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Mail & Guardian online

July 23, 2009

Madoff's victims want his accomplices charged

ANDREW CLARK - Jul 03 2009 18:48

‘Withholding information’: Bernard Madoff

she is expected to lose the Manhattan penthouse.over a chateau on the French Riviera and severalas millions of dollars in cash and investments.

Trailed by tabloid photographers on the New Yohaving fun embarrassing me and ruining my life

So far, Madoff has steadfastly refused to point thbelieve the 71-year-old financier could have spescam without cooperation from others in the offiManhattan's so-called Lipstick building.

Eleanor Squillari, Madoff's former secretary, saiinformation from the authorities to protect accom

The master fraudster may have been sentencedto 150 years in prison this week. But victims ofBernard Madoff's $65-billion Ponzi scheme arebecoming increasingly impatient forprosecution of the corrupt financier's family,friends, colleagues and advisers.

The subject of the greatest popular vitriol isMadoff's wife, Ruth, who still lives in thecouple's $7-million penthouse on New York'sUpper East Side.

Although she has not been charged, sheregularly visits her husband in jail and hasrefused repeatedly to express any publicsympathy for his victims.

Ruth Madoff has been banned from herneighbourhood hair salon and a favourite Italianrestaurant. United States officials have seized

Earlier this year she was also forced to handyachts that were registered in her name, as well

rk subway recently, she snapped: "Are you?"

e finger at anybody surrounding him. But fewnt two decades pulling off Wall Street's biggestces of Madoff Securities on the 17th floor of

d recently she believed he was withholdingplices.

her seaside retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, and

Mail & Guardian online

July 23, 2009

Jeff Zwerling, a New York lawyer representing Madoff clients, said: "It strains credulity tobelieve this man could have perpetrated this fraud single-handedly for so many years. Thesheer volume of paperwork involved alone would render that practically impossible."

Last week the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges of securities fraudagainst four individuals and a Madoff-linked investment advisory firm, Cohmad Securities. Allare accused of recruiting clients to Madoff's fund while "knowing or recklessly disregarding"facts indicating that Madoff was a crook.

Meanwhile, criminal charges are outstanding against David Friehling, owner of a one-manaccountancy firm based in a roadside shopping centre in suburban New York which supposedlyaudited the books of Madoff's global fund management empire. Britain's Serious Fraud Office isinvestigating the London end of Madoff's firm.

But to the frustration of those who lost money, a painstaking investigation into Madoff's relativeshas yet to yield much. The fraudster's brother, Peter, who served as chief compliance officer atMadoff's firm, has had most of his assets frozen by regulators. But he was given a livingallowance of $10 000 a month after his lawyer complained he had insufficient cash to buyhimself medicine, food or "even a cup of coffee".

Madoff's sons, Andrew and Peter, have dissociated themselves from their father despite holdingsenior roles at Madoff Securities. Neither is on speaking terms with Madoff. The younger of thetwo, Andrew, recently got into a street brawl in Manhattan with a former colleague who accusedhim of involvement in the fraud.

Fury towards Madoff and his family remains raw. At least two suicides have been linked to thescandal. Thierry de la Villehuchet, a French hedge fund manager, slit his wrists in December,leaving a note blaming Madoff-related losses. In a recent television interview Villehuchet's wifeaccused the fraudster of "murder" over her husband's death.

There is a lingering suspicion among many victims that Madoff has money stashed awaysomewhere. Bradley Simon, a New York lawyer specializing in white-collar crime, said: "Theywant him to spend the rest of his life in jail but they also want him to 'fess up so they can getsome of their money back."

© Guardian News & Media 2009

Guardian

June 29, 2009

Bernard Madoff's fall from graceHow the respected Wall Street financier who seemed to have the Midas touch became a 'nobody'languishing behind bars

By Andrew ClarkMonday 29 June 2009 16:37 BST

The master fraudster may be behind bars. But victims of Bernard Madoff's $65bn (£39.5bn)Ponzi scheme are becoming increasingly impatient for prosecution of the corrupt financier'sfamily, friends, colleagues and advisers.

Madoff has steadfastly refused to point the finger at anybody surrounding him. But few believethe 71-year-old financier could have spent two decades pulling off Wall Street's biggest scamwithout co-operation from others in the offices of Madoff Securities on the 17th floor ofManhattan's Lipstick building.

"It strains credulity to believe this man could have perpetrated this fraud single-handedlyfor so many years," said Jeff Zwerling, a New York lawyer representing Madoff clients."The sheer volume of paperwork involved alone would render that practically impossible."

Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges of securities fraudagainst four individuals and a Madoff-linked investment advisory firm, Cohmad Securities. Allare accused of recruiting clients to Madoff's fund while "knowing or recklessly disregarding"facts indicating that Madoff was a crook.

Meanwhile, criminal charges are outstanding against David Friehling, owner of a one-manaccountancy firm based in a roadside shopping centre in suburban New York, which supposedlyaudited the books of Madoff's global fund management empire. The Serious Fraud Office isinvestigating the London end of Madoff's firm.

But to the frustration of those who lost money, a painstaking investigation into Madoff's relativeshas yet to yield much. The fraudster's brother, Peter, who served as chief compliance officer atMadoff's firm, has had most of his assets frozen by regulators. But he was given a livingallowance of $10,000 a month after his lawyer complained he had insufficient cash to buyhimself medicine, food or "even a cup of coffee".

Madoff's sons, Andrew and Peter, have disassociated themselves with their father despiteholding senior roles at Madoff Securities. Neither of them are on speaking terms with Madoff.The younger of the two, Andrew, recently got into a street brawl outside a Manhattan chickentake-away shop with a former colleague who accused him of involvement in the fraud.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/29/bernard-madoff-fraud-jail-sentence?commentpage=1

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Guardian

June 29, 2009

The object of greatest popular vitriol, however, is Madoff's wife, Ruth, who still lives in thecouple's $7m penthouse on New York's Upper East Side. Although she has not been chargedwith anything, she regularly visits her husband in jail and has repeatedly refused to express anypublic sympathy for victims of his fraud.

Madoff's wife has been banned from her neighbourhood hair salon and from a favourite Italianrestaurant. US officials have seized her seaside retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. Trailed by tabloidphotographers on the New York subway this week, she snapped: "Are you having funembarrassing me – and ruining my life?"

Fury towards Madoff and his family remains raw. At least two suicides have been linked to theMadoff scandal. Thierry de la Villehuchet, a French hedge fund manager, slit his wrists inDecember, leaving a note blaming Madoff-related losses. In a recent television interview, De laVillehuchet's wife accused the fraudster of "murder" over her husband's death.

"I would like to ask him how he can be alive and wake up every morning and breathe, not onlyknowing he did such horrible things to thousands of lives, that he shattered so many dreams, butthat he killed my husband," said Claudine de la Villehuchet.

There is a lingering suspicion among many victims that Madoff has money stashed awaysomewhere. Bradley Simon, a New York lawyer specialising in white-collar crime, said: "Theywant him to spend the rest of his life in jail but they also want him to 'fess up so they can getsome of their money back."

For Madoff, the prospect of many years in prison looms large. Once he settles into his new cell,he is likely to be put to work, despite his age, unless he can provide a convincing health reasonfor opting out. A spokeswoman for the US bureau of prisons said: "All inmates medically ableare required to work."

Typical jobs include food service, cleaning, filing, factory work, teaching or, if he is lucky, shiftsin the prison library. Hourly pay rates vary from 12 cents to 40 cents an hour and part ofMadoff's meagre wages are likely to be confiscated and used towards compensation of victims.

According to one former long-time prison inmate, Madoff is unlikely to get much respect fromhis fellow prisoners, given that he ripped off members of the public, rather than institutions.

"The biggest shock will be that he's a nobody," said Larry Levine, who spent a decade behindbars for crimes including securities fraud and drugs trafficking. "No one's going to give a shitwho he is."

Levine runs Wall Street Prison Consultants, an outfit advising white-collar criminals on copingwith jail life. He said the fact that Madoff's victims were members of the public, rather thancorporations, will weigh against him: "People are going to look down on him because he rippedoff ordinary people. If he'd robbed a bank or an insurance company, people might respect that."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

Forbes

February 4, 2009

Associated Press

European Madoff victims to pursue banks, auditors

By FRANK JORDANSFebruary 4, 2009, 04:25 PM EST

European investors who feared they lost millions in the Madoff scandal have a chance to recoup

some or all of their money from the banks that marketed the stricken funds, according to lawyers

who are preparing a possible U.S.-style class-action lawsuit.

Erik Bomans, a partner at law firm Deminor International, told reporters on Wednesday that

banks including UBS AG of Switzerland and Britain's HSBC PLC may have broken European

rules on how investment funds should be run and could therefore be liable for some of the losses.

Brussels-based Deminor is in talks with potential clients - private and institutional investors who

between them had more than euro1 billion ($1.3 billion) invested with Madoff-linked funds.

"Only full compensation for our clients will be considered a satisfactory solution," Bomans said

in a Webcast press conference.

European money accounts for a sizable chunk of the $50 billion that U.S. financier Bernard

Madoff is alleged to have lost in a massive pyramid scheme involving offshore funds with names

such as Kingate, Alpha Prime and Luxalpha.

Those affected include some of the continent's ultra-rich, but also ordinary state employees

whose pension funds invested with Madoff.

Their ire, in many cases, is directed not at Madoff but at the banks they entrusted their money to

in the belief that the commissions they paid would guarantee it was in safe hands.

Bomans said he believes the banks ran roughshod over the rules on how investments funds

should be run, including the need to keep the roles of administrator and custodian separate.

HSBC declined to comment on Deminor's claims. But the bank said in an e-mailed statement

that it "continues to believe that it has good defenses to the claims and will vigorously defend

itself against the actions that have been brought."

http://www.forbes.com/breakingnews/AP_full.html

Forbes

February 4, 2009

On Tuesday, Luxembourg authorities closed down the Luxalpha hedge fund citing its failure to

comply with regulatory requirements. The CSSF market regulator said it also would ask a court

to wind up the fund and appoint officials to liquidate any remaining assets.

UBS, which acted as custodian for Luxalpha, has denied any wrongdoing.

But the Zurich-based bank suffered a blow last month when French financial firm Oddo & Cie

successfully petitioned a court to release euro30 million that UBS had frozen in a Luxembourg

account.

Although Oddo's circumstances were unusual - the firm had asked for its clients' money to be

paid out before the Madoff scandal broke - the news that a major Swiss bank had lost a case in

court gave other investors hope.

That feeling was further boosted when Spain's Banco Santander announced last week it will offer

euro1.3 billion to reimburse private customers who lost money because one of its funds, Optimal

Strategic US Equity, commissioned Madoff to handle some of its investments.

Santander's offer comes after investors launched a lawsuit in the United States accusing it of

failing to adequately examine its dealings with Madoff.

Marc Hassberger, Geneva-based lawyer with Chabrier & Associes, says he is cautiously

optimistic that investors will either be awarded compensation or reach out-of-court settlements.

A swell of litigation is now building up in Europe, with some set to wash across the Atlantic to

the U.S. where courts are generally friendlier to victims of financial fraud.

Robert Schachter, of New York law firm Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, says he is

working on behalf of two dozen clients from Spain, Austria and Germany who invested

with Madoff through Vienna-based Bank Medici, which is part-owned by Bank Austria.

Schachter told The AP last month that Bank Medici was reckless in failing to check where

its clients' money was going.

Carolin Treichl, a spokeswoman for the bank, rejected the charge.

"We conducted continuous examinations," she said, adding that Bank Medici felt it had been

misled by Madoff.

One problem for any litigant will be proving that their bank could have done more to probe the

Madoff money machine than the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did.

According to Vito Roberto, professor of business law at St. Gallen University in eastern

Switzerland, the fact that the SEC failed to find fault with Madoff's accounts means judges are

unlikely to expect a higher duty of care from intermediaries.

Forbes

February 4, 2009

However those banks that made the decision to invest in Madoff without explicit instructions

from their clients may still be liable, he said.

"Investment funds aren't supposed to bundle risk, so if you put all of the money in a single fund

then you've probably bundled risk in a way that isn't permissible," said Roberto.

Some of the banks now in the firing line are considering launching lawsuits themselves.

Union Bancaire Privee, a private bank based in Geneva which lost some $700 million to Madoff,

is considering suing the financier directly. A decision will be made in the coming months, said

spokesman Rohan Sant.

European financial regulators warned Wednesday that direct clients of Bernard L. Madoff

Investment Securities LLC have until March 4 to file their claim with U.S. authorities.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Business Week

February 4, 2009

The Associated Press February 4, 2009, 12:19PM ET

European Madoff victims to pusue banks, auditors

By FRANK JORDANS

GENEVA

European investors who feared they lost millions in the Madoff scandal have a chance to recoupsome or all of their money from the banks that marketed the stricken funds, according to lawyerswho are preparing a possible U.S.-style class-action lawsuit.

Erik Bomans, a partner at law firm Deminor International, told reporters on Wednesday thatbanks including UBS AG of Switzerland and Britain's HSBC PLC may have broken Europeanrules on how investment funds should be run and could therefore be liable for some of the losses.

Brussels-based Deminor is in talks with potential clients -- private and institutional investorswho between them had more than euro1 billion ($1.3 billion) invested with Madoff-linked funds.

"Only full compensation for our clients will be considered a satisfactory solution," Bomans saidin a Web-cast press conference.

European money accounts for a sizable chunk of the $50 billion that U.S. financier BernardMadoff is alleged to have lost in a massive pyramid scheme involving offshore funds with namessuch as Kingate, Alpha Prime and Luxalpha.

Those affected include some of the continent's ultra-rich, but also ordinary state employeeswhose pension funds invested with Madoff.

Their ire, in many cases, is directed not at Madoff but at the banks they entrusted their money toin the belief that the commissions they paid would guarantee it was in safe hands.

Bomans said he believes the banks ran roughshod over the rules on how investments fundsshould be run, including the need to keep the roles of administrator and custodian separate.

On Tuesday, Luxembourg authorities closed down the Luxalpha hedge fund citing its failure tocomply with regulatory requirements. The CSSF market regulator said it also would ask a courtto wind up the fund and appoint officials to liquidate any remaining assets.

UBS, which acted as custodian for Luxalpha, has denied any wrongdoing.

http://www.businessweek.com/

Business Week

February 4, 2009

HSBC declined to comment on Deminor's claims. But the bank said in an e-mailed statementthat it "continues to believe that it has good defences to the claims and will vigorously defenditself against the actions that have been brought."

But the Zurich-based bank suffered a blow last month when French financial firm Oddo & Ciesuccessfully petitioned a court to release euro30 million that UBS had frozen in a Luxembourgaccount.

Although Oddo's circumstances were unusual -- the firm had asked for its clients' money to bepaid out before the Madoff scandal broke -- the news that a major Swiss bank had lost a case incourt gave other investors hope.

That feeling was further boosted when Spain's Banco Santander announced last week it will offereuro1.3 billion to reimburse private customers who lost money because one of its funds, OptimalStrategic US Equity, commissioned Madoff to handle some of its investments.

Santander's offer comes after investors launched a lawsuit in the United States accusing it offailing to adequately examine its dealings with Madoff.

A swell of litigation is now building up in Europe, with some set to wash across the Atlantic tothe U.S. where courts are generally friendlier to victims of financial fraud.

