Fake Goldman Sachs tweeter John LeFevre loses his book deal

Touchstone has canceled its book deal with John LeFevre, the man behind the @GSElevator Twitter account. The book “Straight to Hell: True Tales of Deviance and Excess in the World of Investment Banking,” had been planned for an October 2014 release.

Up until a few weeks ago, @GSElevator was an anonymous account that purported to tweet gossip and tidbits overheard in the elevator at Goldman Sachs. More than 650,000 followers read its feed, which included such tidbits as “Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it,” and “Don’t apologize for being late with a Starbucks latte in your hand.”

The book deal was signed in January, when the identity of the person behind @GSElevator was still unknown. When LeFevre was unmasked last month, it became clear he was not riding in the elevator at Goldman Sachs: He lives in Texas and spent seven years working at Citigroup.

Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, reportedly paid six figures for “Straight to Hell.” Initially, the publisher said it would go ahead with the book, but announced tersely Thursday that it had canceled publication.

If any editors there are looking for a book to replace it, they could try the woman behind @CondeElevator. The account tweeted conversations overheard in the elevators at Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue, the New Yorker and GQ.

And it wasn’t fake: Lauren Bans, a former GQ editor, has announced that she was @CondeElevator, which was shut down in 2011 but still has more than 76,000 followers.

Tweets such as “Girl #1: I love that necklace, I saw it at Banana last week and almost bought it too. Girl #2: [flips hair] This is Gucci”, [silence] [silence] [silence] [silence] [silence] [silence] [silence] [silence] Summer Intern: “Was that...?” Intern #2: “Yeah” #annawintour” and “Teen Vogue-er to Teen Vogue-er: “I don’t understand why she was so pissed. I’d want to know if something made me look fat” were the real deal.

ALSO:

“Box Girl” puts the art of survival in L.A. on display

Walter Kirn befriends con man Clark Rockefeller in ‘Blood Will Out’

“Dragnet Nation” looks at the hidden systems that are always looking at you
Join Carolyn Kellogg on Twitter, Facebook and Google+