Wealthy Investors From Palm Beach To NYC To London Hit By Wall St. Trader's Massive Fraud

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/business/13fraud.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1229145550-CZczzp8Z/JMGGNMC63D5WA

snip//

Mr. Madoff was not running an actual hedge fund, but instead managing accounts for investors inside his own securities firm. The difference, though seemingly minor, is crucial. Hedge funds typically hold their portfolios at banks and brokerage firms like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. Outside auditors can check with those banks and brokerage firms to make sure the funds exist.

But because he had his own securities firm, Mr. Madoff kept custody over his clients’ accounts and processed all their stock trades himself. His only check appears to have been Friehling & Horowitz, a tiny auditing firm based in New City, N.Y. Wealthy individuals and other money managers entrusted billions of dollars to funds that in turn invested in his firm, based on his reputation and reported returns.

Victims of the scam included gray-haired grandmothers in Florida, investment companies in London, and charities and universities across the United States. The Wilpon family, the main owners of the New York Mets, and Yeshiva University both confirmed that they had invested with Mr. Madoff, and a Jewish charity in Massachusetts said it would lay off its five employees and close after losing nearly all of its $7 million endowment. Other investors included prominent Jewish families in New York and Florida.

more...

[pansypoo53219]

1. boo hoo

the filthy rich HAD to be RICHER!

[SoCalDem]

2. Whaddaguy..n/t

[Turbineguy]

3. In the 70's

some friends and I founded an investment holding company. The guy running things was very clever and we did OK. Within three months the SEC was pounding on the door. We thought is was a pain in the ass of course, because nobody was getting ripped-off. But in those days the SEC was there to protect investors, not to benignly oversee them getting defrauded.

A major reason for losses (destruction of equity) in the markets these past couple of years is the SEC.

Even Steve Forbes wants them to change back to the uptick rule for shorting stock.

[gizmo1979]

4. somehow this will come back to

bite the little guy in the ass too.Don't know how but it will.

[malaise]

5. This one is larger than Enron

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/12/bernie-madoffs-scam-large_n_150574.html?page=7
<snip>
The world is still stunned by the brazen scam run by Bernie Madoff. Although there's some gallows humor about the debacle--mostly along the lines of "Bernie Made Off with my money"--there's also a lot of fear about how damaging this scandal could be.

The Wall Street Journal describes the world wide impact of Madoff's alleged fraud:

Christopher Miller, chief executive of London hedge fund ratings agency Allenbridge Hedgeinfo, said: "Some very big investor names are involved in this. The scheme could only work if enough investors were subscribing for him to pay money out. Some of the world's biggest hedge funds have been hit by this. There will be a monumental impact for the hedge fund industry, it could be larger then Enron.

[babylonsister]

7. Whoa. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about this. I trust this old

crook is enjoying his last days of freedom. And I hope someone got his passport.

[Neshanic]

6. It starts at 50B. Bets on it climbs to 100 B by end of week. Very smart crook, he...

punished those who put anything down on paper, and the office was completely paperless.

This one is going to surprise people as the straw that broke the Camel's back. 50B is what we KNOW....

[malaise]

8. Nice links here

http://clusterstock.alleyinsider.com/bernie-madoff

http://clusterstock.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/bernie-madoff-hosed-client-list
Tremont Capital.

Maxam Capital Management LLC. Combined loss of $280 million. "I'm wiped out," said Sandra Manzke, Maxam's founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said. (WSJ)

Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said...

Fix Asset Management. Bloomberg: Fix Asset Management, which had an account worth at least $400 million

Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion

Thyssen Family...and many more

Meet Shana Madoff: Securities Lawyer And Shopaholic
http://businesssheet.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/meet-shana-madoff-securities-lawyer-and-hopaholic

<snip>
All day people have been wondering how Bernie Madoff could've lost all of that money, but what do we really know about the man behind the money losses? For instance, did you know that Bernie's daughter niece*, Shana, is, ironically, a securities lawyer who works for her dad's firm as in-house council and was on the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's Compliance and Legal Division.

Confused? Well perhaps she'll seem to have more in common with her dad uncle when you read about her extravagant, high-end shopping habits. Madoff is, as New York magazine described her in August 2004, a "Narciso Rodriguez obsessive."

New York: Her salespeople at Jeffrey messenger a shipment of Rodriguez’s clothes and shoes to her at the beginning of each season and simply charge her for what she doesn’t return. “If I see something I like, I call around,” explains Madoff, a securities lawyer. “I just don’t have time to shop. I get a little bit aggravated when I go into a store because I could be doing so many other things that are so much more productive. And the salespeople are around the clothes all day. They know them much better than I do.”

[monmouth]

9. Madoff is a part-time neighbor of Rush Limbaugh's. Think maybe

Rush invested with him? Karma baby!

[babylonsister]

10. Wouldn't that be delightful?! nt

[monmouth]

11. Thing is, most of the Palm Beach investors were members of the

PB Country Club, almost all Jewish members. Rush, well, he'd be at the Everglades if anywhere. I don't think they allow Jews in there yet. They wouldn't let Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson in (it wasn't proper you see, for Joe to bring in his girlfriend instead of his wife)...Talk about your WASPs...LOL.

[malaise]

12. That would be my ultimate Xmas present

:rofl: