Blowing Sunshine
Jay Lucas preached positivity while looting his $50 million private equity fund
In the 1980s, Jay Lucas was a partner at Bain & Co., where Mitt Romney also built his early career. In 1998, he won the Republican nomination for New Hampshire governor. Twenty years later, he published “American Sunshine: Rays of Hope and Opportunity.”
On Friday, Lucas pleaded guilty to securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Prosecutors say Lucas raised more than $50 million for his private equity funds at Manhattan-based Lucas Brand Equity. Then he “defrauded investors by, among other things, systematically misappropriating their funds.”
Lucas spent years urging others to embrace optimism, personal responsibility and community. “Positive energy inspires positive change,” was one of his favorite maxims.
At age 71, he faces up to 20 years in federal on each count. How’s that for change?
“Lucas allegedly lied, frittered away investor money on personal vanity projects, and betrayed his obligations to his investors,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in announcing an indictment in December.
Investors’ money went to spreading sunshine.
Lucas used it for personal expenses, including alimony and rent. He funneled millions into his wife's luxury skincare company, Immunocologie, where prosecutors say the money financed lavish trips, events and a busy social calendar. He also acquired his failing hometown newspaper and paid political consultants to polish his image.
Lucas poured investor’s money into Flags Of Valor, a veterans’ craft business that he owned, according to the indictment. According to its website:
“Our mission is to bring American values to the forefront for families, friends and communities with American-made goods designed and crafted for this generation to pass onto the next.”
What the next generation will get is a pile of unpaid debt.
It’s not like Lucas couldn’t do the math. He’s a Yale graduate with degrees from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. But all he seems to have offered the world was sunny clichés.
Here’s how he described his private equity firm on his LinkedIn page:
“Partnering and investing with small emerging, purpose driven brands in beauty, wellness and personal care to drive growth, create value and have a positive social impact!”
“American Sunshine” hardly ends there. In 2018, Lucas launched the Sunshine Initiative, a booster club for small-town America.
But when dusk arrived, all that sunshine cast a dark shadow.