Robert Schachter, of New York law firm Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, says he isworking on behalf of two dozen clients from Spain, Austria and Germany who investedwith Madoff through Vienna-based Bank Medici, which is part-owned by Bank Austria.

Schachter told The AP last month that Bank Medici was reckless in failing to check whereits clients' money was going.

Carolin Treichl, a spokeswoman for the bank, rejected the charge.

"We conducted continuous examinations," she said, adding that Bank Medici felt it had beenmisled by Madoff.

One problem for any litigant will be proving that their bank could have done more to probe theMadoff money machine than the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did.

According to Vito Roberto, professor of business law at St. Gallen University in easternSwitzerland, the fact that the SEC failed to find fault with Madoff's accounts means judges areunlikely to expect a higher duty of care from intermediaries.

However those banks that made the decision to invest in Madoff without explicit instructionsfrom their clients may still be liable, he said.

"Investment funds aren't supposed to bundle risk, so if you put all of the money in a single fundthen you've probably bundled risk in a way that isn't permissible," said Roberto.

Business Week

February 4, 2009

Some of the banks now in the firing line are considering launching lawsuits themselves.

Union Bancaire Privee, a private bank based in Geneva which lost some $700 million toMaddoff, is considering suing the financier directly. A decision will be made in the comingmonths, said spokesman Rohan Sant.

European financial regulators warned Wednesday that direct clients of Bernard L. MadoffInvestment Securities LLC have until March 4 to file their claim with U.S. authorities.

Copyright 2000-2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

Budapest Business Journal

January 26, 2009

MONEY & INVESTMENT

Madoff’s vanishing billions

Monday 10:37, January 26th, 2009

Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street financier accused of running a massive swindle that fleecedinvestors of up to $50 billion, remains in his lavish Manhattan apartment overlooking CentralPark after a federal judge rejected prosecution calls last week for him to be jailed.

The decision to allow Madoff to stay under house arrest in the $7 million penthouse, rather thantransfer him to the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in lower Manhattan, astonished and furtherangered victims of the scandal.

Judge Ronald Ellis refused to revoke his $10 million bail, ruling that the prosecution had failedto make its case that Madoff could cause more harm if he remained at large. But the judge didimpose new restrictions that will see all Madoff’s mail searched by a security firm before itleaves his building. An inventory will be taken of all valuable portable objects in his apartment,which will be checked every two weeks to ensure he is not attempting to dispose of it. Therestrictions will apply to both Madoff and his wife.

Madoff was a highly respected Wall Street figure for more than 40 years, at one point holdingthe post of chairman of the Nasdaq stockmarket. He gained a reputation for earning his clients aremarkably stable and high rate of return. But last month he was arrested after it was revealedthat his financial empire was founded on thin air. He had allegedly been running what is knownas a Ponzi scheme – taking in new money to pay the dividends of existing investors, losing up to$50 billion and with it the entire life savings of thousands of his clients in the process.Prosecution lawyers had called on the court to imprison him on the grounds that he broke a courtorder freezing his assets.

Shortly before Christmas, Madoff posted $1 million of jewelry and gifts to friends and family inclear violation of his bail terms. Court papers showed that the items included 13 vintagetimepieces, including Tiffany and Cartier diamond watches, an emerald ring, four diamondbrooches, two sets of cufflinks and a jade necklace. The packages were sent by Madoff to hissons, Andrew and Mark, who worked for the family firm, his brother Peter and his closestfriends in New York.

The lead prosecutor, Marc Litt, argued that “the continued release of the defendant presents adanger to the community of additional economic harm and further obstruction of justice.” ButMadoff’s defense lawyers said the mailings were an innocent mistake: he had sent out familyheirlooms and was simply unaware that was in breach of the asset freeze.

Budapest Business Journal

January 26, 2009

Victims and their lawyers reacted angrily to the decision to allow Madoff to remain free.Larry Leif from Palm Beach, Florida, who lost his life savings of $8 million, said: “If I hadcommitted this crime personally, I would be in jail.” Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyerrepresenting individual and institutional Madoff victims around the world, said his clientswould be outraged. “They have just lost their entire life savings, are losing their homes, canno longer pay their health insurance and here is Madoff living in a triplex overlookingCentral Park.”

In further evidence of the strange moral universe inhabited by Madoff, The New York Timesrevealed that he has been apologizing to his neighbors in the East 64th Street block of apartmentsfor the chaos caused by the media camped outside since his arrest. “Dear neighbors,” his lettersays, “Please accept my profound apologies for the terrible inconvenience that I have causedover the past weeks. Ruth [his wife] and I appreciate the support we have received.” (BBJ)

Washington Post

January 18, 2009

Livid Investors Launch A Volley of LawsuitsClass-Actions Mount Despite Uncertain Payouts for Those Who Lost Money

By Nancy TrejosWashington Post Staff WriterSunday, January 18, 2009

Bernard Madoff leaves a bail hearing in New York Jan. 5. Lawyers sayseveral investment groups related to Madoff have been targeted forinvestor lawsuits. (By Hiroko Masuike -- Getty Images)

Some angry investors -- both averageAmericans and giant pension funds --are not taking their massive lossesquietly. Holding portfolios that haveimploded from a barrage of financialtime bombs, they are turning to thecourts for compensation.

"Anytime people lose money, expectlitigation to pick up," said John F. SandySmith, a partner at Morris, Manning &Martin in Atlanta.

To cut down on legal expenses and exerttheir power in numbers, investors are

banding together in securities class-action lawsuits. Although such lawsuits are intended to makerecouping losses easier, especially for the average American with a stake in a company, there aremany obstacles to success. For one thing, almost half the cases get dismissed. When they do not,the process is slow and the amounts retrieved can be a fraction of what was lost. With the currentcases, the amounts retrieved could get even smaller because the credit crisis has left the targetedcompanies with slimmer pockets.

Class-action suits are usually initiated by an individual investor who has lost a substantialamount of money or by an institutional investor, such as a pension fund. That person orinstitution is known as the lead plaintiff. If a class-action lawsuit is filed against a company youhave a stake in, you will certainly find out. The plaintiffs' lawyers are required to issue a newsrelease when they file. From then, you have nothing to do until, or if, there is a settlement.

In 2008, the number of federal securities class-action lawsuit filings reached a six-year high, with267 filings. That was a 37 percent increase from the previous year, according to a recent studyfrom NERA Economic Consulting.

Of the 255 cases filed as of Dec. 14, almost half -- 110 -- were related to the credit crisis. In2007, there were just 40 spurred by the crisis.

banding

http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=pf

Washington Post

January 18, 2009

Investors are claiming they have lost up to $856 billion, according to an annual report by theStanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and Cornerstone Research. That's a27 percent increase over the previous year. Like NERA, Stanford also reported a significantincrease in the number of class-action lawsuits filed in 2008.

Many of the actions are directed against companies in the financial industry. Joseph Grundfest,director of the Stanford clearinghouse, said he has not seen so much litigation against a singleindustry in more than a decade. Nearly a third of all financial firms were named as a defendant ina securities class action filed in 2008, the Stanford study found. The firms named as defendantsrepresented more than half of the sector's total market capitalization. Among them: New CenturyFinancial, Countrywide Financial, IndyMac Mortgage, Washington Mutual and AmericanInternational Group.

The cases allege some sort of securities fraud. Grundfest said there are three main categories ofcases against the financial services sector. Some plaintiffs are claiming that companies lied aboutthe value of securities in their portfolios. Others are claiming that they lied about theirunderwriting practices. Still others are filing suits against firms that sold auction-rate securities,which are bonds with interest rates reset by periodic bidding, as often as every week. The marketfor those bonds dried up last year, leaving investors unable to access their money.

Kevin M. LaCroix, a partner at OakBridge Insurance Services, an insurance brokerage inBeachwood, Ohio, said that the largest number of lawsuits per quarter last year came in the finalthree months of 2008, suggesting that the trend will continue and litigation will pick up evenmore through 2009. In December alone, he said, there were 30 new lawsuits.

And expect a lot more lawsuits linked to alleged fraudster Bernard L. Madoff. At least seveninvestment groups related to Madoff have already been targeted for investor lawsuits, LaCroixsaid.

Given the large number of cases, there's a good chance you'll have the option to join a class-action lawsuit, if you're an investor or a shareholder in a financial services company. If you do,several legal experts said you have nothing to lose, other than what you have already lost.

"The whole purpose of the class-action device procedurally was to give the average investor anopportunity to seek recovery, because on an individual basis, it's not feasible," said Ira Press, apartner at Kirby McInerney who is representing investors in a case against Citigroup. "The out-of-pocket costs before you even get into the value of lawyer time . . . generally exceeds the valueof the investment."

A securities class action usually begins with the lead plaintiff, who picks the attorneys and exertsthe time and energy to keep the suit going.

Although average investors need not do anything to ensure the suit reaches a conclusion, thereare ways they can keep apprised of its progress. In that regard, they do have to be proactivebecause the plaintiffs' lawyers are not typically required to do any reporting on developmentsonce they've issued their press release, which can be found on any finance Web site such as

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Stanford+University?tid=informline

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Washington Post

January 18, 2009

Yahoo Finance. While the case is pending, shareholders and investors can monitor it on the Website of the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse or through the federalcourts' electronic docket system, which is known as PACER. Accessing the information fromStanford is free, but PACER charges a small fee. Sometimes if the cases are large, the leadplaintiffs' law firms will set up separate Web sites or separate pages on their own sites.

Once there is a judgment or a settlement, the plaintiffs' attorneys are required to notify the group.At that point, the investor will have to complete a proof of claim form. The lead plaintiff receivesan equal share of the settlement but in some cases can apply for a bonus payment.

Keep in mind that just because you are an investor doesn't mean you will qualify to be part ofthe class. "You have to have purchased and sometimes sold, depending on the nature of theclaim, within the class period," said Jeff Zwerling, managing partner at Zwerling, Schachter

What's more, LaCroix said, the process can take up to three or four years. Even when the case issettled or won, you have to wait a few months for the claim to be processed. And expect torecoup a small percentage of your loss, maybe just 20 or 30 percent, legal experts said. Plus theattorneys, who do not charge upfront for arguing the case, will take a chunk of the settlement, asmuch as one-third, said Stephanie Plancich, a senior consultant at NERA.

Complicating matters is that class-action lawsuits have become harder to win in the past decade,legal experts said. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 stipulated that therewould be no discovery, the process in which attorneys ask their opponents for legally relevantdocuments they in turn must produce, until after the case gets past a defendant's motion todismiss. But in order to get over that hurdle, plaintiffs must present specific facts creating a"strong inference" that the company and its officials acted with fraudulent intent.

& Zwerling in New York.

"You have to figure out the case before you have access to the documents that willeventually help you prove your case," said Zwerling, who is representing the lead plaintiffin a class-action case involving auction-rate securities underwritten by Citigroup.

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs have to make an even stronger argument to bringa case. So it's no wonder that about 41 percent of cases end up getting dismissed, LaCroix said.

"The mere fact that a bank or other financial services corporation suffered huge losses in thecredit crisis and stock prices reacted doesn't mean it's fraud," Press said. "It's only fraud if youcan show there was something about those losses that was known by the company or recklesslydisregarded by the company at an earlier time and was inconsistent with the public statementsthe company was making."

Also, in a decision that could apply to cases relating to Madoff, the Supreme Court last yearruled that investors cannot sue third-party businesses such as law firms, accountants and banksfor their role in a public company's deceptive inflating of stock prices.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Yahoo!+Finance?tid=informline

Washington Post

January 18, 2009

If they can make it past a motion to dismiss, class-action cases tend to be strong, experts said.

"If you get past the motion to dismiss and get into the discovery phase where you canlearn about the case, your odds are significantly greater," Zwerling said. "Most of thesecases are resolved prior to trial . . . . You will see those cases that survive are also strongerand have much more chance of likelihood of success."

It is too soon to tell how well the credit crisis cases will do, experts said. But the settlementscould end up being quite large. The median investor loss for a credit crisis case in 2008 wasalmost $3.5 billion, about nine times the median amount of a noncredit case filed last year,NERA found.

That said, many of the companies being sued are on the verge of bankruptcy or have beengobbled up by other firms.

"Defendants with 'deep pockets' are the ones who can afford big settlements," Plancich said."However, the credit crisis has dramatically shrunk the size of many defendants' pockets. Thefinancial distress faced by defendant companies could therefore pull median settlement valuesdown."

Whatever the outcomes of these cases, Grundfest argues that class-action lawsuits do not fulfillone of their missions: to deter securities fraud. Others argue that such lawsuits drain cash andmanpower from already beleaguered companies, thus hurting existing shareholders andinvestors.

"It's important to stop securities fraud. I'm the first person to say that," he said. "By the sametoken, we also need to keep an open mind and ask whether the multibillion-dollar securities fraudindustry has been effective in achieving that result. Or has it been more effective at generatingrevenue for lawyers on the defendant and plaintiff side?"

© 2009 The Washington Post Company

Additional Publications – Washington Post Article

January 18, 2009

This same article also appeared in the following media outlets:

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The Calgary Herald

NorthJersey.com

Tennessean.com

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Los Angeles Times

January 18, 2009

Irate Investors Filing More Class-Action LawsuitsThe number of federal securities class-action filings reaches a six-year high last year.






banding together in securities class-action lawsuits. Although such lawsuits are intended to makerecouping losses easier, especially for the average American with a stake in a company, there aremany obstacles to success. For one thing, almost half the cases get dismissed. When they do not,the process is slow and the amounts retrieved can be a fraction of what was lost. With the currentcases, the amounts retrieved could get even smaller because the credit crisis has left the targetedcompanies with slimmer pockets.

Class-action suits are usually initiated by an individual investor who has lost a substantialamount of money or by an institutional investor, such as a pension fund. That person orinstitution is known as the lead plaintiff. If a class-action lawsuit is filed against a company youhave a stake in, you will certainly find out. The plaintiffs' lawyers are required to issue a newsrelease when they file. From then, you have nothing to do until, or if, there is a settlement.

In 2008, the number of federal securities class-action lawsuit filings reached a six-year high, with267 filings. That was a 37 percent increase from the previous year, according to a recent studyfrom NERA Economic Consulting.


banding

Los Angeles Times

January 18, 2009









Although average investors need not do anything to ensure the suit reaches a conclusion, thereare ways they can keep apprised of its progress. In that regard, they do have to be proactivebecause the plaintiffs' lawyers are not typically required to do any reporting on developmentsonce they've issued their press release, which can be found on any finance Web site such as











Los Angeles Times

January 18, 2009

Yahoo Finance. While the case is pending, shareholders and investors can monitor it on the Website of the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse or through the federalcourts' electronic docket system, which is known as PACER. Accessing the information fromStanford is free, but PACER charges a small fee. Sometimes if the cases are large, the leadplaintiffs' law firms will set up separate Web sites or separate pages on their own sites.


Keep in mind that just because you are an investor doesn't mean you will qualify to bepart of the class. "You have to have purchased and sometimes sold, depending on thenature of the claim, within the class period," said Jeff Zwerling, managing partner at



Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling in New York.

"You have to figure out the case before you have access to the documents that willeventually help you prove your case," said Zwerling, who is representing the leadplaintiff in a class-action case involving auction-rate securities underwritten byCitigroup.


