Lawyerly Lairs: New Million-Dollar Digs for Aaron Charney
(And a new boyfriend, too?)
So how much did Aaron Charney get in his settlement from Sullivan & Cromwell? There has been lots of speculation, but little evidence.
Here’s one fact suggesting that he did pretty well: Aaron Charney just bought a $1.5 million Manhattan condo. As reported by Max Abelson in the New York Observer:
A deed filed in city records suggests that the Sullivan settlement wasn’t minor: Mr. Charney and a partner just paid $1.495 million for a penthouse at the newly converted condo at 93rd Street and Broadway.According to the floor plan, they’ll have two bedrooms, a 17-foot-long living/dining room and an L-shaped terrace that stretches 50 feet on each wing….
The 987-square-foot terrace, nearly as big as the interior space, is edged by high walls, which means there’s privacy instead of views. “I would consider it extremely private, with an opportunity to take your inside living outdoors,” the broker said.
Sounds fabulous — although quite different from his former home. Charney’s new abode is in a prewar building (pictured), as opposed to the ultra-modern Orion, where he used to live. And it’s in a more staid neighborhood: the Upper West Side, as opposed to the hip and gentrifying Hell’s Kitchen.
But at $1.5 million, Charney’s new home is 50 percent more expensive than his old one, which he sold last year for a little under a million ($150K more than what he paid). So Charney is definitely movin’ on up.
More discussion, including speculation about Aaron Charney’s finances and romances, after the jump.
Update: Since this post was originally published, we’ve appended multiple updates, which appear after the jump.
As revealed by New York City property records — publicly available, for free and online, via ACRIS — Aaron Charney took out two mortgages, totaling $1.1 million, to acquire the property. Considering how lending standards have tightened since last summer’s credit crunch, even for borrowers with excellent credit, Charney must have impressed lenders with his assets. A seven-figure cash settlement from S&C, sitting in the bank, may have reassured them.
Could Charney have shown them a hefty income as well? Maybe not — it’s not clear he has new employment (at least in the legal field). In the New York State attorney directory, he’s still listed as a Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer.
But here’s one possibility that may have helped. Public records show that Aaron Charney acquired the property together with a partner, Benjamin Hanani. Perhaps Hanani is well-heeled?
Benjamin Hanani (pictured at right, or so we think; image from a now defunct Friendster profile) appears to be a 2000 graduate of Swarthmore College, which he credits with encouraging his “latent francophilia.” If this is his LinkedIn profile — and we haven’t verified that it is, but it’s the only one for a Benjamin Hanani in the New York area — he works as a retail analyst at ZBI.
We’re not exactly sure what that’s all about. But as anyone who has lived in New York for a while knows, the more inscrutable a job title, the more lucrative the gig. Working as a [blahblahblah] for a [hedge fund you’ve never heard of] often pays better than being an associate at a brand-name law firm of investment bank.
If you know anything about Aaron Charney, Ben Hanani, and their new real estate purchase, please email us. Thanks.
Update: We tried reaching Aaron Charney for comment. His cell phone was answered by someone who sounded like Aaron Charney. This someone asked us to identify ourselves; after we did, he hung up.
Further Update: In response to some of your comments, we have confirmed, with a college classmate of Ben Hanani, that Ben is in fact the person pictured in the above photo.
Aaron Charney Gets the Best Revenge: Ex-Sullivan & Cromwell Minion Will Live Well in $1.49 M. Condo [New York Observer]
Benjamin Hanani [LinkedIn]
Aaron Brett Charney [Attorney Directory - New York Unified Court System]
Earlier: Lawyerly Lairs: Aaron Charney Has Left the Building
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Comments
First
Partner? I'm confused. He is now living with a partner from S&C? That's wierd.
I think they were lab partners in high school, it was no big deal.
12:18
Partner = butt buddy
Disgusting. A guy contrives a lawsuit, destroys his friend's career, and he gets a $1.5 million penthouse.
I hope karma repays him for all this.
P.S. If you google ben hanani, and click on images, you get pics of Ben Hanani.
