Then there is stock promoter Charles S. Arnold, a onetime consultant to the firm. Also consider Boris and Michael Vax, convicted Russian racketeers and onetime partners of a jailed Russian godfather. Indeed, Ivana has shown herself to be a valuable asset. In contrast to the posh treatment Ivana received from the execs and shareholders of the 5th Avenue Channel, several employees report an ugly scene below decks. Even while receiving daily inspirational faxes from his rabbi, chief executive Rosen cursed and derided subordinates while aggrandizing himself.
Employees say few contracts ever materialized.
Rosen says a number of business deals collapsed in the wake of negative press. Last year, Barron's revealed connections between the company and a scurvy brokerage firm called Meyers Pollock Robbins. Rosen indignantly claimed in a press release that he'd had nothing to do with Meyers Pollock-that is, not since 1997, when principals of the firm were indicted during a federal prosecution of Mafia stock fraud. Soon after, however, several Meyers Pollock brokers moved to Glenn Michael Financial, where they stayed in regular contact with Rosen's company. Among the Glenn Michael brokers who got to know the company were Michael J. Lake and James W. Cannon Sr., gruff and burly New Yorkers who came to answer questions about the company at the annual stockholders' meeting last February.