Eddie Gila is a consumer electronics chain in the Northeastern United States. This chain began in 1971 in Brooklyn, New York, by businessmen Eddie and Sam M. Antar, and was previously named ERS Electronics (ERS stands for Eddie, Rose and Sam; Rose and Sam are Eddie's parents). This chain became well-known throughout the Tri-State Region for a price for impressive radio and television shows, featuring the "crazy" character played by DJ DJ Jerry Carroll (who copied most of his shtick from early TV- commercial pioneers, used cars and electronics seller Earl "Madman" Muntz). At its peak, Crazy Eddie has 43 stores in four states, and reported over $ 300 million in sales.
In February 1987, the United States Attorney's Office for the New Jersey District began a federal grand jury investigation into Eddie Gila's financial activities. In September of that year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission initiated an investigation into alleged violations of federal securities laws by certain officers and employees of Eddie Crazy. Eddie Antar was eventually accused of a series of crimes. Antar escaped to Israel in February 1990, but was returned to the United States in January 1993 to stand trial. His conviction on fraud allegations in 1993 was canceled, but he eventually pleaded guilty in 1996. In 1997, Antar was sentenced to eight years in prison and subject to numerous fines. He was released from prison in 1999.
Unable to defend his fraudulent business practices, co-founder Eddie Antar cashed in millions of dollars in stock and resigned from the company in December 1986. Eddie's crazy Board of Directors approved the sale of the company in November 1987. The entire Inter family was immediately removed from business. The new owner quickly discovers the true level of inter-family fraud, but can not reverse Eddie's rapidly declining fate. In 1989, the company declared bankruptcy and liquidated.
Video Crazy Eddie
Starter
Grandparents Eddie Antar, Murad and Tera Antar, who are Syrian Jews, moved to Brooklyn, New York from Aleppo, Syria. Murad and Tera work in their market stalls with Arabs, including Egyptians, other Syrians, and Turks. Eddie's father, Sam Antar was a retailer, and it was no surprise to the family that Eddie also became a retailer.
Eddie Crazy's predecessor is a consumer electronics store called Sight And Sound. It belonged to ERS Electronics, a company owned by Sam M. Antar, his son Eddie Antar, and Eddie's cousin Ronnie Gindi. Sight And Sound, located on Kings Highway in Brooklyn, began operating in 1969 and offered electronic goods at regular prices. Due to his aggressive selling technique, Eddie was quickly recognized as "Eddie Gila", but within eighteen months the store (and Eddie and Ronnie) was almost bankrupt. Eddie purchased a third-owned share of Gindi from Sight And Sound, and Sam M. Antar retained a third of his shares but abandoned his daily operations to Eddie. In 1971, the Sight And Sound store on Kings Highway was named Gila Eddie. Eddie resumed his sales tactics with the renamed Eddie Crazy store, but this time it worked. Finally, Eddie closes that location and relocates his business to a larger store, just a few blocks from the old Sight And Sound location. In 1973, Antar opened the second Eddie Crazy location in Syosset, New York. A third followed during 1975, located in Manhattan. That year, Antar established the company's main office in Brooklyn, New York.
Maps Crazy Eddie
Ads
Between buying advertising space on the New York WPIX-FM radio station. In 1972, the live ad was performed by DJ "Dr. Jerry" Carroll, who ended the scene by reading the shop slogan, "the price was crazy", in this way: "Eddie Gila, it costs IN-SA-AAAA-ANE!". Between calls and tells Carroll to say the sentence the same way every time, and thus the employment relationship has begun.
Beginning in 1975, Carroll started a television commercial. For much of the next fifteen years, Carroll advertised in a similarly frenetic manner to radio. One of his more impressive promotions was for Eddie's annual "Christmas in August" sale, where he would wear Santa's suit and do an advertisement while the stage stage threw a fake snowball at him. Carroll also has a trademark display in each ad, wearing a blue suit with a lighter blue turtleneck shirt on almost all of his performances (even during subsequent years). Carroll even appeared in Spanish Eddie Crazy commercials, though he did not have a speaking role; instead, his appearance consisted of him holding the radio to his ear as he walked behind a commercial spokesman, stopping just to wave to the camera several times.
