What's a 58-year old guy with a 3.5 acre estate on the tremendously exclusive "Back Bay" of Newport Beach, CA, an heir to an incredible real estate fortune, supposed to do with his spare time? Make a great public effort to urge others to contribute to UNICEF, help-out in Darfur, work closely with former Pres. Clinton on curing AIDS? No, this guy has other ideas. Why not mount his 1974 Lamborghini, purchased for a purported $60,000 a decade back, on the big blank wall over the solid glass staircase leading to the wine cellar secured by a door from a KGB prison? Yeah, THAT'S the ticket! (PHOTOS BY RICK LOOMIS, LA TIMES)
I went to high school in Santa Ana, CA, with Richard Moriarty's cousin, Henry Segerstrom. Segerstrom's father and grandfather at that time (1972) owned acres and acres of bean fields in Orange County, CA, right where the then-new San Diego (I-405) Freeway crossed into the Orange County Airport/Newport Beach/Costa/Mesa area of the County. The Back Bay of Newport Beach is mostly a reserve for fish and birds, but parcels of it are privately owned.
Richard Moriarty, cousin of my high school friend and nephew of the original Segerstrom's, apparently did okay financially when the family sold some of their bean fields to folks who developed South Coast Plaza, one of the world's ritziest shopping areas, and followed with several office towers, hotels and the Orange County Performing Arts Center (the Arts Center land was donated by the Segerstrom family).
According to THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, "Moriarty, 58, is known for his irreverent tastes. In the 1980s, he organized exotic costume parties, such as his "Pimps, Hookers, Drug Dealers and Lawyers Ball," that drew about 3,000 revelers. As a teen, he toiled in the lima bean fields that his uncle, Henry Segerstrom, transformed into South Coast Plaza. More recently, he planted a small vineyard on his 3.5-acre estate and began bottling prize-winning wines under such labels as "Wretched Excess" and "The Idle Rich."
Moriarty rented a 70-ton crane for the job. The skylight in the steel-and-concrete home was designed large enough for the Lambo Countach to fit. Architect Fleetwood Joiner (think that's his real name?) oversaw construction of the new home which will be completed later this year. Mark your calendars.
The Countach weighed about 1,000 pounds sans engine and drivetrain, which were removed from the Lambo and most of which now serve as a cocktail table in the home's living room. That's been done so many times it is beyond cliche, Richard! Shame on you, dear! How absolutely boring!
Here's to possibly one of the world's ultimate displays in waste and greed, an exercise in futility performed by a man who has never done a full and/or honest day's work in his life and was born into his money.
This guy is a one-man reason to KEEP THE INHERITANCE TAX and possibly strengthen its rules!
The LA TIMES also said that Moriarty's "fiancee" was on-hand for the Lambo event. No surprise there; men with that kind of money and at that age in Newport Beach are rarely involved in successful marriages...
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