"The mere fact that a bank or other financial services corporation suffered huge losses in thecredit crisis and stock prices reacted doesn't mean it's fraud," Press said. "It's only fraud if youcan show there was something about those losses that was known by the company or recklesslydisregarded by the company at an earlier time and was inconsistent with the public statementsthe company was making."



Los Angeles Times

January 18, 2009


"If you get past the motion to dismiss and get into the discovery phase where you canlearn about the case, your odds are significantly greater," Zwerling said. "Most of thesecases are resolved prior to trial . . . . You will see those cases that survive are also strongerand have much more chance of likelihood of success."






Trejos writes for The Washington Post.

Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times

The Peninsula

January 18, 2009

Livid Investors Launch A Volley of LawsuitsClass-Actions Mount Despite Uncertain Payouts for Those Who Lost Money


banding together in securities class-action lawsuits. Althrecouping losses easier, especially for the average Amerimany obstacles to success. For one thing, almost half thethe process is slow and the amounts retrieved can be a fracases, the amounts retrieved could get even smaller becacompanies with slimmer pockets.

Class-action suits are usually initiated by an individual inamount of money or by an institutional investor, such asinstitution is known as the lead plaintiff. If a class-actionhave a stake in, you will certainly find out. The plaintiffsrelease when they file. From then, you have nothing to d

In 2008, the number of federal securities class-action law267 filings. That was a 37 percent increase from the prevfrom NERA Economic Consulting.





ough such lawsuits are intended to makecan with a stake in a company, there arecases get dismissed. When they do not,ction of what was lost. With the current

use the credit crisis has left the targeted

vestor who has lost a substantiala pension fund. That person orlawsuit is filed against a company you' lawyers are required to issue a newso until, or if, there is a settlement.

suit filings reached a six-year high, withious year, according to a recent study

banding

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/index00.asp

The Peninsula

January 18, 2009




















The Peninsula

January 18, 2009

Although average investors need not do anything to ensure the suit reaches a conclusion, thereare ways they can keep apprised of its progress. In that regard, they do have to be proactivebecause the plaintiffs' lawyers are not typically required to do any reporting on developmentsonce they've issued their press release, which can be found on any finance Web site such asYahoo Finance. While the case is pending, shareholders and investors can monitor it on the Website of the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse or through the federalcourts' electronic docket system, which is known as PACER. Accessing the information fromStanford is free, but PACER charges a small fee. Sometimes if the cases are large, the leadplaintiffs' law firms will set up separate Web sites or separate pages on their own sites.


Keep in mind that just because you are an investor doesn't mean you will qualify to be partof the class. "You have to have purchased and sometimes sold, depending on the nature ofthe claim, within the class period," said Jeff Zwerling, managing partner at Zwerling,



Schachter & Zwerling in New York.

"You have to figure out the case before you have access to the documents that willeventually help you prove your case," said Zwerling, who is representing the lead plaintiffin a class-action case involving auction-rate securities underwritten by Citigroup.


"The mere fact that a bank or other financial services corporation suffered huge losses in thecredit crisis and stock prices reacted doesn't mean it's fraud," Press said. "It's only fraud if youcan show there was something about those losses that was known by the company or recklessly


The Peninsula

January 18, 2009

disregarded by the company at an earlier time and was inconsistent with the public statementsthe company was making."



"If you get past the motion to dismiss and get into the discovery phase where you can learnabout the case, your odds are significantly greater," Zwerling said. "Most of these casesare resolved prior to trial . . . . You will see those cases that survive are also stronger andhave much more chance of likelihood of success."






© 2001 The Peninsula. All Rights Reserved.

The New York Times

January 17, 2009

Suit Claims Madoff’s Role Was Kept From Investors

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and JULIA WERDIGIER

Many of them, including Bank MMr. Madoff was a fraud and that

Judging from the lawsuit as wellstrategies for collecting money. IMadoff name was quietly bandieexactly was supposed to deliver t

Ms. Kohn gathered assets for Mrwith him and promises of exclusimoney managers.

But the lawsuit, filed by Repex Vthat invested $700,000 in one ofof Mr. Madoff’s role, and instead

A spokesman for Ms. Kohn and tMr. Madoff.

financier.

How did Bernard L. Madoff manage to raise so much money forso long from so many supposedly sophisticated investors?

Apparently, by keeping many of them in the dark about his ownrole.

That fresh perspective on Mr. Madoff’s alleged Ponzi schemeemerged in recent days from a lawsuit filed in federal court inNew York that claims he specifically forbade managers whogathered assets for him from mentioning his name in theirmarketing literature and other reports.

The lawsuit, which names Mr. Madoff as well as Bank Medici,the Viennese firm that invested more than $3 billion of itsclients’ money with him, helps lift the veil on the network ofmiddlemen who proved so effective at gathering funds for Mr.
Madoff.
Rohrauer/Wirtschaftsblatt, via PictureDesk.com

Sonja Kohn, Bank Medici’s chairwoman,has said that she, too, was a victim ofBernard Madoff, the now disgraced

edici’s chairwoman, Sonja Kohn, have said they had no ideathey were victimized by him like other investors.

as interviews with investors, it appears there were differentn certain affluent circles and with professional managers, thed about. But many other clients were not in the know about whohe stellar returns investors were promised for years.

. Madoff and sometimes played up her longstanding friendshipve access to his firm, according to interviews with several

entures, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islandsthe feeder funds, contends that many other investors never knewconsidered Bank Medici to be the actual investment manager.

he bank declined to comment on the lawsuit, as did a lawyer for

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/bernard_l_madoff/index.html?inline=nyt-per

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The New York Times

January 17, 2009

In presentations for potential investors in the feeder funds, as well as internal marketingdocuments from Bank Medici that have now come to light, there is no mention of Mr. Madoff’sfirm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.

Instead, according to a June 2008 statement of assets from one Medici-managed feeder fund,Thema International, holdings like United States Treasury bills and foreign exchange currencycontracts are duly recorded.

In another section, seemingly safe blue-chip stocks are listed as having been bought and sold,with millions of shares of companies like General Electric, Microsoft, Exxon and AT&Tchanging hands.

“It’s a very strange setup, since most prospectuses disclose the names of the actual portfoliomanagers,” said Drago Indjic, a project manager at the Hedge Fund Center of the LondonBusiness School. “If you’ve been in the industry, this doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Also named in the lawsuit are Bank Austria and its parent, UniCredit of Italy, as well as HSBCHoldings, the fund’s custodian; Ernst & Young, its auditor; and Bank Medici’s former chiefexecutive, Peter Scheithauer.

This group, according to the lawsuit, promised investors “steady returns, sometimes in excess of10 percent.”

Bank Austria and UniCredit are in a particularly difficult situation, because they have deeppockets and their reputations were trumpeted in Bank Medici’s promotional material as a reasonto invest. Bank Medici is 75 percent owned by Ms. Kohn, with Bank Austria holding the rest.

Bank Austria declined to comment on the lawsuit and its relationship with Bank Medici and theMadoff funds.

Bank Medici has no connection with the influential Italian Renaissance family whose name itadopted. “Medici is just a fantasy name,” Ms. Kohn said in an interview with Wirtschaftsblatt, anAustrian magazine, in 2004. “Medici also means doctors.”

But the name as well as the company’s coat of arms — three lions and a crown — suggest a bankwhose roots go back much farther than just 14 years.

While the vast majority of Bank Medici’s assets were invested with Mr. Madoff, even some ofthe bank’s insiders are now claiming they were never told of his role.

Ferdinand Lacina, the former Austrian finance minister who sits on Bank Medici’s board, saidlast week in an interview with an Austrian magazine, Format, that he heard the name Madoff forthe first time when the news media reported the alleged Ponzi scheme. “The name was nevermentioned,” Mr. Lacina told Format.

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The New York Times

January 17, 2009

Early this month, friends and associates of Ms. Kohn and her husband, Erwin, said the couplehad dropped out of sight, apparently in fear of retribution from angry clients. But Ms. Kohnresurfaced this week, with an e-mail statement in which she said she, too, had been deceived byMr. Madoff.

“Having fallen victim to a company supervised by a U.S. regulator, as did many of the world’smost illustrious financial institutions, does not ease the pain,” she said in the statement,according to Bloomberg News.

“Reading that some voices believe that I should have known better makes the pain even moreunbearable,” she added.

Ms. Kohn also indicated that she was not a friend of Mr. Madoff, as her “agenda did not allowfor socializing or private friendships — neither with Mr. Madoff nor others.”

Bank Medici may face a second lawsuit in the next two weeks. Robert S. Schachter, alawyer for a New York law firm, Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, said he was preparing aclaim on behalf of a dozen individuals and institutions in Austria and Germany with totalinvestments of “tens of millions of dollars” allegedly placed with Mr. Madoff.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Geld & Borse

January 16, 2009

Medici-Affäre: Prominente Österreicher wurden zum Opfer desMilliardenkarussells

FORMAT: Wala und Haiden sind díe Geschädigten Bank Austria, Bank Medici und HSBC drohen Klagen

Sonderprüfung gegen MedDoch es kommt noch schlimWochenbeginn eine Sonderpbestätigt der für die BankenaFORMAT-Recherchen: „MeNotenbanker verheißt jedenfjüngsten Vergangenheit nahePrivatbank – am Ende standesind die Bankrevisoren besoUnschuldsvermutung.

BA verschwieg Madoff-VeDie Bankerin, die mit der Flnicht nur um ihr LebenswerkAnleger. Viele Investoren fofühlen: Denn weder Kohn noConnection jemals offengelefür Herald-, Thema- oder Primanagt hat, sind sie nun werGeschäft. Ähnlich wie Julius

Die Bank Medici wird von der Nationalbank geprüft.Eigentümerin Sonja Kohn soll mit Madoff jährlich mehrals 50 Millionen verdient haben. Die Investoren verloren3,5 Milliarden Dollar und wollen nun klagen.

Sonja Kohn erlebt derzeit einen nicht enden wollendenAlptraum. Schuld daran ist ihr langjähriger US-Geschäftspartner Bernard „Bernie“ Madoff. Die Bombeplatzte kurz vor Weihnachten: Kohn-Freund „Bernie“ sollüber eine Art Pyramidenspiel unfassbare 50 Milliarden Dollarpulverisiert haben. Seither herrscht in der Bank Medici – 25Prozent plus eine Aktie gehören der Bank Austria (BA), derRest gehört Kohn – der Ausnahmezustand. Denn rund 3,5Milliarden Dollar Anlegergeld kamen von Medici, was ihrGeldhaus zu den größten Madoff-Opfern macht.

icimer: Die Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) leitete zurüfung gegen Medici ein. „Die Prüfung hat begonnen“,ufsicht zuständige OeNB-Direktor Andreas Ittner diehr gibt es derzeit nicht zu sagen.“ Der Einmarsch deralls nichts Gutes. Zumindest legen das Beispiele aus der: Bawag, Hypo Alpe-Adria, Meinl oder Constantian immer Strafverfahren. Auf der Suche nach Missständen

nders kritisch. Für Kohn gilt selbstverständlich die

rbindungorentiner Adelsfamilie Medici nicht verwandt ist, bangt aber, sondern fürchtet auch den Widerstand aufgebrachterrdern ihr Geld zurück, weil sie sich übers Ohr gehauench Kooperationspartner Bank Austria haben die Madoff-gt. In keinen der FORMAT vorliegenden Verkaufsprospektemeo-Fonds ist sein Name zu finden. Weil Madoff sie ge-tlos. Für Kohn waren Herald und Co trotzdem ein gutesMeinl bei den börsennotierten Gesellschaften MAI, MEL

Geld & Borse

January 16, 2009

und MIP oder Karl Petrikovics bei Immofinanz und Immoeast, kassierte auch siejahrelang viele, viele Provisionsmillionen.

Internationale GeldflüsseÜber die Herald-Fonds wurden rund 2,1 Milliarden Dollar verwaltet. Im Thema-Fondssteckten weitere 1,4 Milliarden Dollar. „Der Investmentmanager hat Anspruch aufManagementgebühren in Höhe von zwei Prozent des an jedem Bewertungstagberechneten Nettoinventarwerts des Fonds“, heißt es in dem Herald-Prospekt vom März2008. „Der Investmentmanager hat ferner Anspruch auf eine erfolgsabhängige Gebühr,die an die Steigerung des Nettoinventarwerts gekoppelt ist. Diese Performance-Vergütung beträgt zehn Prozent.“ Kohn drehte ein globales Milliardenkarussell: DieGelder wurden in Irland und Luxemburg eingesammelt und dann via Cayman Islands zuMadoff nach New York geschickt. Die eigenen Provisionen flossen nach Europa. Kohnsoll so rund 50 Millionen Dollar jährlich an Einnahmen verbucht haben, was sie zu einerder reichsten Frauen Österreichs machen würde.

Verluste für RandaNur ein kleiner Teil, rund acht Millionen pro Jahr, erreichte Wien. Der Großteil soll inder Schweiz gelandet sein wie etwa bei der Privatbank Genevalor, Benbasset & Cie. Lauteinem Thema-Fund-Prospekt aus dem Jahr 2001 zählt Kohn zu den Eigentümern derThema Asset Management Ltd. (TAM). Brisantes Detail: TAM baute den Vertrieb vonMadoff-Produkten in Europa auf, was sich etwa durch eine Sonderzahlung von 15,9Millionen Dollar 2007 bemerkbar machte. Auch die Bank Austria verdiente sich einegoldene Nase an Madoff. Der frühere BA-Boss Gerhard Randa (im Bild) verschaffteKohn im Jahr 2003 die Banklizenz, ließ sich von ihr in die New Yorker Finanzwelteinführen und soll zu den ersten Madoff-Investoren Österreichs zählen. Mittlerweile sollauch er viel Geld verloren haben.

„Zapo“ war Primeo-ErfinderErfunden hat den Primeo-Fonds Randas damaliger Wertpapierchef Stefan Zapotockygemeinsam mit Kohn. Die Kooperation erwies sich rasch als sehr profitabel: Rund 800Millionen Euro sind die Fonds heute schwer. Der BA-Schwester Pioneer, die alssogenannter Investment Manager fungiert, brachten sie im Vorjahr rund 17 MillionenEuro Provisionen. „Der Primeo Select Fonds investiert ausschließlich in einenzugrundeliegenden Fonds mit der Bezeichnung ‚Herald USA‘. (…) Der PrimeoExecutive Fonds investiert sein Fondsvermögen zu jeweils annähernd 50 Prozent in zweizugrundeliegende Fonds mit der Bezeichnung Herald bzw. Alpha Prime Equity HedgeFund. (…) Alle sind zur Gänze in von Madoff verwalteten Einzelkonten investiert“, heißtes in einem Brief des Primeo Funds vom 17. Dezember 2008, der an vermögende BA-Kunden verschickt wurde.

