banktime.com

I’m always dumbfounded by some of the ridiculous “news” stories I run across in my research for this site. Looking up recent news articles on insurance, for instance, yielded this recent blip. Out of New York state comes the ludicrous story of George Bardwil and his one hundred eighty-seven thousand dollar belt buckle. Bardwil, a businessman, was arrested in May 2009 for punching his housekeeper hard enough that she ended up in a New York City hospital in intensive care. That’s neither here nor there for the purposes of this story, although Bardwil did plead guilty to misdemeanor assault in November. Bardwil’s family owns Bardwil Industries, a massive linen supply company. That’s ostensibly where he got the scrilla to buy a jewel-encrusted belt buckle worth more than the average American family’s home.

When Bardwil was arrested and booked, he claims that a member of New York’s Finest stole his beloved chunk of diamonds and emeralds. He got his insurance company, Chubb Indemnity Insuranec Company, to sue the city for having allegedly “”breached, failed and violated its duties and obligations as (custodian) of property entrusted to its care” by not returning the massive belt buckle o’ jewels to Bardwil’s possession. The company had paid out the claim on Bardwil’s buckle, and is pursuing the city for the chunk of change they forked up to continue holding up Bardwil’s pants. I myself wonder what on earth anyone would do with a doubtlessly distinctive jewel-encrusted, custom belt buckle that did not belong to them, but I guess that’s not the point!