Celebrating Hamptons Celebrities: Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci
By Danny Frank
Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci is a Southampton homeowner. He’s famous for his 10 days as White House communications director in the early Trump administration. His political activism marked by controversy and contention has been spread over figures like Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Obama, Romney, Walker and, of course, Trump.
He relishes his many television appearances like sport—perhaps analogous to a fencing duel!
At age 57, there are many aspects and influences to “The Mooch.” His paternal grandparents immigrated from Italy. He grew up in a working-class family in Port Washington.
“I was lucky to go to a great public school, Paul D. Schreiber High School, where I was elected student council president,” he says. “In school I was always a dreamer and a hard worker. I had a Newsday paper route when I was 11, which I built into a ‘big business’ for myself! My ambition was to be an entrepreneur.
“Today, I do not believe every student should go to college,” he continues. “The 1945–65 generation believed the college credential was needed. In today’s information age, I believe it is less important.”
The second in his family to go to college, he earned a degree from Tufts University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
As he became an attorney with ambitions to build a major solo practice, his $150,000 student loan debt persuaded him to work at Goldman, where he would earn $110,000 to start.
On today’s student debt crisis, Scaramucci says, “If the average American makes $50,000 a year, how can you spend $70,000 for college tuition? This isn’t sustainable and it is one of many reasons why people are opting not to attend college. On forgiveness of student loans, there needs to be a balanced, fair approach. How do you reward people who did not go to college? An earned income tax credit makes sense as opposed to loan forgiveness.”
Scaramucci’s launch and success of SkyBridge Capital is widely known. The firm manages money for wealthy individuals in the hedge fund sector.
“We act like the ‘chief investment officer’ for clients who want to have money in hedge funds,” he says. “They prefer not to do this themselves so they will engage SkyBridge.”
In 2016 Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth magazine’s “The 100 Most Powerful People In Global Finance.” And Yahoo! named him “Wall Streeter of the Year.”
He’s written three books about finance and entrepreneurship. His take on the economy for the rest of 2021: “With the likelihood that by the end of this year we will be out from under the pandemic—I am bullish on the stock market, a jobs recovery boom and the long-term future of the economy.”
Beyond Scaramucci’s finance and political worlds, five years ago he launched The Hunt and Fish Club, a high-end midtown Manhattan steak/seafood house. The restaurant has been closed due to the pandemic with plans to re-open later this year.
“We enjoyed peak numbers,” he says. “This restaurant is fun and I make a little money, I have a lot of clients where I could entertain them in a place that I owned. I host a large New Year’s Eve party and can walk my clients and friends to watch the ball drop!”
New York City’s future? “I like NYC Mayoral candidates Andrew Yang and Ray McGuire. They have to focus on cleaning NYC and making it safe. Without the right tax and economic policies, people will leave and take jobs with them. As much as the progressives and liberals don’t like wealthy people they will have to figure out a way to make NYC available to all different types of people irrespective of their financial position.”
Why Southampton? “My family is from Long Island, I love Long Island. During law school, I worked as a paralegal for a Southampton law firm. I said to myself in 1987, if I ever become wealthy enough to afford a second home, I want to own one in Southampton! I like being a local.”
Vetted Hamptons Resources