Prominente GeschädigteDas Brisante daran: Die meisten erfuhren so zum ersten Mal von ihrem Madoff--Investment. Sie zittern nun um einige Hunderttausend Euro Vermögen. Insgesamt sindrund 740 Personen betroffen, darunter das Who’s who des heimischen Geldadels: VonEx-BA-General René-Alfons Haiden über Kelly’s-Gründer Herbert Rast bis hin zu Ex-

Geld & Borse

January 16, 2009

Notenbankpräsident Adolf Wala. Auch Ex-BA-Treasury-Chef Peter Fischer und Ex-GiroCredit-Boss Hans Haumer haben zumindest eine halbe Million Privatgeld verloren.Fischers und Haumers Investmenthaus Anaxo, das etwa die Gemeinde Hartberg in einfehlgeschlagenes Madoff-Investment gedrängt hat, soll wegen Madoff knapp vor demAus stehen. Wala, der im Vorstand der Banken-ÖIAG Fimbag sitzt, ist das Investmentsehr unangenehm: „Kein Kommentar zu meinen Privatangelegenheiten.“

Vertrieb für Österreich„Zapotocky hat den Madoff-Fonds in Österreich vertrieben. Er hat mich mehrmals daraufangesprochen. Zum Glück habe ich abgelehnt“, sagt Ex-Mayr-Melnhof-Chef MichaelGröller. Auch die Fruchtsaft-Familie Rauch soll zu jenen zählen, denen ZapotockyMadoff schmackhaft gemacht hat. „Es kann schon sein, dass jemand aus meiner Familieentweder persönlich oder über eine Stiftung investiert ist“, sagt Clanchef Franz Rauch:„Persönlich bin ich nicht betroffen.“ Schon als Börsenchef war „Zapo“ als Madoff-Vermittler verschrien. Mit Kohn ist er befreundet. Bis vor kurzem war Zapotocky imBoard des Madoff-Klons Alpha Prime.

Die Klagswelle läuft an„Wir haben ein gutes Dutzend Klienten aus Österreich“, sagt der US-Anwalt RobertSchachter von der US-Kanzlei Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling. „Es geht um einenhohen zweistelligen Euromillionenbetrag.“ Diese Woche wurde vom HedgefondsRepex Ventures die erste Klage gegen Medici und Bank Austria eingebracht. Nunlaufe eine 60-Tage-Frist, um Ansprüche anzumelden, sagt Schachter. Wer dasunterlässt, erhält nicht mehr den Status „Lead Plaintiff“ (Kläger erster Klasse), wasNachteile im Schadenersatzprozess bringt. „Bei uns haben sich mehr als hundertPrimeo-Kunden gemeldet, die zwischen 50.000 und 700.000 Euro verloren haben“,sagt Franz Kallinger, Chef des Prozessfinanzierers Advofin.

Depotbank ließ Madoff walten„Es sind nicht nur große, sondern auch kleine Anleger betroffen“, erzählt MatthiasSchröder von LSS Leonhardt Spänle Schröder Rechtsanwälte in Frankfurt am Main. InDeutschland fängt die Schadenssumme bei 5.000 Euro an, weil Finanzberater die 50.000-Euro-Mindestinvestmentsumme für Herald, Thema und Co stückelten und anKleinanleger weiterverkauften. Schröder: „Wir prüfen Klagen gegen die Medici und dieDepotbank HSBC.“ Letztere habe eindeutig ihre Aufgabe als Custodian nicht erfüllt. Soheißt es etwa im Herald-Prospekt: „Die Depotbank (HSBC) ist für die Verwahrung desFondsvermögens zuständig. Die Depotbank kann Unterverwahrer ernennen. DieDepotbank muss etwaige Unterverwahrer angemessen beaufsichtigen und von Zeit zuZeit Erkundigungen einholen.“ Auf Letzteres legte die HSBC wenig Wert. Sie ließMadoff als Sub-Custodian zu und ließ ihn ungeprüft walten. Advokat Schröder: „HSBChat Fehler gemacht.“

Prospekte nicht aktualisiertAußerdem war Medici nicht ehrlich zu den Investoren. Schröder: „Aus den Prospektengeht hervor, dass der Investmentmanager Bank Medici heißt.“ Zwar dürfe derVermögensverwaltungsauftrag delegiert werden. Jedoch nur mit einer Einschränkung:

Geld & Borse

January 16, 2009

„Im Falle einer Subdelegation von Befugnissen wird der vorliegende Prospektentsprechend aktualisiert“ (Herald-Prospekt, März 2008). Das dürfte wohl nie geschehensein, wie Exfinanzminister Ferdinand Lacina (siehe auch Interview) undExwirtschaftsminister Johannes Farnleitner unisono bestätigen. „Für uns waren dasHSBC-Fonds“, sagt Lacina. Der Name Madoff sei nie gefallen.

Noch mehr Infos finden Sie im aktuellen

http://www.news.at/articles/0902/525/230166/ex-finanzminister-medici-aufsichtsrat-lacina-mir-madoff-begriff

derStandard.at

January 16, 2009

Advofin prüft in Österreich und USA

Heimische Anleger lassen sich auch in Übersee vertreten

Wien - Etwa 120 bis 130 Privatpersonen und -stiftungen haben bei Advofin ihr Interessean einer Sammelklage bekundet, sagte Advofin-Vorstand Franz Kallinger am Freitag zurAPA. Auch Personen, "die Herr und Frau Österreicher kennt", seien unter den Opfern.Das Investitionsvolumen bewege sich im zweistelligen Millionenbereich. DerProzessfinanzierer hat zudem zwei Anwaltskanzleien in den USA beauftragt, eineSammelklage nach amerikanischem Recht zu prüfen. Hierzulande inspizieren dieAdvofin-Anwälte "die gesamte Österreich-Tangente, Bank Austria und Bank Medici", soKallinger.

Bei der Bank Austria sieht Advofin bereits Anhaltspunkte für Schadensersatzklagen,sagte Advofin-Anwalt Ulrich Salburg. In der Werbung für den Primeo-Fonds hätten dieKunden wie berichtet den Eindruck bekommen, dass dieser von der Bank Austriagemanagt wird, also in Österreich zugelassen ist und österreichischem Recht unterliegt,so der Jurist. In einem für den "Primeo Select Fund" und den "Primeo Executive Fund"vom April 2007 scheine die Bank Austria nicht mehr auf. Als Fonds-Verwalter werde dieBank of Bermuda auf den Cayman-Inseln, als Anlageberater die Pioneer AlternativeInvestment Management Ltd. in Dublin und als Depotbank die HSBC Securities ServicesS.A. in Luxemburg angeführt. Außerdem heiße es, dass der Fonds wederluxemburgischen Recht noch der luxemburgischen Finanzmarktaufsicht unterstehe. VonMadoff sei laut Salburg weder in der Werbung noch in dem Prospekt die Rede gewesen.Die Bank Austria hatte die Vorwürfe mehrfach zurückgewiesen und auf Pioneerverwiesen. Sie habe die betroffene Primeo-Gesellschaft 2007 an Pioneer verkauft und seidaher nicht mehr zuständig. Advofin will sich auch die Verkaufspraxis der Bank Mediciansehen, kündigte Kallinger an.

Auch der US-Anwalt Robert Schachter von der amerikanischen Kanzlei Zwerling,Schachter & Zwerling hat nach Informationen des Magazins "Format" ein gutesDutzend Klienten aus Österreich. Es gehe um einen hohen zweistelligenMillionenbetrag.

Diese Woche ist wie berichtet bereits die Repex Ventures SA, eine auf den British VirginIslands angesiedelte Firma, in den USA gegen Bank Medici und Bank Austria vorGericht gezogen. Sie wirft der Mini-Bank von Sonja Kohn vor, Investoren in die Irregeleitet zu haben. Die US-Anwaltskanzlei Stull, Stull & Broody hat in New York einenAntrag auf Klagszulassung gestellt. Geschädigte können sich nun bis zum 13. März vomGericht zum "Lead Plaintiff" (Kläger erster Klasse) ernennen lassen.

derStandard.at

January 16, 2009

Außerdem haben der französische Vermögensverwalter Oddo et Cie. und eine 66-jährigeFranzösin Verfahren gegen die UBS eingeleitet. (APA)

Copyright derStandard.at 2009

ippimail

January 13, 2009

Bernard Madoff avoids jail

Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street financier accused of running a massive swindle thatfleeced investors of up to $50bn, is to remain in his lavish Manhattan apartmentoverlooking Central Park after a federal judge today rejected prosecution calls for him tobe jailed.

The decision to allow Madoff to stay under house arrest in the $7m penthouse, rather thantransfer him to the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in lower Manhattan, astonished andfurther angered victims of the scandal. Judge Ronald Ellis refused to revoke his $10mbail, ruling that the prosecution had failed to make its case that Madoff could cause moreharm if he remained at large.

But the judge did impose new restrictions that will see all Madoff’s mail searched by asecurity firm before it leaves his building.

An inventory will also be taken of all valuable portable objects in his apartment, whichwill be checked every two weeks to ensure he is not attempting to dispose of it. Therestrictions will apply to both Madoff and his wife.

Madoff was a highly respected Wall Street figure for more than 40 years, at one pointholding the post of chairman of the Nasdaq stockmarket. He gained a reputation forearning his clients a remarkably stable and high rate of return.

But last month he was arrested after it was revealed that his financial empire was foundedon thin air. He had allegedly been running what is known as a Ponzi scheme — taking innew money to pay the dividends of existing investors, losing up to $50bn and with it theentire life savings of thousands of his clients in the process.

Prosecution lawyers had called on the court to imprison him on the grounds that he brokea court order freezing his assets.

Shortly before Christmas, Madoff posted $1m-worth of jewellery and gifts to friends andfamily in clear violation of his bail terms. Court papers showed that the items included 13vintage timepieces, including Tiffany and Cartier diamond watches, an emerald ring, fourdiamond brooches, two sets of cufflinks and a jade necklace.

The packages were sent by Madoff to his sons, Andrew and Mark, who worked for thefamily firm, his brother Peter, and his closest friends in New York.

ippimail

January 13, 2009

The lead prosecutor, Marc Litt, argued that “the continued release of the defendantpresents a danger to the community of additional economic harm and further obstructionof justice”.

But Madoff’s defence lawyers said the mailings were an innocent mistake: he had sentout family heirlooms and was simply unaware that was in breach of the asset freeze.

Victims and their lawyers reacted angrily to the decision to allow Madoff to remain free.Larry Leif from Palm Beach, Florida, who lost his life savings of $8m, told CNBC: “If Ihad commited this crime personally, I would be in jail.”

Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyer representing individual and institutional Madoff victimsaround the world, said his clients would be outraged. “They have just lost theirentire life savings, are losing their homes, can no longer pay their health insurance,and here is Madoff living in a triplex overlooking Central Park.”

In further evidence of the strange moral universe inhabited by Madoff, the New YorkTimes yesterday revealed that he has been apologising to his neighbours in the East 64thStreet block of apartments for the chaos caused by the media camped outside since hisarrest.

“Dear neighbours,” his letter says, “Please accept my profound apologies for the terribleinconvenience that I have caused over the past weeks. Ruth and I appreciate the supportwe have received.”

Copyright 2006 ippimail Limited

Guardian

January 12, 2009

Bernard Madoff avoids jail

Ed Pilkington in New York

Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street financier accused of running a massive swindle thatfleeced investors of up to $50bn, is to remain in his lavish Manhattan apartmentoverlooking Central Park after a federal judge today rejected prosecution calls for him tobe jailed.

The decision to allow Madoff to stay under house arrest in the $7m penthouse, rather thantransfer him to the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in lower Manhattan, astonished andfurther angered victims of the scandal. Judge Ronald Ellis refused to revoke his $10mbail, ruling that the prosecution had failed to make its case that Madoff could cause moreharm if he remained at large.

But the judge did impose new restrictions that will see all Madoff's mail searched by asecurity firm before it leaves his building.

An inventory will also be taken of all valuable portable objects in his apartment, whichwill be checked every two weeks to ensure he is not attempting to dispose of it. Therestrictions will apply to both Madoff and his wife.

Madoff was a highly respected Wall Street figure for more than 40 years, at one pointholding the post of chairman of the Nasdaq stockmarket. He gained a reputation forearning his clients a remarkably stable and high rate of return.

But last month he was arrested after it was revealed that his financial empire was foundedon thin air. He had allegedly been running what is known as a Ponzi scheme — taking innew money to pay the dividends of existing investors, losing up to $50bn and with it theentire life savings of thousands of his clients in the process.

Prosecution lawyers had called on the court to imprison him on the grounds that he brokea court order freezing his assets.

Shortly before Christmas, Madoff posted $1m-worth of jewellery and gifts to friends andfamily in clear violation of his bail terms. Court papers showed that the items included 13vintage timepieces, including Tiffany and Cartier diamond watches, an emerald ring, fourdiamond brooches, two sets of cufflinks and a jade necklace.

The packages were sent by Madoff to his sons, Andrew and Mark, who worked for thefamily firm, his brother Peter, and his closest friends in New York.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/edpilkington

Guardian

January 12, 2009

The lead prosecutor, Marc Litt, argued that "the continued release of the defendantpresents a danger to the community of additional economic harm and further obstructionof justice".

But Madoff's defence lawyers said the mailings were an innocent mistake: he had sentout family heirlooms and was simply unaware that was in breach of the asset freeze.

Victims and their lawyers reacted angrily to the decision to allow Madoff to remain free.Larry Leif from Palm Beach, Florida, who lost his life savings of $8m, told CNBC: "If Ihad commited this crime personally, I would be in jail."

Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyer representing individual and institutional Madoff victimsaround the world, said his clients would be outraged. "They have just lost theirentire life savings, are losing their homes, can no longer pay their health insurance,and here is Madoff living in a triplex overlooking Central Park."

In further evidence of the strange moral universe inhabited by Madoff, the New YorkTimes yesterday revealed that he has been apologising to his neighbours in the East 64thStreet block of apartments for the chaos caused by the media camped outside since hisarrest.

"Dear neighbours," his letter says, "Please accept my profound apologies for the terribleinconvenience that I have caused over the past weeks. Ruth and I appreciate the supportwe have received."

Copyright Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

National Public Radio

December 23, 2008

Madoff Fallout Grows as ‘Feeder Firms’ Scrutinized

By Jim Zarroli

All Things Considered, December 23, 2008 · The scandal surrounding Bernard Madoffand his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme grew deeper Tuesday when Rene-ThierryMagon de la Villehuchet, the head of an investment firm tied to Madoff, was found deadin his office, an apparent suicide.

Magon de la Villehuchet founded Access International Advisors, which had reportedlyinvested more than $1 billion with Madoff. Access was one of numerous "feeder funds,"which took money from investors and funneled it to Madoff's firm.

Many of these feeder funds now face big legal problems.

A Retirement Fund Wiped Out

Until a few weeks ago, Bob Chew had no inkling his retirement fund was in anyjeopardy. He had put about $650,000 into an investment fund run by California moneymanager Stanley Chais, who had been investing for Chew's wife's family for decades.Chew says Chais was secretive about what he did with his clients' money.

"He wouldn't offer, and when we did try to ask specifics, we weren't given the answers,"Chew says.

But the fund made steady returns, so Chew learned not to ask questions. Then, on Dec.11, Madoff was arrested by FBI agents in New York and everything began to unravel.

"The person who was handling our family fund called and said we're wiped out," Chewsays. "And I said, 'Well what do you mean?' And he said, 'There's this fellow Madoffwho's been arrested and all our money went to him.' "

" 'Who's Madoff? Who's this guy Bernard Madoff?' " Chew responded. "We had neverheard the name before."

Feeder Funds Face Lawsuits

As it turned out, Chew's money had been placed in one of the feeder funds that deliveredinvestors to Madoff's firm.

http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=2


December 23, 2008

For years, Madoff was known as a spectacularly successful money manager. Ordinaryinvestors were barred from putting their money in his funds. However, they could go toone of the feeder funds, which for a fee would send their money on to him.

