Spy correspondent Julius Lowenthal wanted to know just how cheap some of the city’s richest figures were. So he set up a company, called the National Refund Clearinghouse, and sent letters with checks for $1.11 enclosed, “for services that you were overcharged for.” The letters went out to 58 “well-known, well-heeled Americans,” 26 of whom promptly cashed them. Curious as to how low they might go, Lowenthal sent those 26 “nabobs” a second refund check, for $0.64. This time, 13 people cashed them.

Finally, he sent those 13 respondents a check for $0.13. This time, only two people cashed the check. One was an arms dealer. The other was Donald Trump, whom the magazine identified as a “demibillionaire casino operator and adulturer.”

[–] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not defending them here at all, but did the checks need to be chased personally? I assume their assistant opened/gathered/cashed all their incoming checks.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

Valid point. Maybe you're right. If it was one series of checks, definitely possible It's interesting how less of them got cashed as the values went down. Maybe the arms dealer and Trump are the only ones who never looked at the amounts (which maybe says a similar message).

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

One was an arms dealer

Dammit Viktor Bout strikes again.