????凱瑟琳?霍伯和安德魯?麥道夫的曼哈頓公寓里有一間空臥室,，放著很多應急避險物資。一個架子上放著鈦手電筒,、太陽能電池充電器和膠帶,，另一個架子上是便攜式輻射檢測儀、碘化鉀藥片以及能量棒,，床上則是一些防輻射服,。“我們沒把這些放在網站上,，”霍伯一邊說,，一邊打開了一件帶電池組和氣泵的兒童輻射服?；舨臑碾y應急準備公司Black Umbrella面向的都是些擔心世界末日即將來臨的人,，但即使對這些客戶們來說，想像一個孩子籠罩在輻射塵中依然是一件令人不寒而栗的事,?；舨f，她和麥道夫正在打造的事業(yè)是基于“人類是多么脆弱這一根本性認知”,。
????是的，對于這一點他們深有體會,，因為近年來霍伯經歷了太多坎坷,。2008年12月，她搬入男友安德魯?麥道夫的住所,。當時,，她只是一個普通的紐約姑娘，受過良好的教育,，一心向上,，在時尚業(yè)有著一份不錯的工作,。三天后，男友的父親伯尼?麥道夫因為布了下美國歷史上最大的龐氏騙局而遭到逮捕,?；舨疀]有離開，與安德魯一起親歷了接下來的所有起起落落：當伯尼?麥道夫認罪并被判終身監(jiān)禁時,，她陪伴并安慰著未婚夫安德魯,；伯尼?麥道夫被捕兩年后，安德魯的親哥哥馬克——他唯一的手足,，也是他當時在父親公司交易部門時的合作伙伴——自殺身亡,，霍伯開始幫助安德魯另謀生路?；舨f：“對未來有計劃的人才能更加堅韌,。”
????對于詐騙丑聞之后的生活,，霍伯和安德魯的說法是“事情已經這樣了,。”如今,，霍伯已成為了麥道夫家族的一員,，甚至是公關經理。去年秋季,，她鼓勵安德魯,、而安德魯又說服了自己的母親露絲，這家人才首次公開回應了詐騙丑聞,?？催^哥倫比亞廣播公司（CBS）的《60分鐘》（60 Minutes）欄目或全國廣播公司的《今天》（Today）欄目相關采訪的人或許會懷疑，真相究竟是什么,？因為伯尼的妻子和次子在節(jié)目中稱,，他們根本不知道自己曾經摯愛的這個人是個騙子。同時也會疑惑,，在電視采訪中一直站在安德魯身邊的那個白凈的棕發(fā)女人是誰?
????霍伯首先是安德魯?麥道夫東山再起計劃的首席執(zhí)行官,。“Black Umbrella是我的全職工作,，”安德魯驕傲地說,。安德魯在這家霍伯全資擁有的公司中擔任營運總監(jiān)，每周工作50-60個小時,。安德魯不領薪水,；兩個人都認為，當初涉及金額達到650億美元的麥道夫騙局令許多人一生的積蓄化為烏有,，很多受害人仍在巴巴地期待能拿回一些本金,，安德魯在這個時候領薪水并不恰當,。39歲的霍伯談及未婚夫時這樣說：“很多人認為，安德魯這輩子都不該再賺一分錢,，他應該放棄成年以后賺的所有錢,。”當45歲的安德魯自稱“我也是麥道夫受害者”時,，很難讓人對其心生同情,。但這種說法在一定程度上并沒有錯。
????霍伯在努力拯救男友和他事業(yè)的同時,，她也把握住了時代思潮：人們覺得這個世界比過去更不可預測,，更危險?；舨f：“談到美國大城市可能被颶風摧毀的概率,，紐約市僅次于邁阿密和新奧爾良，位居第三,?！盉lack Umbrella的客戶們支付750美元至2,000美元購買服務，希望該公司能幫助他們渡過颶風,、洪水,、地震、臟彈,、甚至是核戰(zhàn)爭等災難,。
????霍伯于2009年成立了Black Umbrella公司，顯然,，它絕不會成為下一個Facebook,。她雇了11個員工，2011年營業(yè)收入不到50萬美元,。但業(yè)務正在增長,。后來，她和麥道夫發(fā)現(xiàn)除了服務,，客戶們也需要相關的物資,。于是，他們開始銷售隔熱保溫服,、瓶裝水以及那間空臥室里放的所有裝備,，平均每單銷售額立刻大增?！拔蚁耄裉斓膽毕鄳账幍牡匚痪腿缤芸?拉拉尼（美國健身之父——譯注）誕生之前的健身運動一樣吧,，”霍伯認真地說,。
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????Inside the Manhattan apartment of Catherine Hooper and Andrew Madoff, there is a spare bedroom containing items one might need in case disaster strikes. Titanium flashlights, solar battery chargers, and duct tape line one shelf. Pocket-size radiation detectors, potassium iodide tablets, and energy bars fill another. On a bed are anti-radiation suits. "We do not put these on our website," Hooper says as she unfolds a child-size suit with battery pack and air pump. The notion of a child coated with radioactive dust is too harrowing even for the doom-fearing customers of Black Umbrella, Hooper's emergency-preparedness company. She and Madoff are building the business off of "a fundamental awareness of how vulnerable we are," she says.
