Who is Robert Chapman: Hedge Fund Maverick Has Bizarre Letters Profiled in the New Yorker

Who's your favorite cartoon business character? Donald Trump? One of the Pritsker brothers? From the days of Michael Lewis, and the book 'Liar's Poker", the bad boy image on Wall Street has been an internally cultivated one. The spectator sport of watching tuned minds play billions of dollars through the Wall Street corporate maze can be quite a show. Donald Trump, who fell from grace when he took himself seriously, now has become a television star as a camp hero whose catchphrase is the most unpopular and dreaded in the English language, "Your're fired".

Salomon Brothers has birthed yet another such "success" story. Wall Street takes a tolerant view of precociously wealthy men with rude streaks. The latest bad boy in the world of high finance is a name not familiar to many outside these investment banking and finance communities. But those watching the play of insider deals know the name well. An individual named Bob Chapman has emerged as the darling of the business press and slipped into the industry consciousness and captured the attention of public media. Do you know who Bob Chapman is?

Did Bob Chapman invent the 13-D filing? What is a 13D filing? Why is this important? Big money business deals get sparked by the 13D filing. Stock traders pay attention and know who Bob Chapman is. For those watching the mores of big businessmen and the games they play, Bob Chapman can be seen either as a symbol or symptom of the materialism that grips market forces.

If you've never heard of Bob Chapman, you aren't alone. But popular culture has its own celebrity, and the business world is no different. In the high risk, no-holds barred world of arbitrage, Bob Chapman has carved out a sharp, edgy niche. By being...himself. Business finance used to be a place where Boston Brahmins existed on a par equal to gentleman of the upper classes of the old world. They kept "banker's hours" and kept to their clubs and home with traditional friends and associates. But the maverick of today breaks all the rules.