AMAZING...Just read this thread. Did all you guy know this guy? Was he an F-CHATTER? The **** people get away with...well for a while anyway..LOL Mike
He was the original thread poster for this -- handle "macassini"; a total of 27 posts. He might want to update location to "Club Fed - unable to reply to PMs for a few years".
Hey, let's not knock this guy too hard! Thanks to Maccassini (and Kiesan's willingness to buy everything available at Maccassini/ FBI Auction) I got a really sweet tire dolly, at a deeply discounted price. Thanks Maccassini!
I've probably had the displeasure of knowing him the longest. Spring '01 he rolled into Ducati Seattle (his name was Jeff Leavitt way back then) where I sold bikes. He chatted me up something fierce and he ended up with a used Ninja 250 from me that he promptly wadded. Wrecked bike notwithstanding, he still came on our official Ducati North America Spring opener ride in his full size OJ Simpson Bronco. He followed 45 or so Ducatis around the WA countryside and generally made a nuisance of himself in addition to stalking one of the young girls that worked there. Later he and I were in the midst of a Ducati 998 deal when 1 day on Broadway I saw him riding a new one. Next time we talked I congratulated him on his new bike and how I was sorry we coudn't strike a deal, etc., etc. The weird thing was he denied having bought a new 998 and wanted to continue negotiating with me for one. He kept up the lie for months and to this day I don't understand why. Sometime in 2003 he changed his name from Jeffrey Leavitt to Michael Cassini. He claimed it was because of identity theft. He once told me that if I didn't believe him I could call the FBI and ask to verify his story. By this time his little loan-fraud scheme was in full swing and he was starting to hang in the local whizzy/exotic car circles. I'm sure lots of other car/bike industry types have plenty of other Leavitt/Cassini stories to tell. Was he an F-chatter? Well, macassini has an F-chat identity (he has 2 actually.... glorified bug is his other) and I believe the post he made at the beginning of this thread is/was his first. At least 2 other F-chatters have vouched for him and told us he was a cool guy so if the definition of being an F-chatter means you make posts to F-chat and in addition you have buddies who are on it well then I guess he was. If you follow this post along from the beginning you'll see where I posted the story about Jeff Leavitt lying about buying (or is that not buying?) a Ducati. I posted it to show macassini that I understood what he meant when he spoke about ethics and respect. I thought macassini might find it humorous to read about himself behaving like the absolute piece-of-work he is while other folks chimed in with their comments saying the same yet not knowing they were really commenting about macassini himself. I always thought he was dog meat and if he were on fire and I had to pee I'd probably hold it. I never had any idea that he was that crooked though... I would of never thought he was that smart but I guess I was wrong. Late last year he started posting here more and more and I seem to remember some other F-chatter posting pics of himself and macassini in Italy together. How anyone could of freely associated themselves with that piece of trash is beyond me. When I originally posted my little story at the beginning of this thread I got a phone call from macassini that wasn't exactly threatening (I mean consider the source... not sure if the guy could pick up his bicycle if it fell over) but it bordered on maniacal. He basically wanted me to know that he had dirt on me and if I kept telling him the truth about himself I was going straight to the Principal's office. Right after that, earlier this year, none other than the FBI started asking around about Mr. Cassini. Before you knew it, the jig was up and he was in the slammer and all his stuff was seized. Mysteriously, the people who were telling us how cool he was weren't/aren't doing that anymore. I caught wind of the Sherriff auctioning off all the stuff left in his warehouse. I went hoping to come back with some macassini memorabilia and got a lot more than I bargained for. All I wanted was this cute little fridge for my bike shop. Little did I know the fridge and about 50 other items were part of 1 gigantic lot. All or nothing. 4 El Camino loads and a 24-foot U-haul later and I had stuff like you wouldn't believe. I've never had a garage sale or operated a pawn shop but I could now. Well thats my Jeff Leavitt - Michael Cassini - macassini - glorified bug story. My apologies to anyone that associates or associated themselves with him. My mom always said, though, we're judged by the friends we keep.