????Yes, the resonance here is jolting, given the direction of Hooper's life. She was just another well-bred, social-climbing New Yorker with a good gig in the fashion industry when she moved in with her boyfriend, Andrew Madoff, in December 2008. That was three days before Bernie Madoff was arrested for operating the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Hooper stayed around for the ensuing drama: When her intended father-in-law pleaded guilty and went to prison for life, she consoled Andrew, her fiancé. When Andrew's older brother, Mark -- his only sibling and his partner in the trading arm of their father's firm -- committed suicide exactly two years after Bernie's arrest, Hooper helped Andrew hone his own survival skills. "Resilient people are those who have a plan," Hooper says.
????"Since everything happened" -- the phrase she and Andrew use to describe their lives post-scandal -- Hooper has become part of the Madoff family and even a manager of its public affairs. She encouraged Andrew -- who persuaded his mother, Ruth -- to speak publicly for the first time about the scandal last fall. If you watched them on CBS's 60 Minutes or NBC's Today, where Bernie's wife and son declared that they had no clue that the man they loved was a crook, you probably wondered, What is the truth? And who is the porcelain-skinned brunette standing by her man throughout the TV interrogations?
????Hooper is, first of all, the CEO of Andrew Madoff's personal-renewal program. "Black Umbrella is my full-time job," he says proudly. He works 50 to 60 hours a week as director of operations at the company, which is 100% owned by Hooper. He doesn't take a salary; they agreed it wouldn't look right while claimants wait to receive pieces of their life savings that disappeared in the $65 billion Madoff scam. "A lot of people out there think he should never make a penny for the rest of his life and give up all he's earned since his bar mitzvah," says Hooper, 39, about her fiancé. It's not easy to feel sympathy for Andrew, 45, when he says, "I'm a Madoff victim too." But his statement, which he delivers with emotional coldness, is, by a certain measure, true.
????While she works to rescue her boyfriend and his career, Hooper is also making a play on the zeitgeist: the notion that the world is less predictable and more dangerous than it used to be. "New York City is the third most likely major city, after Miami and New Orleans, to be devastated by a hurricane," says Hooper. Black Umbrella's clients pay $750 to $2,000 for services to help them survive hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, dirty bombs, even nuclear war.
????Hooper launched Black Umbrella in 2009, and it's definitely not the next Facebook. She employs 11 people and generated less than $500,000 in 2011 revenue. But the business is growing. After she and Madoff found that customers wanted supplies, not just services, they began selling thermal clothing, bottled water, and all that gear in the spare bedroom -- and the average ticket multiplied. "I think emergency preparedness is in the same position today as fitness was before Jack LaLanne," says Hooper in all seriousness. |
