American financier and railroad investor who partnered with Jay Gould in various railroad ventures — and who was known for money lending at high interest rates — accumulating one of the largest fortunes in America despite a miserly lifestyle.
Represents the Gilded Age financier archetype — the person who understood that lending money at interest was the safest way to accumulate capital and that railroad investments could be structured to capture both upside and downside — making him a prototype of the financial engineer before the term existed.
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