- The Wall Street Journal – Renaissance Feud Spills Over to Hedge Fund Poker Night
Executive David Magerman says he had hoped to repair frayed relationship with Mercers
Mr. Magerman hit his own losing streak. Around 10:30 p.m., after he consumed several glasses of 12-year-old scotch, Mr. Magerman left the tournament. He decided to watch others play, including Ms. Mercer, a former Renaissance employee. The two hadn’t spoken in years, but Mr. Magerman said he hoped for a friendly interaction. When Ms. Mercer saw Mr. Magerman hovering nearby, he said she became agitated. “You’re pond scum,” Ms. Mercer told him, repeatedly, according to Mr. Magerman and two people at the table. “You’ve been pond scum for 25 years; I’ve always known it.” … A security member approached, telling Mr. Magerman to back away from the table. He refused, dodged the security and approached Mr. Simons, asking for help. Mr. Simons said he thought it best if Mr. Magerman left, according to Mr. Magerman and another person at the event. Security forced him outside to the curb, Mr. Magerman said. “I’m not denying I was a little impacted by the alcohol,” Mr. Magerman told The Wall Street Journal several days after the event. “But that doesn’t change what she said to me, or what I said to her. I didn’t start the fight, and I didn’t resort to the petty name calling like she did.”
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While high stakes poker games are nothing new to Wall Street, sometimes life really does imitate art. The overly dramatized clip below aired on the Showtime show Billions a couple months ago.