Dan Strachman, author of The Long and Short of Hedge Funds, says these funds havebecome increasingly popular with investors.

"They want a bite of the forbidden fruit, and organizations like Fairfield Greenwich andothers in some cases provide that access," Strachman says. "Someone like Madoff seemsto have been able to take advantage of that by using these people."

Fairfield Greenwich is a hedge fund company that operated what is believed to be thelargest feeder fund — and it is reported to have lost $7.5 billion in the Madoff debacle.

Many other funds have now lost all or part of their investors' money, and they're expectedto spend years fighting lawsuits.

Attorney Jeff Zwerling, who represents some of Madoff's alleged victims, says someof these funds are virtually bankrupt. It will be difficult for these investors torecover any money from them, but Zwerling says there are exceptions.

"If the feeder fund did not invest all its assets in there but lost, say, 50 percent of itsinvestment and is still an ongoing entity, then I think the investors have a muchbetter shot of recovering at least some significant portion of their investment,"Zwerling says.

He points out that some of the feeder funds were tied to bigger companies with deeppockets.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., for example, was sued this week because oneof its subsidiaries was tied to a company that invested with Madoff.

On Preventing Future Disasters

Chew says regulators need to demand that feeder funds be more transparent. He says thefund operated by his money manager wasn't registered with the government because itwas so small and therefore was able to escape scrutiny.

"Had we been able to see what was going on, been able to pull the curtain to the side andsee the black box and what it was doing, we would have been able to make a betterinvestment decision," Chew says. "And maybe, in fact, we would have kept going — butat least we would have known."

Chew says he is speaking out on the issue because he wants to prevent future financialdisasters. But for him, it's probably too late to recover much of the money he lost.


December 23, 2008

For now, he is left to sort out the damage caused by a man he hadn't heard of before thismonth.

Copyright 2009 National Public Radio

Finding Dulcinea

December 22, 2008

Chilean Firm Takes Lead in Accountability for Madoff Losses

December 22, 2008 12:54 PMby findingDulcinea Staff

Jason DeCrow/APBernard Madoff, chairman of MadoffInvestment Securities

the climate of the industry: “It’s gone from being an old boy’s network to a real business.If you knew the right people, or if the right people could vouch for you, you were in,” hesaid, according to CNNMoney. “That’s what due diligence was—checking thereferences.”

Celfin’s motivation may be a genuine sense of responsibility to its clients, but it mayalso be an attempt to avoid being sued by those clients for failing to perform the duediligence on Madoff’s firm. On Dec. 19, Reuters reported that there has not yet been awave of lawsuits related to the Madoff case. However, lawyers claim that the lawsuitswill certainly come in large numbers, and they will continue in the years ahead.

Lawyers indicate that many of Madoff’s former clients have not yet comprehended theenormity of their losses to take their cases to court, according to Reuters. “People all overthe country are still in shock at hearing that their millions have evaporated,” said JanSoifer, special counsel at law firm Baron & Budd PC.

A Chilean brokerage firm is paying back its clientsfor losses incurred in the Bernard Madoff fraud;firms that don’t act similarly may be faced withclient lawsuits.

Chilean Firm Refunds Clients; Lawyers PonderMadoff Lawsuits

Celfin SA, a Chilean brokerage firm, will repay atotal of $10 million to clients that lost money inBernard Madoff funds. “We are committed toreturning 100 percent of the capital invested,” Celfinpartners Juan Andres Camus and Jorge Errazurizsaid, according to Bloomberg.

The case of Celfin is one example of a firm holdingitself accountable for the lapses in due diligence thataccompanied the Madoff affair. Sol Waksman,president of BarclayHedge, which tracks theperformance of hedge fund managers, summed up

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/business/2008/December/Chilean-Firm-Takes-Lead-in-Accountability-for-Madoff-Losses.html#0

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aZ70ueFG0C4I&refer=latin_america

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighlights/200812181401DOWJONESDJONLINE000907.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BI5KC20081219

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BI5KC20081219

Finding Dulcinea

December 22, 2008

Also, many law firms are taking on only the cases that have a chance of winning.“Our goal is to come up with something that we think will hold water in court,” saidRobert Schachter of law firm Zwerling Schachter & Zwerling LLP.

The Madoff case raises questions as to how well established auditing firms likePricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG failed to see the warning signs over the years, andthey too will likely face lawsuits. New York Law School, for example, has already suedthe auditor BDO Seidman for such reasons, according to The New York Times.

Copyright 2008 Dulcinea Media, Inc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/business/22accounting.html?ref=business

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/business/22accounting.html?ref=business

International Herald Tribune

December 20, 2008

U.S. Judge tightens restrictions on Madoff

Reuters, Published December 20, 2008By Grant McCool

Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street fund manager who authorities say confessed to runninga $50 billion (33 billion pound) fraud, was put under 24-hour detention in his Manhattanapartment on Friday "to prevent harm or flight".

Madoff also agreed to the extension of court orders freezing his assets and theappointment of a receiver for his firm as investigators poured over masses of documentsand conducted interviews into an alleged scam that has caused losses for charities andbusinesses around the world.

The main trade organisation for U.S. accountants said it had begun an ethics investigationinto the small accounting firm that supposedly signed off on the books of Madoff'sinvestment management business.

The order tightening Madoff's bail conditions signed by U.S. magistrate judge TheodoreKatz in District Court in Manhattan said, "The defendant will employ a security firm toprovide the following services to prevent harm or flight: round-the-clock monitoring atthe defendant's building, 24 hours per day, including video monitoring of the defendant'sapartment doors."

With all the attention on the case, angry investors hiring lawyers to try and recoverlosses, and photographers, TV crews and journalists outside the building, authoritiesapparently decided to put Madoff under even more surveillance.

The order replaced an earlier night curfew as part of Madoff's release on $10 million (6.6million pounds) bail.

Madoff, 70, and his wife Ruth have already surrendered their passports to authorities andput up three properties worth millions of dollars as collateral.

"The order speaks for itself," said Daniel Horwitz, one of Madoff's lawyers, after the newconditions were set.

Madoff will be under house arrest and direct monitoring by the FBI other than forscheduled court appearances, the order said. Additional guards will be providedon request.


December 20, 2008

FRAUD CHARGE

Madoff, who was arrested on December 11, is accused in a criminal complaint of onecount of securities fraud. In the complaint Madoff is quoted as saying his investmentbusiness was a fraud, "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme" whereby earlier investors are paidoff with the investments of newer clients.

The FBI, federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission areinvestigating whether Madoff may have swindled thousands of investors, includingJewish charities.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles said on Friday it had appointed acommittee to pursue the recovery of the defrauded assets after it had entrusted $18million to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

"Agents are examining a voluminous amount of court documents and conductingnumerous interviews," FBI spokeswoman Monica McLean said.

She said the agency was receiving a "very, very large volume" of calls after it invitedpeople to call or email if they believed they had been defrauded by Madoff, a formerchairman of the Nasdaq stock market.

Lawyers expect a wave of legal action by angry investors that could last for years.

"We've been conducting an investigation into what, if any, legal remedies areavailable to those who have been in effect robbed by Mr. Madoff," said RobertSchachter of law firm Zwerling Schachter & Zwerling LLP.

"Our goal is to come up with something that we think will hold water in court,"he said.

As part of another court order late on Thursday, Madoff consented to providing the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission with a verified written accounting of his firm'srecords by December 31.

These include "all assets, liabilities and property, bank accounts, brokerage accounts,investments, business interests, loans and lines of credit," according to a court document.

His lawyer, Horwitz, said: "We are cooperating with government investigations andconsented to the injunctions."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that an SEC memorandum showed Madoff'sfirm may have had thousands of clients.


December 20, 2008

The report said the regulator and other investigators were also examining whether RuthMadoff had any role in the alleged fraud.

Adding to the growing list of aggrieved parties, Swiss private bank EFG Internationalsaid on Friday its private banking clients had about $130 million of exposure to thecompanies of Madoff.

The bank said it had no exposure itself to any fund managed or advised by Madoff.

The SEC case is SEC v Madoff, 08-10791, U.S. District Court, Southern District of NewYork (Manhattan). The criminal case is U.S. v Madoff, 08-2735 in the same court.

(Additional reporting by Martha Graybow and Emily Chasan in New York, Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Lisa Jucca in Zurich.

Copyright 2008 the International Herald Tribune

Financial News

December 19, 2008

Judge tightens restrictions on Madoff

December 19, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street fund manager who authoritiessay confessed to running a $50 billion fraud, was put under 24-hour detention in hisManhattan apartment on Friday "to prevent harm or flight".

Madoff also agreed to the extension of court orders freezing his assets and theappointment of a receiver for his firm as investigators poured over masses of documentsand conducted interviews into an alleged scam that has caused losses for charities andbusinesses around the world.

The main trade organization for U.S. accountants said it had begun an ethics investigationinto the small accounting firm that supposedly signed off on the books of Madoff'sinvestment management business.

The order tightening Madoff's bail conditions signed by U.S. magistrate judge TheodoreKatz in District Court in Manhattan said, "The defendant will employ a security firm toprovide the following services to prevent harm or flight: round-the-clock monitoring atthe defendant's building, 24 hours per day, including video monitoring of the defendant'sapartment doors."

With all the attention on the case, angry investors hiring lawyers to try and recoverlosses, and photographers, TV crews and journalists outside the building, authoritiesapparently decided to put Madoff under even more surveillance.

The order replaced an earlier night curfew as part of Madoff's release on $10 million bail.

Madoff, 70, and his wife Ruth have already surrendered their passports to authorities andput up three properties worth millions of dollars as collateral.

"The order speaks for itself," said Daniel Horwitz, one of Madoff's lawyers, after the newconditions were set.

Madoff will be under house arrest and direct monitoring by the FBI other than forscheduled court appearances, the order said. Additional guards will be provided onrequest.

Financial News

December 19, 2008

FRAUD CHARGE

Madoff, who was arrested on December 11, is accused in a criminal complaint of onecount of securities fraud. In the complaint Madoff is quoted as saying his investmentbusiness was a fraud, "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme" whereby earlier investors are paidoff with the investments of newer clients.

The FBI, federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission areinvestigating whether Madoff may have swindled thousands of investors, includingJewish charities.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles said on Friday it had appointed acommittee to pursue the recovery of the defrauded assets after it had entrusted $18million to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

"Agents are examining a voluminous amount of court documents and conductingnumerous interviews," FBI spokeswoman Monica McLean said.

She said the agency was receiving a "very, very large volume" of calls after it invitedpeople to call or email if they believed they had been defrauded by Madoff, a formerchairman of the Nasdaq stock market.

Lawyers expect a wave of legal action by angry investors that could last for years.


"Our goal is to come up with something that we think will hold water in court," he said.

As part of another court order late on Thursday, Madoff consented to providing the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission with a verified written accounting of his firm'srecords by December 31.

These include "all assets, liabilities and property, bank accounts, brokerage accounts,investments, business interests, loans and lines of credit," according to a court document.

His lawyer, Horwitz, said: "We are cooperating with government investigations andconsented to the injunctions."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that an SEC memorandum showed Madoff'sfirm may have had thousands of clients.

Financial News

December 19, 2008

The report said the regulator and other investigators were also examining whether RuthMadoff had any role in the alleged fraud.

Adding to the growing list of aggrieved parties, Swiss private bank EFG Internationalsaid on Friday its private banking clients had about $130 million of exposure to thecompanies of Madoff.

The bank said it had no exposure itself to any fund managed or advised by Madoff.

The SEC case is SEC v Madoff, 08-10791, U.S. District Court, Southern District of NewYork (Manhattan). The criminal case is U.S. v Madoff, 08-2735 in the same court.

(Additional reporting by Martha Graybow and Emily Chasan in New York, Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Lisa Jucca in Zurich)

Copyright 2008 Financial News

Reuters

December 19, 2008

No deluge of lawsuits – yet – in Madoff case

December 19, 2008By Martha Graybow and Svea Herbst-Bayliss

There has been no rush to the courthouse yet by Bernard Madoff's angry investors, but awave of legal action could be on the way as their lawyers spearhead private investigationsinto the suspected fraud.

A little more than a week after authorities say the veteran money manager confessed to a$50 billion swindle, only a handful of lawsuits had been filed in U.S. courthouses byinvestors seeking to recoup losses.

Lawyers are working overtime, though, to investigate the case and say they are sure thatthe scandal will ultimately spur plenty of court action -- perhaps for years to come. Whenthe big cases are filed, they are likely to seek huge damages, and many of the lawsuitswill likely be consolidated.

For now though, lawyers say many stunned Madoff clients are not yet mentally ready toexplore court remedies as they grapple with the reality that their life savings may begone.

"People all over the country are still in shock at hearing that their millions haveevaporated," said Jan Soifer, special counsel at law firm Baron & Budd PC.

Even while people are clamoring to sue, lawyers who specialize in investor claims saythey are still sorting through the situation and formulating legal strategy. They say theyonly want to bring cases they think they can win.


"Our goal is to come up with something that we think will hold water in court," he said.

While federal prosecutors, the FBI, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission andothers are examining Madoff's business and looking for any potential investor recoveries,plaintiffs' lawyers are launching their own probes. These law firms often have their ownstaffs of forensic accountants, fraud examiners and private investigators.

Should Madoff himself prove insolvent, as he has told federal investigators, that wouldmean aggrieved investors would have to explore cases against other defendants.

Reuters

December 19, 2008

One group expected to face an onslaught of lawsuits is the hedge fund firms that handedover investor money to Madoff to manage, often without the clients' knowledge, lawyerssay.

A few court cases have already been filed. In one, asset manager Ascot Partners LP wassued by the New York Law School over the school's investments in Madoff's firm.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, contends that Ascot, aswell as its general partner J. Ezra Merkin and auditor BDO Seidman LLP, were negligentby handing over "virtually the entire investment capital" of Ascot to Madoff to manage.

In past financial scandals, shareholders often have been quick to file legal action, in partbecause there were more readily identifiable defendants, legal experts say.

After the disclosure of a massive accounting fraud at WorldCom in June 2002, forinstance, it took only days for plaintiffs to sue the telephone company, former executivesand auditor Arthur Andersen LLP.

But here, legal experts say, it may not be as clear as to who could be sued given thatinvestors got into Madoff's fund in various ways -- some had a personal relationship withthe trader and invested directly, while others got in through asset managers who investedon their behalf.

Some investors, such as nonprofit groups like charities, could also be waiting to suebecause they hope that state attorneys general or other authorities will ultimately bringcases on their behalf, Soifer said.

For now, investor lawyers say their probes are continuing -- investigations that could takemonths rather than days.

"I will be looking for liability and collectibility," said Scott Berman, a partner atFriedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP. He said his firm is considering suing anyonewho can be found responsible for directing investors to Madoff and who has the moneyto pay damages. (Reporting by Martha Graybow in New York and Svea Herbst-Bayliss inBoston)

© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

The European Weekly

December 18, 2008

They fell for Madoff’s scheme, so let them eat gruel

December 18, 2008By: Andy Dabilis

Is there any sane person out there who feels sorry for the big banks – including Spain’sSantander, France’s Credit Mutuele, and Societe Generale - still reeling from a 7.1 billionEuro loss at the hands of a rogue trader - England’s HSBC and the Royal Bank ofScotland. They handed over their customers’ deposits to Madoff, whose gods weremoney and Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant in Boston 90 years ago who perfected thepyramid scheme where he paid new investors in his fake business with funds from thesuckers who lined up first to give him their cash. But the Madoff Scheme was bigger,bilking investors of an estimated USD 50 billion, investigators charged. That’s enough tobail out General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford, who may soon be history too.

