factor" in the Form 10-K that it filed the other day with the SEC. It seems that Overstock, which recently was caught scamming the Google search engine, has a problem: social media: Use of social media may adversely impact our reputation.
An unlikely big player in digital media: unions
Business of News By Gary Weiss June 21, 2017 Image via Pexels. The axe fell at HuffPost the other day. The news site laid off dozens of staffers, in what has became a painful, disruptive—and depressingly familiar—ritual of online journalism. In recent months, layoffs have hit digital media particularly hard, as the limits of online advertising have become clear.
The Case Of The Gym Bag That Squealed
It was the kind of oversight that is, usually, pretty harmless. A "Marina Shap" failed to pay the rent on her cubicle at Manhattan Mini-Storage in the SoHo section of New York. When the manager opened the bin last January, however, he found an intriguing assortment of knickknacks: Two 9-millimeter pistols, a 12-gauge shotgun, and, the FBI asserts in a court filing, "various documents in a box and gym bag." The fluke discovery of the guns was hardly earth-shattering in gun-happy New York.
Is journalistic solidarity savvy or short-sighted?
For ages the idea of reporters banding together against a common adversary has seemed thoroughly alien to the character of American journalists. We’re back-stabbing, iconoclastic individualists. No wonder Daniel J. Leab’s 1970 history of the Newspaper Guild was called A Union of Individuals. Could the Age of Trump finally change all of that? Can—and should—journalists join with reporters from other news organizations to meet the journalistic threats posed by Trump?
Jewish Cemetery Vandalism: Anti-Semitism Suddenly of Interest to Media
Judy Pogachefsky reacts to toppled headstones at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pa. (Reuters photo: Tom Mihalek) The sudden interest in the desecration of Jewish cemeteries is welcome, but it has a whiff of hypocrisy and cynicism. It’s not one of my earliest memories but it’s among the most vivid. My Uncle Irving, an auto mechanic who lived in the South Bronx, was driving us down the Grand Concourse.
Jewish Cemetery Vandalism: Anti-Semitism Suddenly of Interest to Media | National Review
It’s not one of my earliest memories but it’s among the most vivid. My Uncle Irving, an auto mechanic who lived in the South Bronx, was driving us down the Grand Concourse. It was sometime in the late 1960s and he, my aunt, and my dad were talking about something that really teed them off. Some vandals, never caught, their acts ignored by the press, had overturned tombstones at the Washington Cemetery, an old Jewish burial ground in Brooklyn.
Is journalistic solidarity savvy or short-sighted?
A spectre is haunting journalism—the spectre of solidarity. For ages the idea of reporters banding together against a common adversary has seemed thoroughly alien to the character of American journalists. We’re back-stabbing, iconoclastic individualists. No wonder Daniel J. Leab’s 1970 history of the Newspaper Guild was called A Union of Individuals. Could the Age of Trump finally change all of that?
Leave Jared Kushner's Modern Orthodoxy Out of It
It’s fair to criticize the president’s son-in-law, but blaming his supposed ‘failings’ and ‘moral indifference’ on the Modern Orthodox institutions that educated him misses the mark February 1, 2017 • 5:03 PM The word in Yiddish is shanda. Peter Beinart didn’t use that word, but when he flayed Jared Kushner in The Forward yesterday, he was deploying a venerable, haimish trope ordinarily applied to bad actors that bring the Jewish people into disrepute. I have a problem with that.
Leave Jared Kushner's Modern Orthodoxy Out of It
The word in Yiddish is shanda. Peter Beinart didn’t use that word, but when he flayed Jared Kushner in The Forward yesterday, he was deploying a venerable, haimish trope ordinarily applied to bad actors that bring the Jewish people into disrepute. I have a problem with that.
Surprised by Trump win? Stop ignoring the white working class.
Analysis By Gary Weiss December 12, 2016 The hand-wringing has been going on for weeks: How did the media miss the biggest political story of our lifetimes, the revolt of the white working class that ushered in the Age of Trump? Here’s why: We just don’t care about the working class. We in the national news media, whatever the griminess of our origins, inhabit a different stratum of society, and it colors our coverage.
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