The New York Observer a little while ago followed up on some of the doings of celebrated ex-Wall Streeter Christian Curry. A few years back, it will be recalled, Mr. Curry filed an employment-bias case against Morgan Stanley, which had fired him after nude pictures of him were published in a sexually explicit magazine (see Nov. 20, 2000). At the time, one bit of mystery stirred comment, namely that Mr. Curry appeared to be flush with money shortly after the settlement even though the parties contended that “no payment” had been made to him for dropping his suit. According to the Observer piece, “several published reports that followed Mr. Curry’s free-spending post-scandal ventures indicated that he had gotten tens of millions of dollars — the figures have ranged from $15 million to $52 million — via some confidential arrangement (the scenarios have varied as well) with his former employer. The February 2001 issue of Brill’s Content, for example, cited ‘a source familiar with the agreement’ who claimed that Morgan Stanley ‘circumvented any direct payment to Curry by compensating three other litigants, all of whom were also suing the firm for discrimination in actions filed shortly after Curry’s, and all of whom were represented by Curry’s attorney Benedict Morelli.’ The source contended that it was left up to Morelli ‘to parcel out the money among his clients.'” (Frank DiGiacomo, “Where is Curry? Man Who Sued Morgan Vanishes”, New York Observer, Aug. 4). More on attorney Morelli: Robert Kolker, “Benedict Morelli Feels Your Pain”, New York, Mar. 13, 2000.

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