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From living in a cave to being a billionaire!

post #1 of 19
Thread Starter 
Holy cow, is this real?

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93222?fp=1

"There's rags to riches and then there's rags to mega-riches. Two brothers from Hungary definitely fall into the second category.

Until recently, Geza and Zslot Peladi lived in a cave near Budapest. Completely destitute, the two cave-brothers earned money by gathering scrap metal and selling candy they found on the street. That all changed the moment they heard that they stood to inherit a substantial portion of their maternal grandmother's $6.6 billion fortune. (That's billion, with a "B.")

According to an article from the New York Post, once the paperwork goes through, the two brothers will share the fortune with their sister in the United States. While some folks who come into obscene amounts of money might buy a plane, throw a party, or commission large oil paintings of themselves, Geza Peladi has a more modest goal. He would like a "normal life" and to find a woman to share his fortune with. Apparently, it's rather hard to get dates when you live in a cave.

A blog from Ananova features photos of the two brothers and explains their circumstances a bit more. They were told of their mother's death by homeless charity workers. Geza was quoted as saying that he knew his mother came from a wealthy family "but she was a difficult person and severed ties with them, and then later abandoned us and we lost touch with her and our father until she eventually died."

Under German law (where the grandmother lived), the brothers (and the sister) "will inherit the entire estate as they are the closest surviving family members." Once proof of relation to the grandmother is established, they'll be traveling to Germany to start what we can only presume will be a very different kind of life. Best of luck, guys. "
post #2 of 19
Yeah, saw this on MSN this morning. Crazy story!
post #3 of 19
I wonder what they are going to do with it all, hmmm...
post #4 of 19
"good luck guys" indeed once the crows descend they'll be lucky if they're left with the cave
post #5 of 19
Edit: Apparently, "under German law, direct descendants are automatically entitled to a share of any estate."
post #6 of 19
Are they sure she didn't will it all away to her dog?
post #7 of 19
Thread Starter 
Besides the obvious Hollywoodesque quality of the story, I've been thinking about the whole candy thing. So, they made money by selling candy they'd found in the street. Two questions come to mind:

(1.) How often does one find good-condition candy lying in the streets in quantities large enough to sell?

(2.) How many people prefer to purchase their candy from dudes who live in a cave?
post #8 of 19
cafe? i think youre grossly overestimating the service
post #9 of 19
Yeah, but the estate tax is going to destroy them!
post #10 of 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher View Post
Besides the obvious Hollywoodesque quality of the story, I've been thinking about the whole candy thing. So, they made money by selling candy they'd found in the street. Two questions come to mind:

(1.) How often does one find good-condition candy lying in the streets in quantities large enough to sell?

(2.) How many people prefer to purchase their candy from dudes who live in a cafe?

Yes. This struck me as odd too. How often do you find resellable candy in the streets? Selling scrap metal all bets are off, but isnt there a level of hygeine one must meet in order to successfully sell food items to strangers? After a few months in a cave you are not likely to look like the Good Humor man.
post #11 of 19
Maybe it was a one-time thing they did; they wanted to distinguish themselves from the other homeless cave-dwelling masses in Hungary who sell scrap metal, so they mentioned that one time they found some candy and managed to sell it to those blind, anosmic people who could neither see nor smell their poverty.
post #12 of 19
I think this is the back-story for the Geico ad campaign.
post #13 of 19
This is like the opposite of the Osama bin Laden story.
post #14 of 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas View Post
This is like the opposite of the Osama bin Laden story.

Bizarro Bin Laden. He loves America and hates training troops in the desert on monkey bars.
post #15 of 19
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas View Post
This is like the opposite of the Osama bin Laden story.

You mean bin Laden made his fortune in candy and scrap?
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