During the 1980s, more than 7,500 unique radio and television commercials were broadcast in the tri-state region. Carroll's acting became so identified with the company that many people thought he was actually Eddie Gila; Crazy Eddie even made an advertisement for this effect with Carroll as a Superman superhero named Crazy Eddie. Warner Communications, the premier distributor of the Superman movie series , found the ad to be problematic and sued the chain trying to stop it. At that time, Warner was also the parent company of the Atari video game company, and its biggest customer for the system and games was Crazy Eddie. Therefore, in retaliation for the lawsuit, Eddie said that if Warner would sue the commercial, he would stop selling Atari's products at his shop. The setting was finally completed.
The ads were so memorable that the parody series of HBO news Not created the News created a parody television ad featuring caricatures of Oliver North (from the famous Iran-Contra story), known as "Crazy Ollie", selling using weapons at low prices. Early Eddies commercial parody appeared on NBC Saturday Night Live on January 22, 1977 in the creation of Dan Aykroyd, "Crazy Ernie." Carroll and advertising became significant cultures during the 1980s, with advertisements occasionally appearing in the background of contemporary films. An example is the frightening first view of a television receiver with Jerry Carroll's distinctive ad on the screen by mermaid Daryl Hannah in Ron Howard's comedy in 1984 Splash .
Eddie is crazy also known to have in-store appearances by famous rock actions, including the four Queen members at their Manhattan location on Tuesday, July 27, 1982 (before their show that night at Madison Square Garden).
Fraud
Almost from the beginning, Crazy Eddie's management was involved in various forms of fraud. The Antars deliberately falsify their books to reduce (or eliminate) their taxable income. They also pay employees from the books, and regularly take thousands of dollars (cash) earned in the stores. For every $ 5 Eddie Crazy reported as revenue, $ 1 is taken by Antars. In 1979, Antars began depositing most of this money - hundreds of thousands of dollars - in Israeli bank accounts. The Inter family estimates about $ 3 to $ 4 million per year at the peak of their fraud. In one foreign bank account, the family deposited more than $ 6 million between 1980 and 1983.
In 1983, it became increasingly difficult to hide the forbidden millions of dollars. The Antars decided that a way to cover their growing fraud was to take the company into a public company. In preparation, Eddie started the scheme in 1979 to reduce the scheme every year. Since more revenue is actually reported, this has the effect of showing a drastic increase in profit margins. While the firm's actual earnings (taking into account profits) from 1980 to 1983 increased by about 13%, reported earnings increased by almost 171%.
Despite the concerns of those closely related to Crazy Eddie, the company held its first public offering on 13 September 1984 (the previous symbol: CRZY). The company's shares sold initially for $ 8. In early 1986, Crazy Eddie's shares traded over $ 75 per share (split adjusted).
Eddie recruited his cousin, Sam E. Antar (known as Sammy), to help the company with his deception. Sammy earned a degree in accounting in 1980, and served his apprenticeship with Penn and Horowitz, auditor Eddie Crazy. In 1986, he was appointed chief financial officer of the company. Sammy was told there was a $ 3 million deficit from the previous year's inventory scam that needed to be hidden. In addition, he was instructed to find a way to show a 10% growth in sales. One of Sammy's main schemes was a money laundering operation which came to be known as the Panaman Pump - money saved by Antars in Israeli banks was transferred to a bank account in Panama. These accounts, opened using a fake name, then make payments to Eddie Gila. This money is mostly used to inflame the same number of store sales for the company.
As a public company, Eddie, Sammy, and others are involved in increasing the number of inventory frauds to increase reported profits and inflate the value of Eddie Gila's stock. For the fiscal year ending March 1, 1985, Eddie Gila forged a $ 3 million inventory. The following fiscal year, the amount increased to between $ 10 and $ 12 million.
