Should this guy change his firm’s name to Round Hill Capital?

Would a guy like this rip you off? Never!

North Street Capital makes bid for Winnebago. Trouble is, Winnebago doesn’t think it’s a serious offer. Something about North Street’s principal, Alex Mascioli  made my long dormant stock broker fraud detection hackles rise and after a little bit of Googling, I can see why. Here’s the beginning of the story, from the Wall Street Journal:

Winnebago said Friday it asked for more information about North Street’s April offer, but received only a partial response before the firm raised its offer. Winnebago described the latest offer as “highly conditional” and requiring additional investigation to convince Winnebago executives and its board that North Street would be able to carry through on its offer.

“Based on what we’ve been able to find out about the offer and the principals, we just don’t believe the offer is credible,” said Shelia Davis, Winnebago’s investor relations manager.

North Street Managing Director Alex Mascioli said the Greenwich, Conn., firm has provided all requested information to Winnebago, including the name of its underwriter.

“We have no problem answering questions about anything they ask,” he said, adding: The offer “is not a joke.”

When the bidder has to insist, “this is not a joke’, it probably is.

So who is Alex Mascioli? He got a lot of media coverage for his self-anointment  as the savior of Saab, but as you know, the deal never happened and Saab is no more. He also claimed he’d purchased, for $43 million, the Dutch company  Spyker Motor Cars but the announcement of that purchase was premature, at best, because that transaction never closed either.

We do know that Mascioli  either shares the same name and birth date as a serial drunk/ex – convict or he is that guy. This is one ugly rap sheet, including assault, forgery, multiple DUI’s, arrests for failure to appear, and several jail sentences for some or all of the above. Once (2008) lived at 24 Hemlock Drive, Greenwich in what seems to have been a rented, modest home, perhaps lives in Norwalk now. Or not.

We know that North Street Capital has a website that’s no web site at all, unless you consider a stock photograph of Wall Street a complete web site.

The SEC has no record that any company named North Street Capital exists.

I have no idea who this man is, whether he’s a jail bird or a legitimate businessman, but it is true that some of the most colorful characters in the world of financial scams continue to use Greenwich in their names – adds such a nice aura of respectability and solid wealth, doesn’t it?

UPDATE: A reader adds this:

Mickey Sherman defends Greenwich CT racecar driver and entertainment businessman Alex Mascioli

Mickey Sherman, the famous Connecticut defense attorney has taken on the case of defending retired racecar driver and entertainment businessman from posh Greenwich Connecticut Alex Mascioli. Mickey Sherman who was Michael Skakels, Alex Kelly and many other notables attorney has taken on a case that only befits the wealthy in Fairfield County Connecticut. Former racecar driver turned entertainment businessman Alex Mascioli is in court defending himself against assault charges along with a list of felony protective order violations from a woman bartender from tony L’escale and Solaia eateries who he had an affair with while still being married to one of Greenwich’s most high end interior designers.

Published on:2006-12-16 
http://seenation.com/print_news_details.php?newsid=11860

And there’s this, from someone who dug around into the man’s background and wasn’t impressed. Not a very successful race car driver apparently, but the article about his felony does describe him as a “retired” racer. Failure can make that decision easier.