Thanks for sharing the incredible story kiesan -- I wondered who the "ducati guy" was, and am somewhat relieved to hear that it was macassini; that means that him and all his doppelgangers (including glorified-bug) are now safely kept separate from people that prefer to purchase their f-cars the "old fashioned" way.....
I rememebr a thread you started or discussion sometime ago when you were talking about this guy. Just goes to show you that the first impression of someone is normally right on! What an amazing story! A guy smart enough to pull all those scams should have been able to find a good job and live the life he wanted legit? What a Jackass! Mike
Incredible story, and unfortunately he left his stain on a few other people who probably did not deserve it. The wonders of the internet, huh? I have seen situations similar to this here on FChat alone a couple of times. The world is SO small now, these people can be exposed very quickly. I mean, Kie had this guy tagged months ago, and his odd behavior here in this forum rapidly marked him as a "problem child" to the rest of us as well. Just amazing. Dave
Well I never started any thread about our friend macassini. The only time I ever discussed him or any of his alias's/alternate personalities was right here in this thread that he started last September. You're right that someone with the smarts to pull that kind of scam could of certainly made out just fine doing something legitmate. A Jackass he is, yes, but that really doesn't do justice to the rest of the Jackass's in the world. I don't know if I had him "tagged" months ago because, as I said earlier, I had no idea he was a criminal until the FBI started asking questions. I certainly knew he was an absolute dirtbag with zero redeeming qualities (not to mention he smelled bad, had terminal level-10 dandruff not to mention disgusting, nasty deposits on his teeth/gums) from day one, though, and I barely knew the guy! I can only imagine how much someone might of known about him or what he was up to if they were palling around or working with him in some way. I forgot the part on the phone when I asked him why he was posting as glorified_bug as well as macassini. You could feel the seething rage and fury on the other end of the line as all his personalities came out at once. He assured me that not only was I wrong but he could prove it. All I had to do was check the IP address's and the truth would come out. About that time he told me I was in a lot of trouble with the authorities because I used to own a Honda NSR250 motorcycle which is not sold in the US. He was going to see to it personally that I received the appropriate punishment for such a heinous act. Hey if anyone needs a good costume for Halloween I have his Boing Field Itn'l Airport ID... imagine the dates and contacts you could make if people actually thought you were the man himself. Slomo said: The wonders of the internet, huh? I have seen situations similar to this here on FChat alone a couple of times. The world is SO small now, these people can be exposed very quickly. I mean, Kie had this guy tagged months ago, and his odd behavior here in this forum rapidly marked him as a "problem child" to the rest of us as well. Image Unavailable, Please Login
"How anyone could of freely associated themselves with that piece of trash is beyond me. " Well, I guess 6 banks, and one of the best lawfirms in the city, plus a number of really good people, heck, even the heads of Ferrari, got burned by this con man. I will speak for a LOT of nice people that trusted this guy (myself included). It was a huge lessoned learned...but being a jerk doesnt make you a crook...otherwise the jails would be maxed out. hindsight is 20/20. My wife didnt like him from day one (some people (like you...like my wife) pick up on this stuff right away. All I can say is I made a very poor choice in letting this guy in my life and I am full of regret. Right or wrong, I will never fully trust anyone (other than my family) ever again. Some good people got mixed up with the wrong person...try not to judge them. We all make mistakes...some of them are sometimes more public than others. Peace out.
Kuzi is spot on; there is a POS on every corner of the world, looking to eat on your tab, key is spotting them quickly and showing them the door before they stay to long. If you have been around long enough, you will eventually run into one and have a story.