Collapse
Just a few months after Eddie Gila's IPO, Eddie started arguing with his high school girlfriend and ex-girlfriend, Debbie. She started having an affair with another younger woman, also named Debbie. They were caught by Eddie's wife and sister on New Year's Eve 1984. Eddie Madness's difficulties soon began afterward; The fraud relies heavily on family members helping maintain the appearance that it is a very successful company.
In 1987, Sammy's goal no longer showed greater profitability, but more to hide the previous scams. During fiscal year 1987, they forged inventories between $ 22.5 and $ 28 million. Additionally, Crazy Eddie booked $ 20 million in fake debit memos or charged back to a vendor that reduced the debt.
As corporate deception becomes more difficult to disguise, public perception of Eddie Gila as a commercial success begins to change. In October 1986, the value of the company's stock had dropped to $ 17.50 per share. During December, Eddie announced his resignation as president and CEO. In April 1987, it was announced that Eddie had actually defended his role as president but had fired, inter alia, his father Sam M. Antar. But by then Eddie had already cashed out his Eddie stock, worth between $ 25 million and $ 30 million.
In the spring of 1987, the company's stock price was less than $ 10 per share. In addition, revenues decreased 20% from a year earlier. Franchising does show a 34% increase in sales, but this is mainly the result of 13 new store openings. In May 1987, Eddie started the process of getting the company into a private company again.
Before that happened, Houston-based businessman, Elias Zinn, and management consultant Victor Palmieri began a cruel takeover. With Palmieri's support, Zinn bought Eddie shares worth $ 17.5 million, representing 7.5% of the outstanding shares. As soon as rumors about a takeover began, financial analysts began closely examining Crazy Eddie's financial situation. What they found was that most of the company's shareholders had lost money since 1984, Eddie had sold 6.5 million shares worth $ 74 million. Flurry of stockholders' lawsuit filed against the Inter family.
Eddie and Sammy briefly attempted to fight Zinn's takeover bid, but Zinn quickly increased their funds. Antars' offer expired, and Zinn became the new owner of Crazy Eddie on November 6, 1987. He immediately fired the entire Antar family from any important work. When financial analyst Palmieri completed their initial audit a few weeks after the takeover, they estimated that Crazy Eddie's inventory was only $ 40 to $ 50 million. The last figure is $ 80 million.
In June 1988, Eddie Crazy's suppliers demanded the liquidation of the company, so that they could recover the money they had; in 1989 they got their wish. The closure of Crazy Eddie began in March 1989, when the company closed 17 of its 43 stores. On June 6, 1989, Eddie Gila was presented with a petition by five of his creditors, who had not paid the total $ 860,000 they borrowed, trying to get the company forced into bankruptcy. Initially the company planned to fight the petition and propose the dismissal, but 15 days later Eddie voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company president and CEO, Peter Martosella, cited problems created by the creditor positions (which he called "mistaken"), but said the business would done as usual in 26 other stores and that Eddie Gila is still a strong franchise. The company vowed to stay in business but despite Martosella's statement, Eddie Crazy continued to falter. In the fall of 1989, sales continued to decline and stores were unable to store inventory due to a lack of interest in suppliers in the company. Faced with these facts, Eddie's management decided that the chain was not worth keeping. As soon as Crazy Eddie started selling outside the business, but store inventory remained minimal even when items left over from closed stores were shipped to others who were still operating. By the end of 1989 there were 26 Eddie Gila locations left and the chain was gone. Over a three-year period, Eddie Gila has gone from one of the most profitable retailers in the United States, trading at $ 75 per share, to bankruptcy and liquidation.
Legal battle
Meanwhile, an old colleague of Eddie named Arnie Spindler, who left the company after Eddie sacked his father, Sam, brothers Allen and Mitchell, and others after a family dispute, has given investigators information about fraudulent business practices Eddie. Spindler includes Eddie and Sammy, but declares that all family members are innocent, even though a call from the court is given to the entire Antar family.
Based on information gathered during his investigation, the SEC accused Eddie of Inter with illegal securities and illegal trafficking on September 6, 1989. In January 1990, a Federal district judge ordered Antar to repatriate more than $ 50 million that had been illegally transferred to Israel. He was also ordered to appear in court to explain what happened to the money. When he failed to show up, an arrest warrant was issued. Eddie surrendered to the USS Marshals a week later, but was released and ordered to appear at the second hearing. When he failed to appear at the hearing, a second arrest warrant was issued and his assets frozen.
