Wall St. Sexting Suit Target now the “Berkshire Hathaway of Sports,” he Says

Two years ago, Thomas Guerriero was the subject of an ugly Wall Street sexting lawsuit. The young consulting firm head faced accusations from his former intern, Karen Lo, that he’d sent her lewd emails, videos and texts, including an alleged graphic video of male self-gratification. Needless to say it was an embarrassing episode – BusinessInsider and Dealbreaker wrote damning pieces on Guerriero and his business at the time, a consultancy firm called Guerriero Wealth Holdings (the former of the two published an account from a purported job applicant, who called Guerriero a “boiler room” operator. Ouch.) Guerriero faded into the background, and only in the last few months was the suit dropped.

Today, in an exclusive interview with Mogulite, Guerriero says he’s back in business — oh, and he says he’s “just like Warren Buffett” nowadays. Can you call it a comeback? Or will the scrutiny that’s plagued finance’s alleged bad boy follow him on his latest reinvention?

Let’s back up first, and address the obvious: Guerriero could give Rick Santorum a run for his money, when it comes to having a “Google problem.” And let’s just say that the coverage of that lawsuit against him wasn’t exactly gentle. Looking back on the claim – and Wall Street culture in general – Guerriero said he was victimized because of his success.

“Whenever you’re young and wealthy and you have a big name, you know, people, they come knocking on the door, asking for a couple a grand a week or they’re going to go to the press. You can’t stop that when you’re in a position like that. Those things really don’t concern me,” Guerriero said.

Although he said he wouldn’t comment directly on the Lo suit, Guerriero did point out that the claim was dropped. A New York State Supreme Court official confirmed the case was disposed Feb. 25, 2011.

Mogulite was not able to reach Lo, and multiple requests for comment from attorneys on both sides went unreturned.

So where is Guerriero today? Well, he’s done with Wall Street he said, and the alleged “blood thirsty people who are looking to take your legs out from under you,” who he says, umm, populate the area. He sold his company, and started a new venture, WMX Group.

A holding group that launched in January, WMX contains four companies: World Mercantile Exchange (“the safest and most secure proprietary trading platform for the buying and selling of real agricultural products across the globe”); WEX Lab (“conducting world-class, cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in genomics and other fundamental sciences”); The Harvard Think Tank (which funds startups); and WEX Sports, which is, arguably, the focus of Guerriero’s reinvention.

WEX Sports purports to have a minority stake in numerous teams – including several European football teams, the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks. It is not a way of picking up investors; on that Guerriero is adamant. Rather it’s his pet project – funded entirely by himself, he says.

“[We're] the Berkshire Hathaway of professional sports. We do have diversified holdings on several teams,” Guerriero said, adding that he hopes to end up “taking a majority of several of the most dominant teams in the world,” down the road.

He couldn’t say specifically what total dollar amount that he currently has invested in the teams he has stakes in, because “it actually fluctuates on a day to day basis.” Hmm. He did, however, note that WEX maintains “under a 15-percent interest in each of the teams,” so take that for what it’s worth.

As far as investors go, Guerriero said he’s “turned away pretty much everyone who’s approached us, even if they had a $50 million check.” He noted that, “it’s not like we need the money,” and that he’s “getting calls every single day from teams that are struggling.”

Guerriero said he couldn’t disclose which teams these are, due to confidentiality concerns.

But, for the lucky few, Guerriero said that WEX is now considering dismantling his investor policy and will begin considering bids from interested parties.

“It’s an extensive vetting process… we have to feel they are not only an accredited investor… but that they’re going to be good to work with hand-in-hand,” Guerriero said.

Any takers?

TAGS: Thomas Guerriero | thomas guerriero sexting | thomas guerriero sexual harrassment lawsuit | thomas guerriero WMX Group

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