Cantor-Fitzgerald

One of the most hypocritical, stupid and insincere victim-playing acts was done not by a person but by an entire company. Cantor Fitzgerald, an overpaid, over-complimented money grubbing company (let's not forget what they do) lost hundreds in the WTC attack. The company took a blow unequaled in American business. In the immediate aftermath, there was sympathy for the company... Then, in the months following, this serpent of business reared its ugly head. First, it whined that a competing company tried to lure executives away from it and actually had the gall to take legal action, saying it was not right and fair for a competitor to use the event for business... not long afterward, Cantor had NO PROBLEM doing exactly that as it aired commercials with staffers who survived. -- Crosshairs

In 1994, Mark Anderson went to work in the Los Angeles branch of Cantor Fitzgerald, a prestigious securities trading firm. Like other young stock traders, he relished the chance to make up to $3 million a year, and worked hard to complete the firm's rigorous training program. But when rumors spread through the office that Anderson was gay, he became the brunt of a series of degrading slurs and pranks, including a gay-sex photo doctored to include his face, a deli sandwich stuffed with a rubber vagina, and an incident where he was urinated upon in the bathroom. To make matters worse, Anderson couldn't complain to Human Resources, since the pranksters were the branch's top partners. Still, he kept working. After completing his training and serving a stint in the firm's New York office, he was sent to a sales convention in Dallas, where he saw himself mocked in a "training" video on "serving the homosexual community," and saw his Alfa Romeo repainted as a police "cruiser" embellished with gay slurs like "Butt Pirate" and "Rump Ranger." After Mark returned to Los Angeles, his senior partner called him in to tell him "It's not working out." Anderson ultimately quit and sued for sexual harassment and wrongful termination, only to discover he had unwittingly signed away his right to sue when he took his Series 7 stockholders' exam before joining the firm. In 1998, Anderson settled with Cantor Fitzgerald; the terms remain confidential.