Supposedly, this guy's career in Big Law is ruined. The compensation he received, no matter how large, will arguably not even remotely cover the future salary he could have earned at S&C or other Big Law firms. That is the real story.
$1.5 MILLION FOR 987 SQUARE FEET?
WHY DO YOU LIVE IN THAT RAT INFESTED HELL HOLE?!?!?!?!?!?
lucky he hit the jackpot before the Obama tax hike.
987 sq. feet is just the terrace - there is also a roughly equal amount of interior space.
Hanani is CUTE!
Great apartment, attractive boyfriend --- Aaron Charney is one lucky guy.
I wish some partner at my law firm would tell me to "bend over."
93rd is basically Harlem.
$1.5 MILLION FOR ~2000 SQUARE FEET?
WHY DO YOU LIVE IN THAT RAT INFESTED HELL HOLE?!?!?!?!?!?
The point is equally valid for 2000sqft
Lat, you've proved once and for all that you're not a journalist. It's completely irresponsible to put a picture of someone who might be Hanani and link to a profile of someone who might be Hanani without any confirmation. And that's putting aside the question of whether Hanani is news at all. You're a lowlife as are most of your readers. That Yale education is really going to good use.
LOL @ 1.5million when 987 s.f. is NEARLY as big as the interior space.
I tend to think that many firms would take Charney so long as he signs an arbitration agreement upon commencing employment. And 1.5m for a 1,000 sq foot 2BR condo with a 950 sq foot terrace on 93 and Broadway is a damn good deal.
Yeah, even if it is ~2000 total that is still sad.
But still, what matters is interior space and ~1000 is nothing to be proud of.
12:41, chill. See Lat's disclaimer ("or so we think").
Anyone who reads this post will immediately do a Google image search for Hanani (see 12:26). Lat just saved us the trouble. He merely mashed up what was already in the public record: ACRIS (which has Hanani's name) + Google Image search.
And you're going to be living outdoors in NYC?
That's still 1.5 for <1000. Which is insane.
ZBI is not a "no name".. it is the investment company/pe shop for the Ziff Brothers fortune.
12:41 - chill out. This is a TABLOID, not a 'real' news site.
Personally I'd like to read some stories about lawyers having two headed babies with tails!
12:22 re: karma...see 12:21 re: having buddies do things to your butt
I'm not sure what's "inscrutable" about the title "retail analyst." A retail analyst is a person who researches and reports on companies in the retail sector to help his or her company, or individual investors, make investments on securities in that sector. It's a fairly ordinary job title in New York, in my experience. No more "inscrutable" than being an associate at a law firm, unless you're one of those people who went to law school because you think Numbers Are Scary.
I enjoy ATL. And following the Charney suit was fair game.
But I have to admit I'm a little uncomfortable with how blurred the line of public/private figures has become on these pages. It's one thing to follow a lawsuit. But, at least in my mind, someone doesn't become a public figure -- even within a limited sphere -- just because they tried to vindicate their rights in court. So yeah, Charney's home purchase may be public record, but writing about it here? Telling the legal world where he now lives (all the while pointing out how desperate he obviously is for privacy)? I dunno.
Still, while there might be an argument that Charney is a limited purpose public figure, I'm pretty sure there's NO argument that this Ben person is a public figure. Dating someone who happened to be a plaintiff who sued to vindicate his rights does not a public figure make. (What if Ben wasn't yet out to everyone at work? What if this isn't the right Ben? Is this really fair to link this story to every google search for his name?)
At what point can we just let someone move on and live their lives as a normal person? Thanks to googling and the internet, these stories live a loooonng time after the bloggers power off. Maybe that's something to consider. Or maybe we should have some sympathy for an attorney who wants to be able to be a normal, private, everyday person without fear that his law school classmates and former colleagues are following his every move and snickering about his past. Because, yes, this blog is a must-read for most attorneys that I know.
(Ok, now the rest of you commenters can start your bash about how this is a gossip blog, blah, blah, blah. And, like I said, I do very much enjoy it. I guess in an odd way, I just count myself lucky that I'm not distinguished enough -- whether by achievement, folly, or poor luck (as was Charney, who surely didn't sign up to be harassed) -- to land on these pages.)
