‘Rainmaker’ Beck Left Trail of Lies--Report

Investment banker Jeffrey Beck, who helped negotiate some of the biggest takeovers of the 1980s, continually lied about his past, fabricating stories about his background and military service and claiming to work for the Central Intelligence Agency, a published report said today.

Beck, a member of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.’s mergers and acquisitions department, allegedly told friends and colleagues over the years that he had served in the Army’s Special Forces in Vietnam, that he did intelligence work for the U.S. government and that he would inherit a family fortune of $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

However, the newspaper said after interviewing friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances of the investment banker, none of the stories apparently was true. Drexel and Oppenheimer & Co., which was Beck’s previous employer, kept him in their mergers and acquisitions departments although many of his co-workers did not believe his stories, the report said.

Beck could not immediately be reached today to comment on the story; his office said he was out.

The newspaper said that during an interview Beck backtracked on some of his prior claims, categorically denying that he had told most of the stories attributed to him by what the newspaper called business associates, friends and others.

“This is getting wilder and wilder,” he told the newspaper. “I am beyond shock.”

Beck acknowledged there were no official records of his Vietnam service, but said he had made trips to Vietnam, the newspaper reported.

The article also said Beck claimed he had done years of intelligence work, but denied having told people he worked for the CIA or that he would inherit a $2-billion fortune.

Beck, nicknamed “Mad Dog,” is a “rainmaker,” one who drums up takeover business for investment firms. He has been highly successful, working as an adviser to the buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. on a number of deals, including its record $24.53-billion purchase of RJR Nabisco Inc. in 1988.