I was getting confused with this guy, and another guy who's story is even more full of pathos... I finally found the original story of who I was thinking of, Daniel Feussner who was charged with stealing $9M of Microsoft software, and then died from ingesting antifreeze just 2 weeks later. I like to think of Ballmer as "Don Corleone" arranging for a "hit" to look like a suicide -- I mean, come on, who chooses to drink antifreeze as an "exit strategy" ?? Anyway, here's a couple of articles about him: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/99595_software12.shtml http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/115385_feussner02.shtml and a mirrored-copy of his website, check out the "Dude's" car collection, which included a 355 and is a bizarre esoteric collection.... http://www.subterrane.com/~dfeussner/index2.html Again, what is sad, is this guy was super-smart with a doctorate, and was obviously talented; why throw all of that away...
Hey Rosso! Glad you are still around. Your post is spot-on, sometimes good people don't spot the signs, even when family and friends spot them right off. I hope you came out OK. Dave
Rosso360 said: <being a jerk doesnt make you a crook> Couldn't agree more. Being a jerk does not automatically make one a crook or criminal. It does, however, make one a jerk. Is that fair to say? The next observation one might have about your comment is that, from what you are saying, you knew he was a jerk yet decided to call him a friend and/or associate. Sorry if that seems harsh but that is the impression I get. Your point about macassini pulling the wool over banks, lawfiirms, the heads of exotic car companies, etc., is well taken. My reply is, however... so what? He was really good at loan fraud, faking assets, dummying up loan applications, etc. He probably even acted like the little arrogant prick he was any time had to deal with any sort of bank official in person which probably only made him seem more legit. So what? He paid some big time law firm to represent him. They probably knew he was a prick and may have known he was guilty but why would they care as long as he paid his legal fees. So what? I have no idea what you mean by saying that he faked out the heads of Ferrari. I'm guessing you mean they agreed to sell him a couple cars, or accept his deposit on a new one or something of the sort. So? So what? Did any of these bankers, lawyers, Ferrari talking heads or the like ever spend any time with this walking, talking, out-house of a human being? Did they ever have lunch with the guy or hang out in his chill-pad or anything like that? Did they ever observe the abysmal, degrading, rude way he treated other people or hear any of the absurdly inappropriate remarks he made? My guess is they didn't and I would go on to further speculate that if they did they would immediately sever all relations they had with the little worm. Well, maybe not the lawyers but you get my point. I guess I'm really drawing a line in the dirt here but I've said this much so why stop now? Speaking for myself (and I'm fairly certain a few other folks in this community are wondering the same thing) I can't help but wonder why seemingly intelligent, educated, street-smart people or persons would call this guy their friend. A true skeptic might even think that anyone who was close to the guy (and clearly making the conscious decision to stay there) may have suspected he was up to no good and was waiting around for a little nugget of something good to come their way. There I said it. I am in no way saying that I believe anybody who palled around with macassini was a criminal or waiting for a payoff or some such thing. I am just saying that on more than one ooccasion I have wondered if that was/were the case. I suppose I'm not making many friends with any of the pro-macassini types or even any of his former legions and for that I am sorry. What kind of person would I be, though, if I smiled and shook your hand in person and then turned around and laughed about your choice in friends/associates? I've always thought it was better if we all knew where we stand on these types of issues.
I think Rosso's point was that he was fooled by Cassini as well as a lot of other good firms and people. He is a "con" man, which mean he was good at making you have confidence in him. That's how con men work, and plenty of innocents have been conned. That doesn't make Rosso a bad guy. MC was good at throwing a lot of money around, and people and corporations tend to take you seriously when you do that. Sorry, but you are in the dark about a few things. Cassini cozied up with big wigs at Ferrari, including Piero Ferrari. The law firm that represented him was a distingushed firm that dropped him, because their reputation is gold. Your post makes you sound incredibly insensitive to people who were hurt by this ass.
Not speaking for Kie on this matter, b/c I haven't spoken to him about....but my guess is that he experienced the same feeling of arrogance and overall disrespect by MC's circle of friends which others have. I watched a few people who I respected turn from amicable...to ****** when they started running with the guy and throwing other people's money around.
