Note: a helpful commenter pointed out that this story is actually several years old. I misread the date. Because it is still an interesting story I am posting it back up.
A couple weeks ago Slate magazine asked the question “Who is Robert Klingler?” This led to the larger question, “How do you know the person on the other side of your email conversation isn’t a dog?” [thanks for the tip Sanjay]
In the famous New Yorker cartoon by Peter Steiner, a dog seated in front of a PC turns to his canine colleague and boasts, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
Although dogs have not logged onto the Internet in the numbers Web visionaries predicted in the early ’90s, Steiner’s lesson still stands: You can never be too sure that your fascinating e-mail correspondent isn’t a barking imposter. Last week, Slate got taken by an Internet dog when it published the diary of “Robert Klingler,” an individual who claimed in e-mails and on the telephone to be the CEO of BMW’s North American operations.
Slate published two installments of Klingler’s projected weeklong diary before discovering his ruse on Tuesday, March 5. When told by BMW that no Robert Klingler worked there, Slate disavowed both diary entries, and I published this mea culpa, “Slate Gets Duped.” I explained that Klingler had “spoofed” his e-mail address to make it appear that it had originated from the car manufacturer.
So who was Robert Klingler? I unfortunately can’t do this article justice and strongly urge you to read it for yourself but, I will attempt to summarize enough of it to give you a flavor.
Slate believes that it first encountered the man doing business as Robert Klingler through “The Fray,” the discussion area where Slate readers and writers mix it up. On Oct. 31, 2001, Slate “Fray” editor Moira Redmond received an e-mail signed by “Rob Klingler” in which he responded to the Slate “Diary” Redmond was writing that week. Redmond had made a joke about hoping that Mercedes-Benz might make the gift of a new car to her. Klingler wrote:
From: RDesai3109@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 5:54 AM
To: frayeditor@slate.com
Subject: would a BMW do?
Just kidding. Thanks for an enjoyable diary—and yes, I am the North American head of BMW. The next time I run into Jurgen Schrempp (the actual head of Daimler Chrysler), I’ll pass along your request for a Mercedes freebie, although why you would want one is beyond me.
Warm regards,
Rob Klingler
Although the letter was signed “Rob Klingler,” the return e-mail address was rdesai3109@aol.com. The “Internet header” info accompanying the e-mail, which tracks the hops that an e-mail makes from sender to recipient, seems consistent with a mail originating from rdesai3109@aol.com. In other words, the address was not spoofed.
rdesai3109 turned out to be one Ravi Desai. Slate excellently explains how he was tracked down via his internet footprints and reveals the myriad of other exploits perpetrated by the grifter.
According to Ravi Desai’s estranged wife, Jennifer Desai, the two resided at 2101 Mills Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025, from 1997 until the summer of 1999, when they broke up.
… Who is Ravi Gunvant Desai? Jennifer Desai gives a stoic interview. She’s become all too familiar with the Ravi stories, such as those reported in Eli Sanders’ Ravi Desai feature in the Seattle Times. Almost one year ago today, Sanders detailed the prank that Desai pulled on the University of Washington. In October 1999, Desai told the school via e-mail of his desire to support its poetry program with a $2 million gift. In February 2000, the school celebrated the pledge by throwing a $10,000 party in Desai’s honor. But as recently as 2001, Desai had given the university only $6,770, according to Sanders. Desai also told Sanders that he would eventually make good on the pledge. He hasn’t.
The carnival of Desai bunkum uncovered by Sanders goes on and on: Desai also pledged $150,000 to North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College. The University of Florida expected to get $2 million from him. He told the University of New Hampshire $1 million was on the way. The pledges, needless to say, have not been fulfilled. He formed the Desai Foundation, placing former U.S. poet laureate (and Slate contributor) Robert Pinsky on the board. Pinsky never received the $2,500 quarterly stipend Desai had offered them. (Desai told the Times that he never offered board members money.) Among Sanders’ greatest scoops comes this: He reports that Desai married Christine Klingler on April 2000 at Lake Tahoe, even though he was still wedded to Jennifer Desai. Christine Klingler’s father, Paul Klingler of Concord, Calif., hung up on me when I called and asked if he would answer some questions about Ravi Desai.
