The mastermind behind an online persona that mocked Wall Street with an often razor tone and an insider's touch was finally exposed today.
The New York Times unmasked former Citigroup banker John Lefevre as the architect of "GS Elevator Gossip," a widely read Twitter account that sprouted in 2011 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
The Twitter feed, popular with Wall Street cognoscenti and with readers who enjoy seeing it mocked, purported to chronicle the blustery utterances of gold-plated bankers at Goldman Sachs.
"Some chick asked me what I would do with 10 million bucks," said one of the Tweets. "I told her I'd wonder where the rest of my money went."
"Getting laid off from Goldman is like being traded by the Yankees," read another message. "You'll probably still make millions, but it's just not the same."
The Twitter phenomenon reportedly spurred an investigation at Goldman to identify the feed's author. But one of the revelations of the Times piece is that Lefevre does not work at Goldman and never did.
Lefevre, 34, worked for seven years at Citigroup in New York, London and Hong Kong and then at a startup boutique firm in Asia. He now lives in Texas, the newspaper said.
Lefevre was offered a job in Hong Kong with Goldman in 2010, but it fell through because a former employer said he was bound by a non-competition agreement, Lefevre told the Times.
Lefevre in January landed a book deal, reportedly at six figures, to publish "Straight to Hell," a humorous behind-the-scenes look at Wall Street.
The Twitter account, which currently has some 632,000 followers, takes tips from readers who are encouraged to help ensure that "things heard in the Goldman Sachs elevators do not stay in the Goldman Sachs elevators.
