The buyers, the source said, are Lloyd Goldman, Joseph Cayre and Jeffrey Feil. The same men also were named as the buyers by the Slatin Report, a Web site covering New York real estate. All are prominent but secretive Manhattan landlords. Goldman and Cayre joined with Larry Silverstein in buying the trade center lease for $3.2 billion months before the twin towers were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. ... Many Chicago brokers were astonished by the swiftness of the sale, which occurred without MetLife taking competing bids. Brokers said the Sears Tower "offer book'' hit the streets only a couple of weeks ago. "Somebody came in with a pre-emptive bid. It must have swept them off their feet,'' one said. ... This will be interesting to watch. Wonder if the next terrorist attack is scheduled to be in Chicago? Watch for abnormal stock trades like there were immediately before 9/11. And watch out for employees of "MOving SyStems incorporAteD" with videos of Chicago showing zoomed in pictures of the Sears tower. More about that here: http://www.zwire.com/site/mercury_101801.html That article doesn't explicity state the nationality of the folks who were detained, opting instead for the general "Middle Eastern." There are a few other articles that delve into it though. They were most likely Israeli. From American Free Press: The Mercury did not identify the mens nationality, but their names were Moshe Elmakias and Ron Katar. Moshe is a Hebrew name which is not likely to have been bestowed on a Muslim or an Arab. A woman named Ayelet Reisler, in their company, was also detained. She had a German passport in her name and medication in a different name. The two men worked for a company known as Moving Systems Incorporatedwhich is intriguing because AFPs report of Oct. 1 revealed several suspected Israeli intelligence operatives seized by the FBI in the New York area after filming the World Trade Center disaster from at least two venues also purportedly worked for moving companies. Supporters of Israel suggest that it is just a coincidence that several different groups of Israelis in the United Statessome of whom are definitively connected to Israeli intelligencewould be working for moving companies and also have detailed videos of the WTC disaster and the Sears Tower, a potential terrorist target. ... In a world where you ask people how many skyscrapers collapsed on 9/11, and most people say "two," it's hard to get them to realize there were Israelis detained in New York, posing as Arabs, filming the carnage and celebrating. Their cover was working for a moving business. In each case though, NY and Chicago, those detained were quietly deported. Thanks US government, thanks for all the hard work you do with domestic terrorist suspects. Regardless of all the potential for conspiracy here, this purchase could just be smart business. Buy low (when people have terrorism jitters) and sell high (jack the rent when the fear subsides.) Or, just taking a wager that Chicago is next and then collecting the windfall. Interesting stuff. MetLife sells Sears Tower | 
