Former Wall Street Trader Convicted Of Arson; Swallows Pill In Court; Dies: VIDEO
This is a very 2012 sort of story, in the gruesomest possible way.
Michael Marin was once a Wall Street trader, and he must have made a lot of money. In the waning years of the last decade he lived in Arizona, where he was on the hook for almost $20,000 in monthly mortgage payments. In 2008 he had a million dollars in the bank; by the end of 2009 he had nothing. He tried a novel raffle scheme to pay down some of his several millions of dollars of debt. It didn't work. Very soon Marin's mansion burned down, and he was arrested for arson. On Thursday, in Maricopa County, he was convicted as charged. His offense was punishable with up to 16 years in prison.
Video from the courtroom shows Marin surreptitiously gobbling a pill just after the verdict is handed down. He washes the pill down with a sports drink, and a few minutes later begins convulsing. Marin died on his way to a hospital.
See Newsy's coverage of Marin's apparent suicide AFTER THE JUMP ...
Too bad ALL the Wallstreet PIGS don't do this to themselves as well!
Posted by: Fruit-for-Peace | Jul 1, 2012 2:19:34 PM
I'm not going to watch it. Kinda gruesome don't you think?
Posted by: Scar2 | Jul 1, 2012 2:19:57 PM
Why is this in any way relevant to Towleroad readers?
Posted by: Bitter Pill | Jul 1, 2012 2:21:29 PM
I watched the video - its harmless, but crazy story, just file bankruptcy and call it a day!
Posted by: Marky | Jul 1, 2012 2:26:24 PM
Why do people get so uppity when a side titled "Towleroad: More Than Gay News" posts a store that isn't explicity gay?
Posted by: antisaint | Jul 1, 2012 2:30:54 PM
"Why is this in any way relevant to Towleroad readers?"
I hate when posters ask that. It's on the site. Clearly you read it.
On topic: Indeed, this is a very grim event. As BKT puts it, it is very 2012.
Posted by: Michael | Jul 1, 2012 2:32:02 PM
cyanide?
Posted by: candide001 | Jul 1, 2012 2:37:02 PM
cyanide?
Posted by: candide001 | Jul 1, 2012 2:37:03 PM
Did this man care when he set his home on fire that people could have died fighting to put it out? Apparently not. Anyway, he got caught, had a fair trial, and was convicted. He should have done his time, probably would have gotten out a lot sooner with good behavior. He couldn't deal with his socioeconomic down-fall and perhaps more importantly his lack of control of the situation. I'll bet the man was a control freak and narcissist. He had to prove he was in-charge right up 'til the end. And I assume he had a family and responsibilities also; his suicide certainly isn't going to help in the $ department.
Posted by: ratbastard | Jul 1, 2012 2:46:39 PM
If Towleroad is going to report the same insipid non-news stories that you can see (and that I have seen) on at least a dozen other mainstream news sites, then why come here?
Posted by: Bitter Pill | Jul 1, 2012 2:53:08 PM
Agreed, Bitter Pill, why are you coming here to complain? There are literally millions of other anonymous outlets on the 'net in which you can whine.
Let me dumb this down for you: Wah-wah.
Posted by: Michael | Jul 1, 2012 2:59:13 PM
I strongly agree with Bitter.
I have a news feed that alerts me to new posts on Towleroad beacause in the past, they have generally had items of specific interest, or at least they added some analysis and/or interpretation that made the article/news item worth mentioning.
This article is totally irrelevant to the target audeicne, and just regurgitating it here degrades the brand of Towleroad. I can understand a slow news day, but really as the site seems to be expanding, it's becoming a LOT less interesting.
Ain't customer feedback grand?
Posted by: Long Time Reader, First Time Commenter | Jul 1, 2012 4:34:57 PM
He took the easy way out- he did not want to get gang raped for the next fifteen years- and yeah I agree what is gay angle of this story?!
Posted by: jaragon | Jul 1, 2012 5:29:28 PM
God, what is it with some of you people!!!
Does EVERYTHING have to have a gay element?!
It's a bizarre case that I personally found interesting. How often do you hear about a scenario like this, especially one caught on camera.
Get off your gay soapboxes!
