Brian Maccaba, a powerful London computer executive, tried to buy a man's bride for $1 million, according to papers filed in a court case. Maccaba noticed Nathalie Attar after she started teaching at a pre-school run by a Jewish charity that Maccaba chairs. He became so obsessed that he wrote a letter to her husband offering a "golden key" that would "set her free" and allow her husband to regain "his bachelor's freedom" and become a playboy in the south of France. Nathalie turned to Rabbi Dayan Lichtenstein for advice, and Lichtenstein said things about Maccaba that ended up as the basis of a slander suit. Eventually the Attars fled to Israel, leaving Maccaba to defend his letter. He claims it was a poem taken out of context. Roses are red, violets are blue, here's a million dollars, reverse your "I do."
July 14, 2003 5:11 AM
