Abducted millionaire released unharmed, without losing a cent

GREENWICH, Conn. -- Three weeks ago, one of the richest men in America was abducted from a parking garage in this wealthy New York suburb after leaving work at his $5 billion hedge fund.

The kidnappers were clearly out of their league.

Authorities said Edward Lampert's abductors were from crime-ridden New Haven neighborhoods a world away from Greenwich. Two had drug convictions; one was an eighth-grade dropout who, according to his lawyer, cannot read or write.

The man they seized and held for ransom was a tightfisted figure with a reputation for coolness under fire and a penchant for calling the shots when it comes to money.

And the plot they hatched was B-movie quality, executed with such comic ineptitude that they used their captive's credit cards while they were still holding him, investigators say.

'Misguided soldiers'

"They're like misguided soldiers of fortune," said Michael Sherman, a well-known lawyer in Greenwich who is not involved in the case. "They seemed to be making the plan as they went along."

After being held hostage in a motel room for just over a day, the 40-year-old Lampert was dropped off unharmed -- and without losing a cent -- near the Greenwich police station. According to news reports, he was set free after promising his abductors $5 million in ransom.

Within days, four men were arrested in the scheme.

Except for a statement of thanks to the authorities, friends and business partners, Lampert has refused to discuss his ordeal and his acquaintances have clammed up.

Worth $800 million

Lampert is worth an estimated $800 million, good enough for No. 288 on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. He built his fortune by investing in a few solid, unflashy companies like AutoNation, Office Depot and Payless Shoes after painstaking research, a technique used by his mentor, Warren Buffett.

By 28, he was a part-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team along with George W. Bush, and his investors include Michael Dell of Dell Computer and media mogul David Geffen.

"What I have always wanted to do, and the reason I set up my own business, is to make the investment decisions in whatever areas I thought I understood and made sense," Lampert told The Washington Post in 1995. "If I was the quarterback, I didn't want the coach calling the plays."

His strategy works: According to Institutional Investor, Lampert's hedge funds have grown by an average of 24.5 percent per year since 1988, nearly double the performance of the S&P 500.

Yet Lampert for years drove a beat-up car and lived in a rented apartment (in 1999, he bought a $20 million mansion). When his mother once complained about her 7-year-old car, he told her to take better care of it.

On Friday evening, Jan. 10, four young men toting a shotgun jumped him in a parking garage. He was taken to a Days Inn outside New Haven and, according to news reports, spent the next 30 hours chatting with his abductors and trying to make a deal with them.

Records in the case are sealed. But a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the kidnappers blindfolded Lampert, called the cell phone of a member of Lampert's family and played a recording of his voice to confirm his captivity.

Bought pizza with plastic

Investigators also noticed activity on his credit cards. According to news reports, the kidnappers even used plastic to buy pizza.

"They were zeroing in on these guys almost immediately," the source said.

The alleged ringleader, 23-year-old former Marine Renaldo Rose, may have used the Internet to buy ski masks, handcuffs and bullet-resistant vests for the caper, the source said. News reports also said he used the Internet to research wealthy targets before settling on Lampert.

Not long after Lampert's release, three of his alleged captors were arrested, still at the motel, where authorities found a shotgun and a mask. Shemone Gordon, 23, and Devon Harris, 19, were charged under federal extortion law. The third suspect is 17; details of his case are sealed.

Rose was captured Jan. 18 in Canada.

All three adults could get up to 20 years in prison.

Gordon and Harris' lawyers have said the two maintain their innocence.