Lloyd Blankfein and co can breathe a sigh of relief after @GSElevator, the mysterious Tweeter who posts snippets of supposed overheard conversations from Goldman Sachs lifts, was unmasked by the New York Times. The culprit does not work for the bank.
For nearly three years, @GSElevator has been claiming to dish the dirt, revealing what employees at the poster boy for Wall Street excess say behind closed doors about the great unwashed.
Reads one the most recent tweets:
The account has attracted more than 626,000 followers, provoked an internal investigation at the bank, and last month scored the author a six-figure book deal.
However, the New York Times has now uncovered the tweeter's true identity: John Lefevre, a 34-year-old, Texas-based, former Citi employee and bond executive.
Lefevre told the Times that he has never worked for Goldman, although he was offered a job at its Hong Kong office in August 2010 which was later revoked. He began the account for his own amusement and says that many of the tweets are based on real overheard conversations.
A bank spokesman told the paper: "We are pleased to report that the official ban on talking in elevators will be lifted effective immediately."
Meanwhile, Lefevre's book publisher, Touchstone, says it is unconcerned and unsurprised by the revelation.