Posted by: Settle down girls | Jul 1, 2012 8:03:19 PM
Fascinating news story and of interest to gay people on many levels, particularly as a suicide-prone group. I'm glad he posted it.
May we all shoulder difficult situations better than he and soldier on. Bankruptcy is a humane option.
Posted by: Rob | Jul 1, 2012 8:50:26 PM
dude was LIVING BEYOND HIS MEANS.
a casualty of Consumerism. yet another reason i'm not terribly close with shallow, materialistic people.
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Defendant-commits-suspect-suicide-in-Ariz-courtroom.html:
"Prosecutors painted him as a desperate man who had $50 in his bank account in July 2009, down from $900,000 a year earlier. He also had a monthly mortgage payment on the mansion of $17,250 and an upcoming balloon payment of $2.3 million."
Posted by: redball | Jul 1, 2012 9:28:38 PM
I subscribe to Towleroad by RSS feed. I don't read all of the articles. However, this article did call my attention. I think that complaining in the comments of what Andy Towle puts on his own blog is inappropriate. If an article is not of interest to you, then don't read it. Over time, people change. People sometimes grow apart. If you can no longer exercise your own judgement and are unable to limit your reading to only the articles that interest you, and if you firmly believe that Towleroad is no longer a good fit for you, then find another blog. I read AmericaBlogGay, Towleroad, The Mad Professah Lectures, Box Turtle Bulletin, Joe. My. God. and Equality Matters. I don't have time to read every article on each site, so I read the ones that interest me and skip the ones that don't. If this story is not of interest to you, then just skip over it.
Posted by: Bryan J Blumberg | Jul 1, 2012 10:13:16 PM
Now there's a man that's going to Hell...err...in Hell!
Posted by: Garst | Jul 2, 2012 12:15:56 AM
All these stories are so frustrating because they demonstrate how the people who have such a tremendous influence over our economy are completely incapable of taking responsibility for their actions. It's doubly frustrating because the Republicans constantly go on and on about "personal responsibility," yet put guys like this up on a pedestal and continually seek to give them more latitude to act and decrease oversight over them. Time and time again our financial and business leaders have demonstrated that they are unable to take responsibility for their actions so why do Republicans keep trying to convince us that these guys can police themselves?
Posted by: Matt | Jul 2, 2012 12:23:35 AM
One of the things I enjoy most about Towleroad is the sheer variety of what is posted. An example: all the links about astronomy that appear here -- the details of extra-solar planets has little if any relationship to anything "gay" - and yet I think I have followed each one of those links and have enjoyed doing so. Hats off to Andy for the mix he provides -- if I didn't find it enjoyable, I wouldn't be checking it multiple times a day.
Posted by: Canadian Observer | Jul 2, 2012 12:23:39 AM
I'm thinking that this is just the start.
America is filled with guys like this... guys who lived ultra high on a massive horse that was made up of non-existent money, made-up fortunes and houses of cards that were built by taking more than they had from people who had even less.
Look at the Madoffs. The only reason Bernie is still alive is probably that they didn't give him enough time to do it. Mark Madoff knew he was going to have to give it all up... and had the time.
The Lawsuits are just starting. It's going to be ugly. Like.. French Revolution ugly. Once people find out what happened to their houses, how they were mislead and ripped off, how their savings were drained and how their lives were ruined by the greed of guys like this... guys who would stop at nothing to cheat the system and walk away... the ones who don't off themselves are going to have a very... hard time.
Posted by: Red Assault | Jul 2, 2012 1:12:30 AM
No one needs a BITTER PILL for anything (except the the death of this loser) . I love the mix here. Bye bye.
Posted by: UFFDA | Jul 2, 2012 1:19:23 AM
He could've been raped in prison. There, that's your gay element.
Posted by: Jase | Jul 2, 2012 1:53:42 AM
Ok fine, let's make this gay *rolls eyes*
Gays like show tunes right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAgm13acwoI
Posted by: chris255 | Jul 2, 2012 3:32:45 AM
LOL@ "He could've been raped in prison. There, that's your gay element"
JASE, I know what you're very cynically trying to do, but prison rape has NOTHING to do with Gay.
(You just couldn't resist going the b.tchy route, could you? Well, so do I...sometimes)
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jul 2, 2012 9:51:11 AM