Opinion: One down on Wall Street

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It’s hard to put a price tag on a person’s reputation, yet some fabulously wealthy people let theirs go for a surprisingly small amount of money. In the case of Wall Street star Peter Lynch, the public face of Fidelity Investments, the sum would be about $16,000 worth of tickets to rock shows, Ryder Cup tournaments and other events. In case you missed it, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that Lynch, who once ran Fidelity’s prosperous Magellan Fund, had agreed to pay the government $15,948 — the value of the tickets he’d gotten for free — plus $4,183 in interest. According to the SEC’s order, Lynch (now 64) instructed two Fidelity stock traders to obtain free tickets for him from brokers doing or seeking to do business with Fidelity, in violation of federal law. The question is why wouldn’t Lynch simply buy tickets, like ordinary people do? I mean, tickets are always available to those willing to spend the right amount of money, and Lynch has the right amount of money squared. If only he’d stuck with the advice of the old Gallo wine commercial, which said the path to riches was paved in cheap consumables....