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Eddie: His Hiding Places are Insane
New York Daily News - Business - 03.15.90
By Richard Sherwin
Eddie Antar, who has been eluding U.S. marshals for almost two weeks,
may have landed in Israel, a Manhattan lawyer said yesterday.
Howard Sirota, an attorney representing shareholders in a civil suit
against Antar, said he followed a paper trail that leads him to believe
Antar is in Jerusalem hiding out with Rabbi Lazer Miman, a former associate
of Antar's.
Sirota and other sources close to the case also believe the founder of
the electronics chain possibly stopped off in Argentina and Costa Rica
along the way. Both countries have Syrian Jewish communities Antar is
believed to have visited before.
"I don't know what route he may have taken to get there, but our
information points to his arrival in Jerusalem within the last week,"
Sirota said.
Antar's travels have at least temporarily helped the reclusive businessman
to avoid a criminal contempt charge levied against him for failing to
hand over more than $52 million that the government alleges he gained
through fraudulent recordkeeping and insider trading. Antar is due in
Newark Federal court tomorrow to answer depositions in the case.
Antar founded Crazy Eddie, Inc. in Brooklyn 18 years ago and built it
into a 43-store chain, but then sold his shares in the company in 1987.
The suits against him charge him with insider trading and misrepresenting
the value of his company, which went bankrupt in October 1989.
"His actions to this point seem to indicate that Eddie Antar is
not likely to show," said Richard Simpson, assistant chief counsel
for the Securities and Exchange Commission. "If he decides to appear,
we'll be very happy."
According to Simpson, if Antar is found in Israel, the SEC would have
to check with other federal authorities to see if US marshals who already
are looking for the retailer could extradite him.
"We won't reveal where we're looking," said US Marshal Lawrence
Nevins. "But we are following up every lead on a step-by-step basis."
"He is a creature of habit," said a source from Brooklyn's
Syrian Jewish community. "He'll return to the places where he's accepted
and protected. He could forfeit the $52 million and still have plenty
to live on should the court find him guilty in absentia."
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