Northern Trust, flush with bailout cash, throws big party in Los Angeles

By Rick Moran

A bank that received $1.6 billion in bailout money just spent a fortune last week in L.A. hosting a series of lavish parties and concerts with famous singers ... and TMZ cameras caught it all.

Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank, sponsored the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club in L.A. We're told Northern Trust paid millions to sponsor the PGA event which ended Sunday, but what happened off the golf course is even more shocking.

Northern Trust flew hundreds of clients and employees to L.A. and put many of them up at some of the fanciest and priciest hotels in the city. We're told more than a hundred people were put up at the Beverly Wilshire in Bev Hills, and another hundred stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Still more stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and others at Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica.

And I wasn't invited? What the heck's going on here?

Any taxpayer who was invited to one of the following parties and is reading this, please leave your impressions of the food, the celebrity watching, the decor, and any other detail you think the rest of us who weren't invited might want to hear:

- Wednesday, Northern Trust hosted a fancy dinner at the Ritz followed by a performance by the group Chicago. (They paid the band $100,000)

- Thursday, Northern Trust rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport for dinner, followed by a performance by Earth, Wind & Fire. (EWT won't say how much they got)

- Saturday, Northern Trust had the entire House of Blues in West Hollywood shut down for its private party. We got the menu -- guests dined on seared salmon and petite Angus filet. Dinner was followed by a performance by none other than Sheryl Crow. (House of Blues says it cost 50 grand for the private party alone)

There was also a fabulous cocktail party at the Loews. And how's this for a nice touch: Female guests at the Chicago concert all got trinkets from ... TIFFANY AND CO.

Northern Trust laid off 450 workers in December.

All of this was in conjunction with the LA Open Golf Tournament (a Chicago based bank sponsoring a golf tournament in LA?) where Northern Trust flew out clients, employees, and executives and chauffered them around in Mercedez. The multi million dollar expenditure for sponsorship, ads on CBS, and production costs all came from Northern Trust.

I am speechless.