The Wireless Version of Face-Off. Kinda

We imagine operating wireless towers to be a rather ho-hum business. Still got a wireless connection? Great.

That is, until your chief rival impersonates you in an attempt at defamation.

So says the complaint of American Tower Corporation, the Boston carrier that’s suing a former Goldman Sachs exec, Jide Zeitlin, who now runs something in India called the Independent Mobile Infrastructure.

Zeitlin apparently duped a Money reporter into publishing a negative piece on American, saying its stock option practices were similar to Enron’s. Oh no he ditn’t. Zeitlin then took that piece and, using an email tool on CNN.com’s site, sent the story to two of American’s largest investors, claiming he was American’s CEO James D. Taiclet, Jr.

What Zeitlin hoped to accomplish by impersonating Taiclet is beyond us. If he knew who the investors were, couldn’t he have just sent the Money story along anonymously? A bit more discretion, Zeitlin, and you’re not in this mess. C’mon: That’s Criminal Enterprising 101.