The New York Times reported that Societe Generale sent a team to New York five yearsago to look at Madoff’s firm before investing, and they found so many red flags ofdanger and obviously-cooked numbers that they put him on an international blacklist andadvised customers not to give him their money. They were so alarmed they only gavehim 10 million Euro, which begs the questions of why they A) gave him ANY money,and B) didn’t alert the US’ Securities and Exchange Commission, which apparentlychooses employees who were graduated from the Rip Van Winkle School of Economics.Even Swiss banks, whose losses in the US-led sub-prime mortgage debacle that put the

The Germans call it Schadenfreude, reveling in otherpeople’s misery. The French, not to be outdone, say,“There is something in someone else’s discomfort whichdoes not displeasure me.” But, except for the trueinnocent victims - charities and people who relied on theincome from monies invested with trusted alleged WallStreet fraudster Bernie Madoff - to help the helpless, theterms apply to the rich pigs who had their faces so deepin the trough of greed, seeking huge returns for theiralready-huge fortunes, they couldn’t see they were beingswindled, instead of being the swindlers. Good. Nowthey know what it feels like to be taken, the same waythey have taken everyone else with their blind avariceand pursuit of their own pleasure. If there’s any justicein the world – and there isn’t – they’ll go completelybroke, flat, busted, out on the streets where they’ll comeface-to-face with the people they put there while theywere so oblivious to humanity they never said“Humbug” to hedonism.

Financier Bernard Madoff arrives at hisapartment building, after being placed underhouse arrest by a judge in New York,December 17, 2008. Madoff was arrested lastweek and charged with allegedly running a 50billion dollar Ponzi Scheme to bilk investors,including major European banks andinvestment houses.ANA/EPA/JUSTIN LANE

The European Weekly

December 18, 2008

world into the Great Repression and Depression at the same time, were snookered byMadoff, ending once and for all their reputation as savvy or prudent. They didn’t learnthat you can’t hedge your bets in hedge funds; you can lose it all because banks wanted10-20 percent return on their money, while paying customers one percent, and chargingthem 18-23 percent for entering the House of Credit Cards.

European banks could have lost more than USD 10 billion, including one billion forHSBC and 500 million for France’s BNP Paribas, another bastion of integrity. Santandershrugged off its humiliating “exposure,” as it was called, as insignificant, but their keenauditors must have missed that Optimal Investment Services of Geneva, a unit ofSantander, is apparently the biggest loser of all, throwing USD 3.1 billion into Madoff’sblack money hole. That’s what you get when you indulge in the legal Black Market thatbanks use when trading between themselves and squeezing customers through usuriousrates. Union Bancaire Privee, also based in Geneva, was reported to have put up USD onebillion for Madoff to invest, embarrassing itself and ruining its reputation as beingexperts in risk management. It would have been better to put your money under themattress than trust these people, but there’s others who fell for Madoff’s spiel who, if itcan be believed, deserve even less compassion because they were gambling instead ofinvesting and should have remembered the first rule: Only gamble how much you canafford to lose. That includes the New York Law School, now out three million bucks.Celebrity-investor losers included Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and actress UmaThurman.

Now Madoff is history’s most famous bank robber, surpassing Willie Sutton, who,when asked why he robbed banks, reportedly said: “Because that’s where themoney is,” although it was really a reporter who wrote it in a story about him. Thatcreated Sutton’s Law, looking for the obvious, which they should have taught at theSEC and the New York Law School. For all his smile and guile though, Suttonalways packed a gun when he did a job because, he said, “You can't rob a bank oncharm and personality.” Until Madoff came along. He was so trusted he onceheaded the Nasdaq stock exchange and even got his friends to give him their life’ssavings. "If this were a traditional bank robbery, the eyewitness reports would sayMr Madoff walked out with billions of dollars as someone held the door open forhim," Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyer representing some of the victims, told the Britishnewspaper The Independent.

American media tycoon Mortimer Zuckerman, head of Boston Properties and owner ofUS News and World Report (wonder how they’ll report this one) said a charity he ranlost about USD 30 million when the principal to whom he gave the money gave it toMadoff. Zuckerman raged against the lack of regulation and oversight. “This shadowbanking system of money-market funds, investment funds, private equity funds, andhedge funds that has been largely unregulated—that is no longer going to be possible,” hetold Business Week, which is what was said about the failure to prevent the sub-primemortgage theft of people’s resources too, so you know that nothing will really be doneand that won’t help the charities who had been funded for a decade through investmentsin Madoff’s firm: cancer research, education, and children’s programmes.

The European Weekly

December 18, 2008

Unspoken in all this because you will be called anti-Semitic if you do is that Madoff isJewish and many of those who trusted him, like Zuckerman, are too, and they shouldhave known to do the due diligence when giving people your money. It took a Greek-American to smell a rat here. Harry Markopolos of Boston - who once worked for aMadoff rival - had been warning for years that Madoff was running a Ponzi Scheme, theWall Street Journal reported, but the SEC and everyone else either didn’t notice orbelieve it, or looked the other way, out of negligence. When he first started looking intoMadoff’s investment management firm, Markopolos was said to have told a colleague, “Itdoesn’t make any damn sense.” The pyramid scheme fell apart with the credit crunch,when investors started asking to take money out instead of putting it in and the jig was upfor Madoff, who confessed to his sons, who turned him in.

The Journal said Markopolos diagrammed how he believed the Madoff organisationseemed to work, using a Byzantine flow chart with circles, squares, rectangles andarrows, but that the SEC just didn’t care and said there were no serious violations, but abillion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.Markopolos, a former US Army intelligence officer who left his firm in 2004 to start afraud-investigation business, doggedly went after Madoff, but he was alone because themoney was rolling in on Wall Street, so much of it that Vanity Fair magazine reportedyoung traders and Hedge Fund managers were routinely eating at restaurants where thesteak went for 700 Euro a kilo (USD 1,000) and washing it down with a 2,000 dollarbottle of wine.

Banks hire collection agencies to intimidate you if you don’t pay on time, so maybe theycan call Madoff and ask him to pay up. The great American writer Raymond Chandler,who specialised in some of the masterpieces of the hard-boiled noir detective genre likeThe Big Sleep, once described book snobs in the same language 60 years ago that appliesto these bankers and greed-mongers today, who pretend they are fostering goodness forhumanity, but would send out a leg-breaker if you were late in your obligations to them:“Just get a little behind in your payments and you will find out how idealistic they are,”he said.

Someone should go to jail over this, but so far no one has, not even Madoff, who escapedthe perp walk to the hoosegow because a judge ruled he wouldn’t have to sit with thebroke, penniless low-lifes who aren’t famous and instead would be confined to his multi-million dollar Manhattan penthouse, but said he would be further punished by wearing anelectronic bracelet. Maybe they have a good one from Cartier he can order. But, it’sChristmas, and let’s not be too hard here as Madoff said he feels the pain of the people hehurt because he, too, has been destroyed by the affair he wrought and he’s down to hislast 200 or 300 million dollars. He can’t quite remember which, because in his world,populated by bankers, traders, snakes, sharks, and bacteria, 100 million dollars just isn’t alot of money because it’s someone else’s they’re using. And since he can’t leave thepenthouse, he’ll have to order out for food. Anyone know a good gruel place?

Copyright The Media Company S.A. 2006

Wtop.com 103.5 FM

December 18, 2008

Madoff investors hope for bailout

December 18, 2008By Joel Bel BrunoAP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - One week ago, RonnieAmbrosino was a millionaire.

Now, Ambrosino is among the long list ofinvestors whose fortunes were allegedly wipedout by Bernard Madoff. Like them, she's lefthoping for a bailout that might never come.

She plans to sue Madoff but that could takeyears to work through the courts and yield little

in the end. Her best hope to recoup some of her money is from the Securities InvestorProtection Corp., an industry-funded organization set up by the government to protectinvestors from fraud.

But, here's the problem: SIPC does not have enough money to pay out all the claims thatare sure to come from one of the biggest fraud cases to ever hit Wall Street. Securitiesattorneys say the organization has a reputation of being tough to squeeze money from,and each investor is only entitled to a maximum payout of $500,000 if a claim isapproved.

SIPC officials say the books of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC are incomplete disarray and could take six months or more to piece them together. With billspiling up and her bank account vanishing, the one thing Ambrosino and others caught inthe alleged $50 billion fraud don't have is time.

"It feels like I'm drowning, and someone is saying 'we're going to save you, but we haveto build the boat first,'" said Ambrosino, 55, who had $1.6 million invested with Madoff."We can't wait for SIPC to go through all the papers."

The government created SIPC in 1970 to reimburse investors duped by brokerages inareas such as unauthorized trading or theft. SIPC is set up to cover losses of up to$500,000, and $100,000 of that amount can be claims for cash holdings that were lost.

The scope of what SIPC covers, however, can be limited. SIPC, for example, typicallywon't cover claims for cases involving stock manipulation or investments made intohedge funds.

Wtop.com 103.5 FM

December 18, 2008

Since its inception, SIPC has paid out $508 million to reimburse some 625,000 investorswho lost money. The Madoff case will be SIPC's biggest test, and experts are raisingquestions about whether the organization can handle the massive amount of claims thatare expected. Some experts suggest the government might have to assist.

"There's no doubt that hearings will be held on this, and some government aid is avery logical request," said Robert Schachter, an attorney with New York-basedZwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, which is representing several Madoff victims. "Ifwe're bailing out Wall Street and the auto industry, maybe these individuals shouldbe bailed out too."

Madoff was arrested last week and charged with securities fraud. On Wednesday heappeared at the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where a judge imposed a curfew and amonitoring bracelet.

When the government established SIPC a generation ago, nation's brokerages wereordered to fund it by kicking in a percentage of their revenue. Once the amount hit $1billion in 1996, those brokerages were allowed to reduce their contribution to $150 ayear. Any changes now much be approved by Congress, SIPC said.

SIPC currently has $1.6 billion on hand to make payouts _ a small amount compared withthe more than $17 billion that Madoff managed at the start of the year. However, SIPCsaid it can tap a $1 billion line of credit and a $1 billion injection from the TreasuryDepartment to gain access to more money.

This theoretically means that about 7,000 customers who entrusted their money toMadoff can receive the maximum amount. It is still not known how many customersMadoff's investment arm had, and investigators have not speculated.

While brokerages often highlight the fact that they are covered by SIPC, securitiesattorneys say the process of recouping money can be daunting and time consuming.

"This is not going to be a full recovery, even if your claim is valid and proved," said J.Boyd Page, senior partner of Page Perry LLC, an Atlanta-based law firm that representsinvestors in securities fraud. "They have taken a miserly approach to evaluating claims inthe past. The process can be long and painful."

Investigators are poring over paperwork at Madoff's Manhattan office trying to identifyexactly how many customers his brokerage operation had. That could prove to be anarduous task, with SIPC President and Chief Executive Steve Harbeck describingMadoff's books as being "totally unreliable and in complete disarray."

Once the names are collected, SIPC and the court-appointed trustee in charge ofliquidating the brokerage will send investors claim forms. SIPC typically mails out

Wtop.com 103.5 FM

December 18, 2008

generic claim forms to investors, but this will be the first time the organization sendspaperwork that is specific to just one case.

Investors then have up to six months to return the claim forms, along with monthlystatements and other documents that prove how much money they thought were in theaccounts. Approval of these documents gives the investors a preferred status when itcomes time to split up assets left in Madoff's firm.

"It can take years," said Leo Asaro, partner in the St. Louis office of law firm Bryan CaveLLP. "People need to think of other options, not waiting on these matters to wind theirways through the courts. It is not going to happen fast enough to get the relief that theyneed."

SIPC's Harbeck does not dispute filing a claim and getting reimbursed can be a longprocess. In this case, investigators are being delayed because it is difficult to determinehow much of Madoff's assets will be available, and what the size of the claims are.

He has received calls from many investors caught in the alleged scam who question whythey can't recoup higher amounts. Harbeck also deflected recent criticism that SIPCmight not even have enough money to cover the amount of claims that might come in.

"It is way too early to speculate about the claims," he said. "We don't know the number ofcustomers, how much each is owed, and I don't want to be prematurely alarmist."

That's not exactly what angry investors like Ambrosino want to hear. She used the moneyshe thought was secure with Madoff to retire early, buy a luxury motor home, and travelaround the country. The only assets she has now are the pieces of furniture inside themotor home she's been making payments on for the past four years.

Now living in Surprise, Ariz., she felt helpless watching Madoff enter the court houseWednesday for a bail hearing. Ambrosino, who invested in Madoff's firm some threedecades ago, knows that others are in the same position.

"We need to get out there and get names and get unified so that we can go to thegovernment and make our case," she said. "Everybody has a horror story, everybody hasbills, and everybody is devastated."

Copyright 2009 Associated Press

Guardian

December 18, 2008

Court puts Madoff under electronic surveillance

US financial regulator admits 'multiple failures'Eliot Spitzer emerges as fund manager's victim

By Andrew ClarkThe Guardian, Thursday 18 December 2008

Bernard Madoff, alleged financial fraudster, discusses the strict regulatory environment, whilevictims and lawyers digest the scale of the losses Link to this video

The renegade Wall Street fund manager Bernard Madoff has been placed under curfew andordered to wear an electronic tag after failing to find anybody outside his family willing to signsurety for his $10m (£6.5m) bail.

As America's financial regulator offered an extraordinary admission of "multiple failures" inmissing red flags over Madoff, the alleged $50bn fraudster was confined by a judge to hisManhattan apartment and was told, along with his wife, to surrender his passport.

Investigators say Madoff's financial records are riddled with falsifications and are "utterlyunreliable". The list of his victims grew yesterday to encompass more finance houses, charitiesand individuals, including the disgraced New York politician Eliot Spitzer, who revealed hisfamily's firm had investments with Madoff.

In the face of mounting anger over apparently lax oversight, the Securities and ExchangeCommission confessed that it had received "credible and specific" allegations of wrongdoing byMadoff dating back to 1999 - but no action was taken.

"I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughlyinvestigate these allegations," said the SEC's chairman, Christopher Cox, who described initialfindings as "deeply troubling".

Compounding questions about the SEC's role, it emerged that Madoff's niece Shana, who waschief compliance officer at Madoff Securities, last year married former senior SEC investigatorEric Swanson, who supervised a team which once looked into Madoff.

In Washington, a congressional panel said it would convene an inquiry into the failure ofregulation surrounding Madoff. At Manhattan's federal court, a judge revealed that Madoff hadfailed to come up with four "financially responsible" people willing to co-sign his bail bond. Theonly two willing to do so were his wife, Ruth, and his brother, Peter. But in return for strictrestrictions on Madoff's movement, the court allowed the financier to stay out of prison.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/video/2008/dec/16/bernard-madoff-video

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/bernard-madoff

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/new-york

Guardian

December 18, 2008

Victims of Madoff's scam include HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Nicola Horlick's BramdeanInvestments and scores of banks, charities, and hedge funds around the world. Foundationsattached to the film director Stephen Spielberg and the Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel areamong those losing money.

