Author Topic: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered  (Read 634 times)

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Offline alsaqr

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50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« on: December 14, 2008, 01:17:36 AM »
For decades Madoff was a Wall St. icon.  He was revered as an investment guru.  There were 30 feeder funds bringing money into Madoff's pyramid scheme.  The owner of the Mets was taken big time.  One family lost 100 million dollars.  The Securities and Exchange Commission cited the Madoff fund for three violations last year but did not investigate complaints that Madoff was running an illegal enterprise.

It all started to unravel a few weeks ago when European investors started cashing in.  Madoff did not have the funds to pay them.  Madoff fessed up to two employees who turned him in.  It is obvious that Madoff did not run this scheme by himself. 

This is the kind of crap that happens when the federal government refuses to do its damn job.  Makes one wonder how many more pyramid schemes are running on Wall St.   It is obvious that Madoff did not run this scheme by himself. 
 

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The roster of potential victims in what prosecutors said was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme has grown exponentially longer in the past few days.

Madoff, 70, said in regulatory filings that he only had around 25 clients, but it has become apparent that the list of people who lost money may number in the hundreds or even thousands.  Among those who have acknowledged potential losses so far: Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services.

A charity in Massachusetts that supports Jewish programs, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, said it had invested its entire $8 million endowment with Madoff. The organization's executive director said she doesn't expect it to survive.

Other institutions that believed they had lost millions included The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and the Texas-based Julian J. Levitt Foundation.

Hedge funds and other investment groups looked like big losers too. The Fairfield Greenwich Group said it had some $7.5 billion in investments linked to Madoff. A private Swiss bank, Banque Benedict Hentsch Fairfield Partners SA, said it had $47.5 million worth of client assets at risk.

The losses may have extended far beyond the coffers of the wealthy and powerful.  The town of Fairfield, Conn., said it placed nearly 15 percent of its retiree pension fund with Madoff. Officials were scrambling to determine how much of the $42 million remained.

Harry Susman, an attorney in Houston, said he represents a group of clients who had unknowingly become entangled in the scandal by investing in a hedge fund managed by Merkin, which then put almost all of its $1.8 billion in capital in Madoff's hands.  "They had no idea they had exposure," Susman said. He said his clients were now dumbfounded as to how the fund came to invest all of its holdings with just one man, especially since concerns had been circulating for years about Madoff's operations.





Offline buffermop

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2008, 01:20:46 AM »
Time to make an example and line them up against the wall Gestapo style! >:(

Offline ms

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2008, 02:52:29 AM »
It will be very interesting to watch this one closely and whether this swindler gets sent up the river. It is very possible that these charges against him get tied up in court for many years before he even shows up in the courtroom; or that he gets a very light sentence; or that he can't be located in his first citizenship country and remaing funds have dissappeared.
 Swindles of this type are as old as the Bible; and older....we are seeing it on grand scale in this country right now.  Most people don't like being swindled.


..TM7
Yep the republicans took the American people for 8 years. That's why they had McCain run they knew he would loose.

Online Graybeard

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2008, 03:05:50 AM »
One of the benefits of being broke all the time is that you don't have money to invest with crooked folks who take all your money and leave you broke.  :o No matter what the stock market and investment firms do I can't lose any money on them cuz I ain't got none to have given them to begin with.  ;D


Bill aka the Graybeard
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I am not a lawyer and do not give legal advice.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life anyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life!

Offline Troyboy

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2008, 03:20:12 AM »
Thats the truth GB, but a little taste of money would be nice
.204 .22lr .22wm .25acp .223 5.56 .243 .25-06 6.5x55  .308  .300wbymag  7.5x54  7.62x25 7.62x39  338-06  9x19 .38spl  9x18 .45acp . 45-70 .500s&w 12rfl 12smb 20smb  .45lc 410smb .22hornet .280AI    Ask not what your country can do for you BUT what can YOU do for your country

Online Graybeard

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2008, 03:46:53 AM »
Dunno that stuff is kinda filthy to be eating and likely would be kinda flat tasting. I really have no use for money but sure do like the things it can buy. I reckon that's why I tend to spent it as fast as I get it. I'm afraid of all those germs on it so don't keep it around any longer than I have to and spend it real fast. Now my toys I get with it are all germ free so I don't have to worry about that.


Bill aka the Graybeard
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I am not a lawyer and do not give legal advice.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life anyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life!

Offline BBF

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2008, 06:07:55 AM »
TM7: that guy wouldn't by any chance have Israeli citizenship as well now would he??
What is the point of Life if you can't have fun.

Offline alsaqr

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2008, 01:42:54 PM »
TM7, everything you said is true. 

One scumbag gets bailed out by the Feds and th other gets arrested.  Rubin was allowed to skate and Madoff will run off to Israel.  Folks are wondering how much they lost.  They need not worry, they lost every cent. 

That fine PRNJ gun hating senator Lautenberg was scammed by Madoff as well.  Lost a bundle.  Madoff was an equal opportuniy ripoff artist.  He scammed lots of folks of his own faith. 


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In Boston, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, a charity that financed trips for Jewish youth to Israel, said on its Web site Sunday that the money for its operations was invested with Madoff.

"The money needed to fund the programs of the Lappin Foundation is gone," it said. "The foundation staff has been terminated today."

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, entrusted his family's charitable foundation to Madoff. Lautenberg's attorney, Michael Griffinger, said they weren't yet sure the extent of the foundation's losses, but that the bulk of its investments had been handled by Madoff.

Lautenberg's foundation handed out more than $765,000 to at least 100 recipients in 2006, according to the most recent listing on Guidestar, which tracks charitable organization filings.

The foundation helps support a variety of religious, educational, civic and arts organizations in New Jersey and elsewhere, and its contributions range from a gift of than $300,000 to the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey to a $2,000 donation to a children's program at the Hackensack Medical Center.

Reports from Florida to Minnesota included profiles of ordinary investors who gave Madoff their money. Some had been friends with him for decades, others were able to invest because they were a friend of a friend. They told stories of losing everything from $40,000 to an entire nest egg worth well over $1 million.

They join a list of more powerful investors that have come forward, all worried about the extent of their losses. The roster of names include Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services, among others.

Beyond U.S. hedge funds, more corporate names disclosed exposure to Madoff. Late Sunday, some of Europe's biggest banks acknowledged they, too, were exposed to Madoff's investment fund.

Switzerland's Reichmuth & Co. said the private bank has $327 million at risk. It told investors that they "sincerely regret" being affected.

French bank BNP Paribas estimated its exposure Madoff's fund could lead to 350 million euros ($467 million) in losses.

In a brief statement Sunday, the euro zone's largest bank said it has "no investment of its own" in Madoff's hedge funds but "does have risk exposure to these funds through its trading business and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds."

Spain's Grupo Santander SA, Europe's second-largest banking consortium, said its clients had an exposure of 2.33 billion euros ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mostly through the Optimal Strategic US Equity fund, according to reports.

__





Offline ms

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2008, 01:57:05 AM »
Rubin is a illumitist and will likely skate for even greater transgressions. I looked at Madoff's client list, and oh-oh, he swindled his own people....that crap won't float. Likely, he will go down afterall but maybe with a wrist slap and home arrest....unless he is already in Israel, Dubai,, Caymans, Switzerland....but as I said he preyed upon his own....end result is he may commit a 'suicide' providing some of the gold and funds are recoverable.  Meanwhile, his victims will most likely petition for a bailout.... ::) ...which is swindle part 2.



...TM7
Maybe a fake suicide like that guy hanging from that bridge.  ;)

Offline alsaqr

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Re: 50 Billion $ Wall St. Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2008, 06:15:51 AM »
Was the NY SEC in on the Madoff scheme?   

http://www.soxfirst.com/50226711/madoff_and_sec_neglect.php

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As The Wall Street Journal points out, the SEC was warned about it nearly 10 years ago. The WSJ's Gregory Zuckerman writes: "Harry Markopolos, who years ago worked for a rival firm, researched Mr. Madoff's stock-options strategy and was convinced the results likely weren't real. 'Madoff Securities is the world's largest Ponzi Scheme,' Mr. Markopolos, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1999. Mr. Markopolos pursued his accusations over the past nine years, dealing with both the New York and Boston bureaus of the SEC, according to documents he sent to the SEC reviewed by The Wall Street Journal."

The Naked Shorts blog republishes a May 2001 piece in MAR/Hedge raising questions about how Madoff got away with it. It's one of the few pieces where Madoff actually talks about his strategy, on the record.

Around the same time, Barrons came up with a piece that cast doubt on whether Madoff's operations were kosher. And from that piece, it's clear there was nothing transparent about Madoff's operations. He was keeping everyone in the dark.

"But what few on the Street know is that Bernie Madoff also manages more than $6 billion for wealthy individuals. That's enough to rank Madoff's operation among the world's five largest hedge funds, according to a May 2001 report in MAR Hedge, a trade publication.

"What's more, these private accounts, have produced compound average annual returns of 15% for more than a decade. Remarkably, some of the larger, billion-dollar Madoff-run funds have never had a down year.