As I read the rest of this article about Ravi Desai’s real and fictional exploits, I kept thinking that if only I had six uninterrupted months I could turn his story into a Hollywood screenplay and make a killing. Perhaps one of you can instead.
a couple years ago, or a few years ago?
leave him and his family alone, please. theree is no need to create a “hollywood screenplay” off of his life. he led a troubled life as did many of his family members, but at heart he was a good person who meant well, and for the sake of those who love him, people should leave him alone.
The magazine cover image is taken from Red Herring magazine, not Hits magazine, which I would presume might have something to do with the music industry if it exists.
If only Mr. Desai would leave other people alone it would be easier to feel pity for him, but he persistently insists on deceit, fraud and self-promotion. If only his actions caused no harm to others there would be no need to warn others to beware of him as a charlatan. You can read more about this man in Jim Cramer’s book, “Confessions of a Street Addict.” It appears to me that this man does not need to “be left alone,” but either needs to be forced to get help or incarcerated to prevent him from being a further danger to society.
just finished reading cramer’s book. imagine ravi drunk from morning to night as CEO?
Last I heard, Ravi was dead. Not sure if I was “spoofed” or not.
Ravi is no more. He passed sometime in 2005. I respectfully ask that you now move on and make a hollywood movie on your pitiful life. loser.
Yeah… this guy Ravi Desai sounds like the classic reason why so many investors lost so much money in the dot.com era. Who is “Marty” and how does he know Ravi is dead? Send a link or reference an obit.
Ravi is dead? That is fantastic news. Good to see one of the true bottom feeding losers of the world got what was coming to him. Laughing a hearty laugh at your expense, dead Ravi. Good riddance.
I’m behind the times, I only just recently finished “Confessions of a Street Addict,” but I found this Ravi character intriguing. Just for kicks, I googled the heck out of his name. It looks like the guy is probably no more (I believe il miglior fabbro translates to “the better liar”). I dunno though, I kind of like to think he’s running scams and drinking G&T’s under the radar somewhere in India…
yeah i wanted to strangle ravi when I read about him in Cramer’s book…
Ravi died Feb 19 2005.
I just finished Cramer’s book, “Confessions of a Street Addict.” I hope Ravi is gone from the planet, but somehow I doubt it. I suspect he’s in hiding after making of with other peoples money.
neha’s argument is asinine. she is either a family member or knew Ravi in some way, otherwise you wouldn’t have to read much about this guy to realize what a swindler and extortionist he was. I too wanted to strangle him after reading Cramer’s book, if it’s true that he did go to Harvard, he already had a huge leg up most people in the business world, yet he continually resorted to thievery and blackmail. good riddance
Good ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-dence, belch!
I read Cramer’s book too, and Cramer paints him as a super smart guy, but wht a crook!
Ravi died Feb 19 2005 ? I say we dig him up to see if he’s faking!
I know his second “wife” (the marriage was not legal) He did kill himself, it’s kind of funny to me that people think he faked that to. He was dishonest, but he was also severely delusional and a very serious alcoholic what I call “terminal stage”. At the end I do not think he was lucid even half the time, and it seemed that when he was he was regretful of hurting people. I think he will live a long time in people’s minds, for some reason I think that would please him.
While I was finishing my MBA (in late 2000), I was interviewed by Ravi for a consultant position with Boom Consultants (a new company he was heading up). I had a good bit of consulting experience and did not think what he proposed to do for customers was valuable. I could not see how there would be money in what he wanted to do. He made me an offer, but I turned it down. I followed the company, but a few months later the website shut down. I always wondered about it and this explains a lot.
I also read Cramer’s book and was personally infuriated by the criminality of Ravi’s actions. As a true dot com entrepreneur of the time (1999) and an investor, I can sympathize with Cramer’s experiences and appreciate his need to stay in regulatory compliance with the SEC and NASD. These regulatory requirements prevented Jim Cramer from properly overseeing his company, and it was these regulatory requirements that Ravi Desai exploited to drink away his work days, while receiving a paycheck, and squandering millions of dollars from Jim Cramer and Marty Peretz. I knew right away that Ravi and his sidekick Drake were frauds. I really feel bad for Cramer that he didn’t see this coming. It doesn’t take anybody days to calculate your website statistics. There were dozens of applications available, even at the time, to record website statistics and most hosting companies provided you with the stats whether you wanted them or not! Ravi and Drake should of had the stats in about 10 minutes, not days or weeks… which turned out to be 5 website visitors! Ravi was a narcissistic, power-hungry, deceitful, dishonest, coercive, slanderous, bigamist con artist, who has squandered millions of other people’s dollars, disgraced his name, his family, his Alma Mater (Harvard) and is the epitome of the ineptitude that led to the doc com blow up by 2001. Thank you to all the Ravi’s out there who burnt the venture capitalists who could have made the Internet revolution see it’s true potential. Unfortunately, swine like Ravi Desai have burned those original entrepreneur’s and broken the trust between entrepreneur’s and VC. Desai’s fraudulent actions are no less criminal than those of Bernard Madoff. It takes a real narcissistic sociopath to pledge millions of dollars to multiple universities, show up and receive public commendation, only to renege on that pledge. Ravi Desai was a sociopathic liar with severe mental problems. Ravi Desai’s name isn’t worthy of honor; instead, he is despised for his malfeasance.
I also read Cramers book and was personally infuriated by the criminality of Ravis actions. As a true dot com entrepreneur of the time (1999) and an investor, I can sympathize with Cramers experiences and appreciate his need to stay in regulatory compliance with the SEC and NASD. These regulatory requirements prevented Jim Cramer from properly overseeing his company, and it was these regulatory requirements that Ravi Desai exploited to drink away his work days, while receiving a paycheck, and squandering millions of dollars from Jim Cramer and Marty Peretz. I knew right away that Ravi and his sidekick Drake were frauds. I really feel bad for Cramer that he didnt see this coming. It doesnt take anybody days to calculate your website statistics. There were dozens of applications available, even at the time, to record website statistics and most hosting companies provided you with the stats whether you wanted them or not! Ravi and Drake should of had the stats in about 10 minutes, not days or weeks… which turned out to be 5 website visitors! Ravi was a narcissistic, power-hungry, deceitful, dishonest, coercive, slanderous, bigamist con artist, who has squandered millions of other peoples dollars, disgraced his name, his family, his Alma Mater (Harvard) and is the epitome of the ineptitude that led to the doc com blow up by 2001. Thank you to all the Ravis out there who burnt the venture capitalists who could have made the Internet revolution see its true potential. Unfortunately, swine like Ravi Desai have burned those original entrepreneurs and broken the trust between entrepreneurs and VC. Desais fraudulent actions are no less criminal than those of Bernard Madoff. It takes a real narcissistic sociopath to pledge millions of dollars to multiple universities, show up and receive public commendation, only to renege on that pledge. Ravi Desai was a sociopathic liar with severe mental problems. Ravi Desais name isnt worthy of honor; instead, he is despised for his malfeasance.
I have read about this guy over the years and continue to be fascinated. Surely there must be someone out there who can divulge more information? Is there any solid evidence he’s dead (obituaries, etc) or just suspect-looking message board comments from “friends”?
I worked with Ravi briefly in the Bain Chicago office. At that time he had a stuttering problem. A major stuttering problem to the extent that he appeared to be socially impaired. One of the managers in the office insisted he was an incredibly smart guy. I felt bad for him at that time, and wonder if he left a trail of people who were endeared to him based on his impediment. I recall his email to the office when he left Bain announcing he was leaving to start thestreet.com.
I never imagined he ended up to be such a loser. What a sad story.