Well said 1:46 p.m.
12:38(1), you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Try visiting NYC before you make such inane comments.
12:38(2), better than living in some shirt-pocket midwestern or even worse, southern state with more space and a boring, rat-infested, sorry-ass life.
Lat, 1:46 is right. You don't even know that the picture is of the right Ben Hanani. Don't post that kind of thing unless you're sure. You stepped over the line a tad this time.
Karma... given the guy's "life choices", I am pretty sure he's suffering a long term bitch slap from karma.
Colin Powell (well, a trust in his wife's name) purchased an apartment in the same building:
http://www.observer.com/2007/deal-colin-powell-buys-west-side-1-85-m-fancy-fridge-hell-no
12:38's: Keep laughing when that apt. sells for $2.5M in less than 10 years, while your cookie-cutter apartment in flyover country goes up by maybe $20k.
1:46 is Charney
"latent francophilia" sounds like a disease.
12:30 is right
I agree with 1:46. I realize that this is a gossip blog, but I felt dirty as I was reading the "details" on Charney's potential boyfriend and his potential picture and potential career. It didn't even occur to me that you could be potentially outing this guy to his co-workers (or his mom!). I just felt that he hasn't done anything that would warrant ATL coverage.
I don't feel sorry for a lot of the people who make dumb moves and end up being written about on this blog, but ironically, you don't allow many of their names, initials, or pictures to be posted. Such as the girl who sent an email out to multiple people, even encouraging them to forward it to others, because she got offended that a GT partner asked to have his picture taken with her. Why does someone who acts in a very public manner receive that courtesy when Charney's alleged boyfriend does not?
I'm with 1:46. This is a little over the line.
1:46,
save some for the fishes, man. if i wanted to read a novella i'd eat a fortune cookie.
i obviously did not read what you wrote, but it took me a VERY long time to scroll past it.
thanks a lot (for nothing)!
(jerk)
2:39 PM: "... while your cookie-cutter apartment in flyover country goes up by maybe $20k."
In "flyover country" you get multiple acres for what Carney paid. His whole place would fit in some of our closets.
Information or "gossip" about the suit, settlement and law firm is one thing. Anything else about his life is not for a first class legal tabloid which ATL is and should continue to be. If you can get Mr. Quinn to send a response letter to ATL posts you should keep certain standards.
Also with 1:46 on this one. Every now and then this blog slips below the "middle school playground" standard and this is one of them.
Boooo... this is poor form on Lat's part. You'd think a gay man would be more sensitive about the privacy interests of another gay man. Internet archiving, indexing and aggregation make privacy harder to come by in the digital age, but Lat's justification that the information was "publicly available" ignores his role in violating these men's privacy. The "public/private" dichotomy is outdated and makes little sense today. You'd think a professional blogger would realize that.
This web site makes me think twice about raising a discrimination complaint against my employer. That's sad.
Boooo... this is poor form on Lat's part. You'd think a gay man would be more sensitive about the privacy interests of another gay man. Internet archiving, indexing and aggregation make privacy harder to come by in the digital age, but Lat's justification that the information was "publicly available" ignores his role in violating these men's privacy. The "public/private" dichotomy is outdated and makes little sense today. You'd think a professional blogger would realize that.
This web site makes me think twice about raising a discrimination complaint against my employer. That's sad.
3:46/3:51 -- Sad last sentence. unfortunately, this site and biglaw lawyers don't think a lawyer has the right to make a discrimination case against its employer.
I thought Ben had a crush on me at Swarthmore. But I'm a girl, so guess not. Though he did teach me that shaking yogurt before you open it is more efficient than stirring it with a spoon after opening. Good guy. From a fancy musician family if i remember correctly.
I thought Ben had a crush on me at Swarthmore. But I'm a girl, so guess not. Though he did teach me that shaking yogurt before you open it is more efficient than stirring it with a spoon after opening. Good guy. From a fancy musician family if i remember correctly.
