22 The Solari Report / 2018 Annual Wrap Up / Part Two I was approached by National Housing Partnership (NHP), a large multifamily property man- ager owned by the Harvard Endowment and an investment company run by one of Harvard’s board members, “Pug” Winokur. The CEO of NHP asked me to start an investment banking company to handle a major portion of NHP’s investment banking transactions. My research indicated that—thanks to advances in digital software and database technology—the cost of starting an independent investment banking operation had dropped dramatically. I finalized a written contract with NHP and its CEO, proceeding with a verbal commitment and shaking of hands. To my surprise, Harvard’s representative then interceded and tried to renegotiate and then abrogated the contract. When I insisted that NHP honor its contract for one transaction underway, I ended up poisoned, barely able to walk for months until enough water and sleep put me back on my feet—no doctor being able to figure out what in the world was wrong. I proceeded without the NHP contract, instead winning a competitive bid for my new company, Hamilton Securities Group, to serve as lead financial advisor to the FHA/HUD. Growing up in Philadelphia, I occasionally interacted with the Italian mafia and their children. Throughout my career, I have also interacted with the Harvard Endowment and its representa- tives. When it comes to mobsters and fraudsters, I prefer the Italian mafia to Harvard. In my experience, the Italian mafia puts on fewer airs and has more respect for families. After starting Hamilton Securities, I was asked by Secretary Brady to join the Federal Reserve as a governor. When I declined, John Sununu, then chief of staff to President Bush, arranged for the President to appoint me to the board of directors of the Student Loan Marketing As- sociation (Sallie Mae). While on that board, the Chairman invited me to join the Council on Foreign Relations but wanted me to ask Nick Brady to sponsor me. I declined to do so. One of Hamilton’s earliest assignments was the recapitalization of Battery Park City Author- ity in New York City—a success story of which I became particularly proud. Harry Albright, former chairman of the Dime Savings Bank, was the Chairman of Battery Park City Authority. I developed tremendous respect for Harry, who then invited me to join the board of the First American Bank after District Attorney Morgenthau appointed him to clean up the situation following the failure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). First Amer- ican and the Department of Justice (DOJ) were in litigation over the assets in the financial carcass. The first thing Harry did was have First American’s Washington litigation counsel send out thousands of pages of legal documents in a Brinks truck to my home in McLean, Virginia. I will never forget the long weekend I spent reading those legal documents. I had rented a modern home in Virginia that stood on a butte overlooking the Potomac River. The living room was all glass, and the local hawks and one eagle regularly entertained me with flybys in front of the windows. Being a speed reader, I consumed legal documents for three days straight in my sunny solitude. When it was over, my paradigm had shifted. I understood that the banking shenanigans at First American and BCCI could only have hap- pened with the help and approval of the U.S. government, including enforcement, intelligence, and central banking agencies—and no doubt the G7 central banks as well. The financial fraud flowing out of the Iran-Contra years was a top-down phenomenon. Given the harm done, it was particularly egregious for the DOJ to claim the carcass for their asset forfeiture fund at the cost of the First American depositors. Helping Harry protect the depositors was certainly worth doing. “What do your people have, Mr. Carlson? We have the United States of America.” – Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd