The Beastie Boys sang (in an extended sense of that term) an all-time great song: Fight For Your Right to Party.  The chorus is quite catchy: "You gotta fight for your right to party!"  An on-going investigation of gift-giving involving Fidelity Investments, which spends approximately $1 billion a year on commissions in its large stock trading operation, and various brokerage firms now includes an in-depth review of a bachelor party for former Fidelity trader Thomas Bruderman in 2003.  A front-page Wall Street Journal article (here) goes into great detail about the party, including the private jet for the trip to Florida (paid for by Jeffries Group Inc.), a yacht in Miami (paid for by SG Cowen & Co.), and hotel rooms (paid for by Lazard Capital Markets).  Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, along with the SEC and NASD, are also trying to ascertain whether any of the brokerage firms paid for two ladies who joined in the festivities and drugs that are alleged to have been part of the fun.  The investigation of gift-giving to Fidelity executives has included questioning of CEO Edward C. Johnson III about tickets he received to the figure skating finals at the 2002 Winter Olympics (see earlier post here).  The investigation is part of a larger effort to limit conflicts of interest in the mutual fund industry. 

Somehow, I suspect having your bachelor party recounted in the Wall Street Journal cannot be counted as one of life’s successes.  As the Beastie Boys said so well, "Man, living at home is such a drag." (ph)