I thought Ben had a crush on me at Swarthmore. But I'm a girl, so guess not. Though he did teach me that shaking yogurt before you open it is more efficient than stirring it with a spoon after opening. Good guy. From a fancy musician family if i remember correctly.
the sales price for his new digs isn't that probative of what the settlement amount was- there are a variety of other sources from which the cash could have come from..
Um, why does ACRIS say $1,395,000? (As opposed to $1.49M...)
1:46, Lat isn't picking on or exploiting Charney or blurring the line of public and private. Charney asked for this. He filed a lawsuit -- naming names in all sorts of embarrassing ways -- and then posted the complaint on numerous blogs. He wanted this and is probably enjoying all of the attention.
omg, tarble credit. who is this? a big lawyer from swarthmore....hmmmm.....lol. i totally want to know who this is! lol! i was the classmate who confirmed he was gay, you don't think he was straight do you? with those turtlenecks and dying his hair purple!
Who the hell would want to live all the way up at 93rd and Broadway? That's the boonies.
SO LAT - why still chaing Charney (and making his poor innocent not-public-figure in any way boyfriend an article on here?)
I don't recall you doing exposes on any of the romantic interests, spouses, kids of the S&C people back at the time the lawsuit was going... or now for that matter.
What's with the disparate treatment Buddy? You scared of S&C? S&C behind all of this maybe? What's the deal?
Shaking a yogurt before you open it is nasty.
To the person who posted at 1:46 and others sticking up for Aaron Charney's supposed privacy rights --
You all would have a great point if he, as 1:46 put it, "just ... tried to vindicate [his] rights in court".
But he didn't "just" do that. He sent his original complaint to ATL and other websites contemperaneously with his filing of the complaint. He consciously tried to gin up as much publicity for the lawsuit as possible. He also intentionally drafted the original complaint to be as sensational as possible. He named names (even of people who he wasn't accusing of wrongdoing), and put in lots of other salacious facts/allegations that typically wouldn't be found in a complaint, which had no utility other than generating publicity. In short, his strategy was to generate as much publicity as possible.
So in this respect, he brought his quasi-celebrity upon himself, and this isn't the kind of thing you can just turn on and turn off, like a faucet. If a person makes himself a public figure, as AC did, there's no right to suddenly have people completely leave you alone.
In any event, I think you're all kind of being played for fools. My guess is that AC's happy about this ATL posting, because in a very subtle way he's managed to get around the confidentiality obligation to which he's subject in his settlement agreement with S&C. He's managed to convey to the NY legal community the idea that he received a very substantial settlement. Driving around Manhattan all day, every day, in a Lamborgini convertible wouldn't be half as effective.
Ah, I didn't overlap with Ben enough to see the purple hair. I just remember him being well-dressed and comfortable around attractive women, which as you know is somewhat rare among Swarthmore men.
12:52 - bet you he only got $100,000 but is playing us all
Dear 12:52, sounds like Charney hung up the phone on Lat. The rest of the stuff seems to be stuff from public records that Lat and the Observer dug up. What is of concern to me is that you mentioned something you could only mknow if you were familiar with the settlement agreement. Are you? If so, what are YOU doing on here talking about this garbage? Also, How about this poor Ben guy. As stated in a post above, we didbn't hear about S&C people's spouses and so on. Why does this Ben guy deserve any less privacy than they had?
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/158599-condo-220-west-93rd-street-upper-west-side-manhattan
lat, you should take hanani's info out. charney signed up for this; his boyfriend didn't.
I wouldn't be overly concerned about Lat outing Ben to a wide audience - this blog isn't People magazine or anything.
Anyway, if my fellow Swattie is interested in MY identity, I can be reached at alliekinney@yahoo.com.
93rd & Broadway is a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood with lots of new high rise construction in the vicinity and an increase in upscale shopping and restaurants. It has NOTHING to do with Harlem. (And I live far south of there on the West Side, so I'm not trying to tout my own neighborhood.) The apartment described sounds much better than Charney's previous digs.