In France, shares in BNP Paribas slumped after losses related to Madoff.

Financial institutions which lodged clients' money with Madoff could face lawsuits fromcustomers accusing them of failing to carry out adequate due diligence on the fund manager.

Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyer representing victims, said of his clients' reactions to the scandal:"We've had shock, we've had some anger, and in some cases, resignation. Then there's alittle introspection, people looking back and asking: Why did I put everything into this?"

He described Madoff's fund as "not even a house of cards - it's an empty house".

While Madoff's firm is thought unlikely to contain any money, experts say the authorities couldpursue agents and administration firms used by Madoff Securities on the grounds that theyreceived money under false pretences.

Nick Day, chief executive of fraud investigation firm Diligence, said: "I suspect it will takemonths and months to get legal approval for the SEC and others to find where the money mayhave gone. Money moves across borders very quickly."

Long considered a pillar of the Wall Street community, Madoff allegedly made a bombshellconfession to his sons last week that his fund was a "giant Ponzi scheme". He is thought to havekept two entirely different sets of records - one genuine and one for show.

Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation which is liquidatingMadoff's firm, said his staff had found "two sets of books, in complete disarray".

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

The Independent

December 17, 2008

Madoff victims threaten legal actionBanks and investment firms blamed for introducing clients to '$50bn fraudster'

December 17, 2008By Stephen Foley in New York

The victims of the world's biggest fraud are raising harsh questions about how BernardMadoff was able to run his $50bn (£33bn) scam for so long without his staff, theauthorities or his trading partners noticing.

A firestorm of legal action is gathering as individuals who lost their life savings andcharities threatened to pursue the banks and investment firms that made their ill-fatedintroduction to Mr. Madoff.

"If this were a traditional bank robbery, the eyewitness reports would say Mr.Madoff walked out with billions of dollars as someone held the door open for him,"said Jeffrey Zwerling, a lawyer representing some of the victims. "There is just noway that this happens without help of some kind."

The fall-out from Mr. Madoff's arrest on Thursday is being felt around the world asbanks, hedge funds, charitable organisations and thousands of well-to-do individuals totup their losses. With each passing hour, new victims come to light, often in the tight-knitworld of Jewish philanthropy, where Mr. Madoff managed cash for numerous charitiesand for many of their biggest donors.

Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US financialregulator, said last night that he was "gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failuresover at least a decade" and that he had ordered "full and immediate review of the pastallegations regarding Mr. Madoff and his firm and the reasons they were not foundcredible".

More European finance houses confessed to losses, including Crédit Mutuel, France'ssecond-largest bank. Regulators in Spain said 224 investment funds in the country hadbeen exposed and faced losses of €107m (£97m). Among the celebrity victims revealedyesterday is Uma Thurman. Her husband, Arpad Busson, had £145m invested with Mr.Madoff through his hedge fund. A charity connected to Steven Spielberg, the Hollywooddirector, was already among the list of victims. UK banks HSBC, Royal Bank ofScotland and Santander – owner of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester – have previouslyadmitted exposure of more than $5bn between them.

The Independent

December 17, 2008

The breathtaking fraud, committed over many years by one of Wall Street's best-respected investment managers, was uncovered only when Mr. Madoff confessed to histwo sons a week ago that he was "finished". In a criminal lawsuit filed the next day,public claims that Madoff Investment Securities was managing $17bn of client moneyand had made double-digit returns every year for almost a decade were "all just one biglie", he had told them.

Mr. Madoff was running a giant pyramid scheme, paying out to existing investors withmoney coming in from new ones. But as the credit crunch began to bite, investmentdwindled and there was a surge in requests to cash out. It proved to be his undoing.

Lawyers said the investment managers who recommended that their clients invest withMr. Madoff should have investigated his methods, which he had shrouded in mystery.They pointed to red flags going back as far as 1999, when Harry Markopolos, a securitiesindustry executive, urged the SEC to investigate Madoff Investment Securities. Last year,investigators hired by potential investors urged them not to invest because they weresuspicious.

The New York Law School – which fears losing $3m of its endowment fund – launched alawsuit against one of its financial managers, Ascot Partners, Ascot's boss, Ezra Merkin,and the auditor, BDO Seidman. The defendants "recklessly or with gross negligencecaused and permitted $1.8bn, virtually the entire investment capital of Ascot" to behanded over to Mr. Madoff, according to the suit. Separately, Yeshiva University said itwas considering its options after it lost about $110m.

Mr. Madoff is due in court today for a bail hearing. He was released on a $10bn bond lastweek but has failed to find the required three co-guarantors. Meanwhile, details areemerging of the two separate sets of books he kept: ones showing the real losses, theother detailing the fictitious trading and profits, which he would mail to investors.

Mr. Madoff has told the FBI he acted alone. His sons, Andrew and Mark, work in adifferent part of the business and the Massachusetts Secretary of State, William Galvin,did not suggest his brother Peter was involved.

The victim: A charity devoted to the poor

As well as the super-rich circling Mr. Madoff in his playgrounds of Palm Beach, Florida,and Long Island, New York, there are scores of philanthropic victims of his record-breaking fraud, the JEHT Foundation among them. Since it was formed in 2000, it hasgiven away $62m to fund research, to lobby for progressive reforms, and to prop upprojects in some of the most deprived areas of the US. It harnessed the fortune of the latereal estate mogul Norman Levy, but the family's money was invested with Mr. Madoff,and is probably now gone.

Copyright independent.co.uk

Los Angeles Times

December 17, 2008

Madoff revelations set off legal stampede

December 17, 2008By Walter Hamilton

Reporting from New York -- Investors have barely had time to tally their losses fromBernard Madoff's alleged $50-billion Ponzi scheme, but securities attorneys aren'twasting a moment in laying claim to their piece of the scandal.

Some lawyers are aggressively prospecting for clients, and a few firms already havetaken cases to court -- one less than 24 hours after the revelation of Madoff's allegedwrongdoing. Several more cases were filed Tuesday.

Although such rapid-fire lawsuits are typically bare-bones, often consisting mainly ofinformation gleaned from other court filings or news reports, rushing to the courthousesteps can generate attention and attract clients.

"The jockeying amongst the lawyers has already begun," said Andrew Stoltmann, aChicago securities attorney. "It's very clear right now that there's a contest on to sign upthe biggest-losing clients and the biggest number of clients."

Meanwhile, on the regulatory front, Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities andExchange Commission, said the agency's staff had repeatedly received credibleallegations of wrongdoing by Madoff since 1999 but didn't fully investigate them.

Cox said the agency's inspector general would conduct a full review of the SEC's historyrelated to Madoff.

Given that Madoff and his trading firm appear to have limited assets, lawyers forinvestors are training their sights on the financial institutions and other middlemen thatrecommended that investors place their money with him.

These firms, including funds that invest in hedge funds, charge fees to investors for theostensible purpose of vetting money managers.

Investor attorneys say the intermediaries didn't do basic legwork to ensure that Madoff'sfirm was operationally and financial sound.

"If they sent a second-year MBA [student] to investigate Madoff, they didn't do athorough job," said Jacob Zamansky, a New York attorney who is preparing suits againstseveral intermediaries.

Los Angeles Times

December 17, 2008

Lawyers say they want to learn whether certain individuals and firms directed investorsinto Madoff's fund in exchange for commissions or other financial benefits.

A Seattle law firm filed a class-action suit Tuesday against Stanley Chais of BeverlyHills, alleging he ran a limited partnership that funneled investor money to Madoff.

Chais did not return calls seeking comment.

Depending on the agreements that investors had with intermediary firms, they might haveto pursue their claims through arbitration, Zamansky said.

Some legal experts question whether investors will end up recovering much, if anything.

Proving malfeasance by middlemen could be tough because investors would have toshow the firms acted recklessly, meaning they disregarded warning signs about Madoff'salleged fraud, said James Cox, a securities-law professor at Duke University.

Even if investors can prove wrongdoing, he added, many intermediaries are relativelysmall and unlikely to have major assets that can be tapped to pay off investors.

"I think the money they've lost is gone, and the thought that they're going to get it back iswhimsical," Cox said.

Investor attorneys acknowledge that it won't be easy to unravel the Madoff case and getmoney back for investors.

"I've spoken to as many lawyers who think it's a deep black hole as those who thinkit's a bonanza for their clients and themselves," said Robert Schachter, seniorpartner at Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, a New York law firm that isconsidering a Madoff-related case. "It's just too early to tell."

Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times

Word Press Blog

December 17, 2008

Madoff victims threaten legal action

Banks and investment firms blamed for introducing clients to ‘$50bn fraudster’

By Stephen Foley in New York

December 17, 2008

The victims of the world’s biggest fraud are raising harsh questions about how Bernard Madoff

was able to run his $50bn (£33bn) scam for so long without his staff, the authorities or his

trading partners noticing.

A firestorm of legal action is gathering as individuals who lost their life savings and charities

threatened to pursue the banks and investment firms that made their ill-fated introduction to Mr.

Madoff.

“If this were a traditional bank robbery, the eyewitness reports would say Mr Madoff

walked out with billions of dollars as someone held the door open for him,” said Jeffrey

Zwerling, a lawyer representing some of the victims. “There is just no way that this

happens without help of some kind.”

The fall-out from Mr Madoff’s arrest on Thursday is being felt around the world as banks, hedge

funds, charitable organisations and thousands of well-to-do individuals tot up their losses. With

each passing hour, new victims come to light, often in the tight-knit world of Jewish

philanthropy, where Mr Madoff managed cash for numerous charities and for many of their

biggest donors.

Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US financial

regulator, said last night that he was “gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at

least a decade” and that he had ordered “full and immediate review of the past allegations

regarding Mr Madoff and his firm and the reasons they were not found credible”.

http://rainbowwarrior2005.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/madoff-victims-threaten-legal-action/

Word Press Blog

December 17, 2008

More European finance houses confessed to losses, including Crédit Mutuel, France’s second-

largest bank. Regulators in Spain said 224 investment funds in the country had been exposed and

faced losses of €107m (£97m). Among the celebrity victims revealed yesterday is Uma

Thurman. Her husband, Arpad Busson, had £145m invested with Mr Madoff through his hedge

fund. A charity connected to Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director, was already among the

list of victims. UK banks HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander – owner of Abbey and

Alliance & Leicester – have previously admitted exposure of more than $5bn between them.

The breathtaking fraud, committed over many years by one of Wall Street’s best-respected

investment managers, was uncovered only when Mr Madoff confessed to his two sons a week

ago that he was “finished”. In a criminal lawsuit filed the next day, public claims that Madoff

Investment Securities was managing $17bn of client money and had made double-digit returns

every year for almost a decade were “all just one big lie”, he had told them.

Mr Madoff was running a giant pyramid scheme, paying out to existing investors with money

coming in from new ones. But as the credit crunch began to bite, investment dwindled and there

was a surge in requests to cash out. It proved to be his undoing.

Lawyers said the investment managers who recommended that their clients invest with Mr

Madoff should have investigated his methods, which he had shrouded in mystery. They pointed

to red flags going back as far as 1999, when Harry Markopolos, a securities industry executive,

urged the SEC to investigate Madoff Investment Securities. Last year, investigators hired by

potential investors urged them not to invest because they were suspicious.

The New York Law School – which fears losing $3m of its endowment fund – launched a

lawsuit against one of its financial managers, Ascot Partners, Ascot’s boss, Ezra Merkin, and the

auditor, BDO Seidman. The defendants “recklessly or with gross negligence caused and

permitted $1.8bn, virtually the entire investment capital of Ascot” to be handed over to Mr

Madoff, according to the suit. Separately, Yeshiva University said it was considering its options

after it lost about $110m.

Mr Madoff is due in court today for a bail hearing. He was released on a $10bn bond last week

but has failed to find the required three co-guarantors. Meanwhile, details are emerging of the

Word Press Blog

December 17, 2008

two separate sets of books he kept: ones showing the real losses, the other detailing the fictitious

trading and profits, which he would mail to investors.

Mr Madoff has told the FBI he acted alone. His sons, Andrew and Mark, work in a different part

of the business and the Massachusetts Secretary of State, William Galvin, did not suggest his

brother Peter was involved.

The victim: A charity devoted to the poor

As well as the super-rich circling Mr Madoff in his playgrounds of Palm Beach, Florida, and

Long Island, New York, there are scores of philanthropic victims of his record-breaking fraud,

the JEHT Foundation among them. Since it was formed in 2000, it has given away $62m to fund

research, to lobby for progressive reforms, and to prop up projects in some of the most deprived

areas of the US. It harnessed the fortune of the late real estate mogul Norman Levy, but the

family’s money was invested with Mr Madoff, and is probably now gone.

Financial Post

December 16, 2008

Michael Nagle/Getty ImagesBernard Madoff's Upper East Side residence at 133 East 64th Street onDecember 16, 2008 in New York City. Madoff is suspected of leading aUS$50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Madoff records ‘utterly unreliable’: regulator

December 16, 2008By Janet Whitman

NEW YORK -- In October, asmost investors in hedge fundsand retirement plans werestung by double-digit losses,those lucky enough to havetheir money parked with WallStreet broker Bernie Madoffgot financial statements in themail showing they were up10% for the year.

Years of receiving such steady,reliable returns led few toquestion how Mr. Madoffcould do it, while other moneymanagers struggled tominimize losses.

Now, only two months after receiving those positive statements, hundreds of investorsaround the globe have been stunned to learn the gains were a complete fabrication.

Tuesday, five days after U.S. authorities revealed Mr. Madoff was running giant "Ponzi"scheme, investigators at his Midtown Manhattan office sifted through records that oneregulator described as "utterly unreliable."

Mr. Madoff, 70, confessed that his investors, which include a wide range from an 80-year-old widow to Spain's richest woman to big banks and hedge funds, could be out asmuch as US$50-billion.

Many investors entrusted their entire savings with the prominent Wall Street veteran andnow appear set to lose all of it.

"The range of emotions is total shock to anger," said Jeffrey Zwerling, an attorneyin New York who is heading up a class-action suit against Mr. Madoff and hisinvestment firm. "I haven't heard from anyone directly yet who said, ‘How could Ihave been so stupid?'"

Financial Post

December 16, 2008

Many investors didn't consider doing due diligence on Mr. Madoff because he was highlyrecommended by friends and associates. Perhaps more important, he was extremelyselective about whose money he would take to invest.

"It was almost a privilege to invest with this guy," said Mr. Zwerling. "It washuman nature. They couldn't wait to get in."

The long list of victims of the "Ponzi" scheme -- in which money he paid out in "profits"was actually money he received from new investors -- continues to grow.

Among high-profile investor names to emerge Tuesday was businesswoman AliciaKoplowitz, ranked by Forbes as Spain's richest woman. The 56-year-old billionairereportedly risks losing US$13.4-million.

Stephen Harbeck, a regulator brought in to liquidate Mr. Madoff's investment firm torecover cash and other assets, said the financial records he examined were "utterlyunreliable" and could take six months to sort through.

"There are some assets, but I have no idea what the relationships of the assets availableare to the claims against them," Mr. Harbeck, president of the Securities InvestorProtection Corp., said on Bloomberg Television.

The SIPC can protect investors up to US$500,000. But most of Mr. Madoff's clients havefar more invested with him.

Carl Shapiro, a Boston philanthropist and former women's clothing magnate, may havelost more than US$500-million in the fraud.

