Phil Falcone's soap opera of a life continued recently when his wife was arrested for driving while impaired, not from alcohol–she passed a Breathalyzer test–but apparently from prescription medication she was taking for an injury. She has pleaded not guilty.
According to the New York Post, "Lisa Falcone, a 48-year-old film producer, had just left the Hampton Classic Horse Show when she made a sharp turn in her Mercedes SUV in Bridgehampton and rear-ended another Mercedes before smashing into a parked Verizon van. She pleaded with the owner of the Mercedes she hit, Bob Cohen, and Verizon worker Fred Ledermann not to call police, 'saying her husband would pay for everything,' the witness said.
But Ledermann did call. Phil Falcone soon showed up and "shouted at cops to wait for a tow truck. A Southampton Town officer got so fed up with the billionaire's bellowing that he ordered him to the side of the road and called for backup, the witness added. Because she smelled of alcohol and was staggering, the officer asked Lisa Falcone to take a Breathalyzer, according to a police report. From the side of the road, her still-simmering husband yelled, 'Don't take it!' When the cop threatened to arrest her because of the refusal, Phil changed his advice to 'Take it! Take it!' according to the witness."
For Phil Falcone, the founder of Harbinger Capital, this is more bad news to go along with the investigation of his hedge fund practices by the SEC. As far as traffic mishaps go, this one wasn't nearly as bad as the incident involving William Bryan Jennings, an executive at Morgan Stanley who ended up being arrested and charged with charged with second-degree assault, sixth-degree larceny for not paying the fare and intimidation by bias or bigotry after an ill-fated cab ride home to Darien.
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