On the Money Front

This morning's New York Times brings news of Barrett Wissman's guilty plea last month on securities fraud charges in connection with some sort of shenanigans at the New York's state pension fund. He's reportedly on the hook for a $12 million fine.

To business reporter Danny Hakim, Mr. Wissman is a "hedge fund executive" and a "Dallas businessman," which I suppose is indeed his day gig. But here on the music beat, we know him better as the head of IMG Artists, which is to say that he manages — or rather, signs the paychecks of the managers of — hundreds of the classical music world's starriest conductors, singers and instrumentalists. He also — along with his wife, the cellist and composer Nina Kotova — runs a couple of sun-dappled music festivals in Tuscany and the Napa Valley, where those very musicians appear regularly.

It's like Balzac almost said: Behind every music festival lies a great crime.