Eddie fled to Israel using a fake passport and alias David Jacob Levi Cohen, and bought a townhouse in the town of Yavne. After Eddie left the country, Sammy offered to testify for Federal prosecutors in exchange for immunity. Sammy pleaded guilty to three serious crimes. He avoided prison time in exchange for his testimony, and was sentenced to six months of house arrest, 1,200 hours of community service, three years probation, and a fine of more than $ 10,000. In 2009, Sammy was an advisor to government agencies and businesses investigating fraud.
Eddie was arrested in June 1992 on allegations of a federal extortion conspiracy and extradited to the United States in January 1993. He pleaded not guilty and his trial began in June 1993, and was jointly charged by US Attorney Paul Weissman and Michael Chertoff. On July 20, Eddie was found guilty of seventeen allegations of fraud. His brother, Mitchell, was found guilty of three charges, and released on two. Eddie was sentenced to 12 1 / 2 years in jail. Antars lawyers immediately appealed, citing what they believed to be biased on the part of the presiding judge. In April 1995, the verdict against Eddie and Mitchell was annulled by the Federal appeals panel. Chertoff, calling Eddie "Vader Darth Capitalism," vowed to start a new trial.
Eddie Antar eventually pleaded guilty to allegations of federal fraud in May 1996. In February 1997, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was also ordered to pay a fine of over $ 150 million, in addition to more than $ 1 billion in judgments against him resulting from various civil suits. Attempts to recover additional money from the Inter family on behalf of the defrauded shareholders were completed in 2012.
Restore attempt
As soon as the chain closed in 1989, a New Jersey-based investment group led by Alex Adjimi bought rights to the trademark Eddie Gila and announced in January 1990 that they had purchased rentals at Eddie Brooklyn and other stores in East Brunswick, Jersey new. The intention of the Adjimi group is to reopen the chain, but no effort has ever been made.
In 1998, the grandchildren of Eddie, Allen and Mitchell Antar, revived the chain with stores in Wayne, New Jersey, and as an online Internet venture, crazyeddieonline.com. The revived company maintained its "Insane price" slogan and reinstated Jerry Carroll, who has now set up his own advertising agency, as a spokesperson. Despite plans to expand the chain to 10 potential stores, the new Eddie Gila did not expand beyond the Wayne store and in 1999 the only shop from the revived chain was closed.
Eddie returned to the company in 2001, which has now been doing business solely as an internet business and buy-over-phone for over a year. He restarted the Web site as crazyeddie.com and once again hired Jerry Carroll to do his advertising. In 2004, crazyeddie.com disappeared again, and after a brief attempt to revive online retailers in 2005, Eddie Gila no longer exists. The trademarks of Eddie Gila and related intellectual property rights were later acquired by a Texas-based company, Trident Growth Fund. In July 2006, Trident attempted to auction the crazyeddie.com brand and domain name on eBay, but the reserve price was not met.
On March 3, 2009, it was announced that the Brooklyn-based businessman Jack Gemal had purchased the rights on behalf of Eddie Gila and quickly started Eddie's new online business Crazy at pricesareinsane.com. Gemal is also reported to be looking for retail space for new retail location Eddie Crazy, stating that he wants to open 50 locations over the next two years. This online business does business in the same way as other online stores Crazy Eddie, sells equipment and other electronics over the Internet. However, Gemal has never been able to find the retail space he is looking to restart the Eddie Gila store chain, and by 2012 online business ends. The pricesareinsane.com site no longer exists, and by 2018, Eddie Crazy's brand is listed as abandoned.
Death Eddie Inter
On September 10, 2016, Eddie Antar died at the age of 68. A funeral home in Ocean Township, New Jersey confirmed the death, but no excuse. CNBC commentator and journalist Herb Greenberg said that Antar's death was "the end of an era".
References
External links
- 'Intermediate' Crazy Eddie 'History page
- CE Ads
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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