Almost all of the US$50-billion Mr. Madoff claims to have lost in behalf of investorsappears to have evaporated, which will make it difficult for investors to recover much ifanyting.

Mark Mulholland, who is suing Mr. Madoff on behalf of investors, plans to go afterhedge funds and other investors who many have cashed out gains in the past year or two.

"Those investors, under law, may well have to return some of that money," said Mr.Mulholland. "Even if those kinds of financial institutions acted without bad intent, theyhave to return undue profits."

Mr. Madoff, meanwhile, has been in his New York apartment while he tries to secure twomore relatives or friends to guarantee his US$10-billion bail.

If he fail to get two more signatures, prosecutors could seek to have him jailed, pendingtrial.

Copyright 2008 The National Post Company

Yahoo! Finance News Release

January 21, 2009

Press Release Source: Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling

Securities Fraud Law Firm Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling RepresentingMadoff Fraud Victims in Austria and Germany

Attorney Robert S. Schachter Says Bank Medici and Bank Austria Implicated in MadoffFallout

Wednesday January 21, 2009, 8:00 am EST

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An international probe by the law firm Zwerling, Schachter& Zwerling is focusing on whether major Austrian banks used financial funds in Europe tofraudulently funnel billions into Bernard L. Madoff’s bogus investment enterprises, resulting inbillions in losses for European parties.

The New York-based law firm already is working with nearly a dozen individuals, partnershipsand companies whose funds with Bank Austria and Bank Medici may have been improperlychanneled to Madoff’s firm.

The Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling investigation and published media accounts raise questionsabout the investment practices of Bank Austria and Bank Medici, as well as financial fundsincluding Pioneer Funds (Luxembourg), Primeo Funds (including the Primeo Select Fund andPrimeo Executive Funds), Herald USA Fund, Herald Luxembourg Fund, Thema Fund and theirauditors.

“The auditors of these funds allowed this financial disaster to occur, and we think they haveresponsibility along with the banks,” says Robert S. Schachter of Zwerling, Schachter &Zwerling. “Our investigation has revealed that if financial advisors had performed basic duediligence, then they could have spotted the ruse that Madoff was perpetuating with his scheme.”

“The question will be whether these funds basically functioned as enablers for Madoff’sfraudulent scheme, making a huge profit by funneling other peoples’ money into this Ponzischeme,” adds attorney Jeffrey Zwerling.

Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling currently is investigating the appropriate legal approachesavailable to its clients. The investigation and any litigation that ensues will be undertaken on acontingent fee basis, meaning the firm’s clients will pay no legal fees unless there is a financialrecovery.


January 21, 2009

With offices in New York City, Garden City, N.Y., and Seattle, Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerlingattorneys play a leading role in numerous major securities cases and complex commerciallitigation matters pending in federal and state courts across the nation. The firm has beenrecognized by courts throughout the country as highly experienced and skilled in complexlitigation, particularly with respect to federal securities class-action litigation.

Contact:For Zwerling, Schachter & ZwerlingMark Annick, 800-559-4534Mobile: [email protected].

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PR Compass News Release

December 23, 2008

New York Law Firm Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP Investigating“Feeder Funds” in Madoff Fraud Case

Securities Fraud Lawyers: Fairfield Greenwich, Fairfield Sentry had more than $7 billionwith Madoff

2008-12-23, Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLPPosted by legalprCategory: Financial

NEW YORK – The New York law firm of Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP, has beenretained by clients that have asked the firm to investigate so-called “feeder funds” that helpeddeliver billions of dollars to investment adviser Bernard L. Madoff before the recent collapse ofhis investment businesses.

Reports indicate Madoff has admitted to operating what amounted to a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Feeder funds, such as the Fairfield Sentry Fund, part of the Fairfield Greenwich Group, provideda pathway for individuals to deliver their money to Madoff. Fairfield Sentry reportedly had all ofits $7.3 billion in assets with Madoff. Overall, Fairfield Greenwich had more than $14.1 billionin assets under management before Madoff’s business collapsed.

In addition to Fairfield, the firm believes there could have been dozens of other entities in theUnited States and overseas acting as Madoff feeder funds and collecting huge fees for theirefforts.

“The question will be whether the Fairfield Sentry Fund and others like it basically functioned asenablers, and made a profit by creating an environment where Madoff was able to do what hedid,” says Jeffrey Zwerling, a founding partner of Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling.

Mr. Zwerling and his firm represent investment partnerships, individuals and companies that lostsignificant amounts of money in Madoff’s scheme. The firm will be taking a close look at thirdparties, such as Fairfield Greenwich and others that may have played a role in the scheme.

“We’re going to be very interested in feeder funds that made money by bringing Madoff thevictims” says Robert S. Schachter a senior partner of the firm. “We have been contacted byvictims in Mexico, Argentina, Austria, Spain, Switzerland and Ireland that delivered significantfunds to Madoff through what we believe to be feeder funds in those countries.”

Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP, currently is investigating the appropriate legal approaches

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PR Compass News Release

December 23, 2008

available to its clients from firm offices in New York City, Garden City, N.Y., and Seattle. Theinvestigation and any litigation that ensues will be undertaken on a contingent fee basis, meaningthe firm’s clients will pay no legal fees unless there is a financial recovery. The firm currentlyplays a leading role in numerous major securities cases and complex commercial litigationmatters pending in federal and state courts across the nation. The firm has been recognized bycourts throughout the country as highly experienced and skilled in complex litigation,particularly with respect to federal securities class-action litigation.

For more information or to speak with Jeffrey Zwerling or Robert S. Schachter about the Madoffmatter, please contact Mark Annick at 800-559-4534 (office), 214-213-1754 (mobile) [email protected].

Press Contact InformationZwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, [email protected]

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December 16, 2008

Press Release Source: Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP

New York Law Firm Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP RepresentingVictims in Madoff Financial Fraud Case

Securities class-action law firm investigating players in massive fraud

Tuesday December 16, 2008, 8:00 am EST

NEW YORK, December 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York law firm of Zwerling, Schachter &Zwerling, LLP, has been retained by individuals and entities that delivered hundreds of millionsof dollars to investment adviser Bernard L. Madoff, who authorities say admitted to operatingwhat amounted to a US$50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Since the December 11 arrest of Mr. Madoff, 70, the list of companies and individuals facingsteep financial losses based on their dealings with Mr. Madoff and companies affiliated with orcontrolled by him have grown to include individuals and institutions across the country. Inaddition, Mr. Madoff's fund obtained money from some of Europe's largest banks, includinginstitutions in the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Italy, and their clients.

"If this were a traditional bank robbery, the eyewitness reports would say that Mr. Madoffwalked out with billions of dollars as someone held the door open for him," says JeffreyZwerling, a founding partner of Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling. "If it's true, it's just amazing interms of the audacity, if nothing else."

Mr. Zwerling and his firm represent investment partnerships, individuals and companies thatmay have lost significant amounts of money in Mr. Madoff's scheme. In addition to targeting Mr.Madoff's businesses, the firm will be taking a close look at third parties, including financial firmsand other institutions that may have played a role in the scheme.

"There's just no way that this happens without help of some kind," says Robert S. Schachter asenior partner of the firm. "The evidence already shows that Mr. Madoff wanted 'investors' tocome to him through other entities. Those will be the businesses that are going to findthemselves answering a few questions now."

Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP, is currently investigating the appropriate legal approachesavailable to its clients. The investigation and any litigation will be undertaken by the firm on acontingent fee basis, meaning the firm's clients will pay no legal fees unless there is a financialrecovery. The firm currently plays a leading role in numerous major securities and complexcommercial litigations pending in federal and state courts and has offices in New York City,Garden City, N.Y., and Seattle. The firm has been recognized by courts throughout the countryas highly experienced and skilled in complex litigation, particularly with respect to federalsecurities class-action litigation.


December 16, 2008

More information is available at http://www.zsz.com.

For more information or to speak with Jeffrey Zwerling or Robert S. Schachter about the Madoffcase, please contact Mark Annick at +1-800-559-4534 (office), +1-214-213-1754 (mobile) [email protected].

Copyright © 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofPRNewswire content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of PRNewswire.PRNewswire shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken inreliance thereon.

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December 16, 2008

La firma legal Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP representará a lasvíctimas del caso Madoff

NUEVA YORK, December 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- La firma legal de Nueva York Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP representará a lasvíctimas del caso de fraude financiero Madoff

- La firma legal de valores activos investiga a los responsables de este fraude a escala masiva

La firma legal de Nueva York Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP ha sido elegida por laspersonas y entidades que han suministrado cientos de millones de dólares al asesor deinversiones Bernard L. Madoff, cuya autoría afirma un fraude que alcanza la cantidad de 50.000millones de dólares según un esquema Ponzi.

Desde la detención de Madoff, de 70 años, el pasado 11 de diciembre, la lista de compañías ypersonas que se enfrentan a pérdidas financieras por sus acuerdos con Madoff y las compañíasafiliadas con o controladas por él han crecido, incluyendo a personas e instituciones de todo elpaís. Además, los fondos de dinero conseguidos por Madoff se han dispuesto a través de algunosde los principales bancos de Europa, incluyendo instituciones de Reino Unido, España, Francia eItalia, y sus clientes.

"Si se tratara de un robo tradicional a un banco, los testigos hubieran afirmado que Madoff huyócon miles de millones de dólares mientras alguien le abría la puerta para que escapara", indicóJeffrey Zwerling, socio fundador de Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling. "Es una realidad, algoabsolutamente impresionante en términos de audacia".

Zwerling y su firma representan a los inversores, personas y compañías que podrían haberperdido destacadas cantidades de dinero en el esquema de Madoff. Además de ocuparse de losnegocios de Madoff, la firma estudiará de cerca a terceras partes, incluyendo firmas financieras yotras instituciones que podrían hacer desempeñado un papel clave en el esquema.

"No hay otro modo de que esto se produzca sin algún tipo de ayuda", comentó Robert S.Schachter, socio de la firma. "Las pruebas demuestran que Madoff deseaba 'inversores' para quese introdujeran en sus entidades. Estos serán los negocios que les proporcionarán respuestas aalgunas de las actuales preguntas".

Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP está investigando en la actualidad las aproximacioneslegales propias disponibles para sus clientes. La investigación y cualquier tipo de litigio se

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Pr Newswire News Release

December 16, 2008

tomarán por medio de la firma en una base contingente de impuestos, lo que significa que losclientes de la firma no pagarán tasas legales a no ser que exista una recuperación financiera. Lafirma desarrolla en la actualidad un papel destacado en varios de los principales valores y litigioscomerciales complejos pendientes de los tribunales federales y estatales, y cuenta con oficinas enla ciudad de Nueva York, Garden City (Nueva York) y Seattle. La firma ha sido reconocida porlos tribunales de todo el país gracias a su elevada experiencia y capacidades en relación a loslitigios complejos, sobre todo los relacionados con los litigios de tipo de valores federales.

Más información disponible en http://www.zsz.com.

Si desea más información o hablar con Jeffrey Zwerling o Robert S. Schachter sobre el casoMadoff, contacte con Mark Annick en el teléfono +1-800-559-4534 (oficina), +1-214-213-1754(móvil) o [email protected].

Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP

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Presse Echo News Release

December 16, 2008

Die New Yorker Anwaltsfirma Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP vertrittOpfer im Finanzbetrugsfall Madoff

New York (ots/PRNewswire) - - Auf Wertpapier-Sammelklagen spezialisierte Anwaltsfirmaermittelt Akteure im grossen Betrugsfall Die New Yorker Anwaltsfirma von Zwerling, Schachter& Zwerling, LLP wurde von Einzelpersonen und Rechtspersonen beauftragt, die demInvestmentberater Bernard L. Madoff Abermillionen von Dollars zur Verfügung gestellt hatten.Laut Behörden gab dieser zu, dass er ein 50 Milliarden US Dollar starkes Schneeballsystembetreibt. Seit der Verhaftung von Madoff (70) am 11. Dezember ist die Liste der Unternehmenund Einzelpersonen, die grossen finanziellen Verlusten entgegensehen, da sie Geschäfte mitMadoff beziehungsweise mit von ihm kontrollierten oder an ihn gebundene Unternehmengetätigt haben, um Einzelpersonen und Organisationen aus dem ganzen Land angewachsen.Zusätzlich bestand Madoffs Kapital teilweise aus Geldmitteln von einigen der grössteneuropäischen Banken, einschliesslich Einrichtungen aus dem Vereinigten Königreich, Spanien,Frankreich und Italien und deren Kunden. "Wäre dies ein traditioneller Banküberfall, würden dieAugenzeugen berichten, dass Herr Madoff mit mehreren Milliarden Dollar einfach aus der Bankherausspaziert ist, und dabei hat ihm sogar noch jemand die Tür aufgehalten", berichtete JeffreyZwerling, ein Gründungspartner von Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling. "Wenn das wirklich wahrist, dann ist es zumindest unglaublich, mit welcher Dreistigkeit vorgegangen wurde." Zwerlingund sein Unternehmen vertreten Investmentpartner, Einzelpersonen und Unternehmen, die unterUmständen bedeutende finanzielle Verluste aufgrund von Madoffs System zu verzeichnenhaben. Zusätzlich zur Untersuchung von Madoffs Geschäften wird die Firma auch Dritte näherprüfen, einschliesslich Finanzunternehmen und anderen Einrichtungen, die im System eine Rollegespielt haben. "Es ist einfach unmöglich, dass dies ohne Hilfe passiert ist", kommentierteRobert S. Schachter, ein Seniorpartner der Firma. "Die bereits vorliegenden Beweise zeigen,dass Madoff "Investoren" über andere Einrichtungen zu sich holen wollte. Das sind dieUnternehmen, die nun damit rechnen müssen, Antworten auf ein paar Fragen haben zu müssen."Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP ist gerade dabei, den besten juristischen Weg für seineKunden zu ermitteln. Die Ermittlungen und jegliche Rechtsstreitigkeiten werden von der Firmaauf Basis eines Erfolgshonorars durchgeführt. Das heisst, dass die Kunden der Firma erst dieAnwaltskosten tragen müssen, wenn ihr finanzieller Schaden beglichen wurde. Die Firma hatNiederlassungen in New York City, Garden City (New York) und Seattle. Sie hat eine führendeRolle in zahlreichen bedeutenden Wertpapier- und komplexen Handelsstreitigkeiten inne, diemomentan noch an Bundes- und bundesstaatlichen Gerichten verhandelt werden. Die Firmawurde von Gerichten aus dem ganzen Land als fachlich erfahren und bewandt in komplexenRechtsstreitigkeiten anerkannt, insbesondere bei Sammelklagen zu bundesstaatlichenWertpapieren. Mehr Informationen erhalten Sie unter http://www.zsz.com. Für weitereInformationen oder wenn Sie mit Jeffrey Zwerling oder Robert S. Schachter über den Madoff-Fall sprechen möchten,

Presse Echo News Release

December 16, 2008

kontaktieren Sie bitte Mark Annick unter +1-800-559-4534 (Büro), +1-214-213-1754 (Mobil)oder [email protected] Originaltext: Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, LLP DigitalePressemappe: http://www.presseportal.de/pm/73962 Pressemappe via RSS :http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_73962.rss2 Pressekontakt: Mark Annick, Büro, +1-800-559-4534, oder Mobil, +1-214-213-1754, [email protected], für Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling,LLP

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