I wonder if its too late for Judi to get her regular seat back at that Cigar Bar?
(a girl's gotta make a living) 
Posted on 12/15/2008 2:55:41 AM PST by CutePuppy
Fairfield Greenwich Fund Plans to Sue Madoff
Posted By: Charlie Gasparino | On-Air Editor
Fairfield Greenwich, one of the big feeder funds, is planning a lawsuit against Bernard Madoff, the New York money manager accused of running what prosecutors say was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
In the lawsuit, Fairfield is expected to say it was a victim of fraud and that Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities didn't do enough due diligence when it marketed Madoff's investment business to clients.
Fairfield did its own due diligence, hiring auditors and checking trade confirmations.
Madoff had produced the confirmations but Fairfield claims it went to third parties to make sure trades took place and found out they did.
That could mean that this scandal is much bigger than previously thought.
Part of the defense of the feeder funds will be the extent of the involvement the Securities and Exchange Commission had with Madoff's investment activity that goes beyond what the SEC stated on Friday.
Fairfield will claim that when the SEC recently looked into whether Madoff should be registered as an investment adviser, they made some inquiry into Madoff's investment activities and were fooled — as were the feeder funds.
Madoff sold himself as a solid investor who didn't shoot for huge returns, just stable returns.
He was able to capitalize on several converging forces: the tremendous amount of wealth created during the 1990s and into the current decade, how investors got burned in 1998 during the blow up of Long Term Capital Management and the implosion of dot-com stocks in 2001.
His 8 percent to 12 percent returns were a stark contrast to high-flying returns, which later blew up.
He used that as a marketing play, as well as the fact that his funds were technically closed — the exclusivity added to the appeal. Madoff would let people in, but only only after some consultation.
The more he did that, the more people wanted to get in.
Madoff complained to officials at Tremont, another feeder fund, about mass redemptions from Europe two weeks ago according to sources. It was around that time that he began contemplating hiring an attorney, the source adds.
According to people close to Madoff he contacted Ike Sorkin after his arrest when he was in FBI custody.
There is a rumor among Madoff investors that he has $1 billion stashed in an overseas bank account. Sorkin, Madoff's lawyer, would not comment on this.
© 2008 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Keywords: BERNARD MADOFF, $50 BILLION, SEC, FBI, FRAUD, CRIME, WALL STREET TRADER, PONZI SCHEME, FAIRFIELD GREENWICH, FUND, FEEDER FUND, LAWSUIT
They are the fat cats that donate big time to liberal campaigns. Liberals will find a way to bail them out just to keep their campaigns funded.
plus maybe 20-30% of any profits.. so the net return to investors would be about the same as Treasuries..
Actually, he was only "reporting" consistent profits, not "earning" them. I doubt he was charging 20%-30% of profits, like many newer hedge funds or VC funds that claimed 20+% annual profits, but even after 20%-25% commission of 12% gross profit would leave net return of about 9%-9.5%, which is most times much better than Treasuries. Also, I don't know how Madoff fund worked, but if investors forgone dividends, the money may have been "reinvested" and "compounded" in the account without tax liability at the end of the year, which is not possible with Treasuries.
(September 25, 2006) Ghouliani's Texas law firm "Bracewell & Giuliani" advises Grupo Santander in Acquisition of Leading U.S. Auto Finance Company NEW YORK Bracewell & Giuliani advised Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. (SAN.MC, STD.N) (a bank that traded with blacklisted Iranian Bank) in its agreement to acquire 90 percent of the U.S. auto financing company, Drive Financial Services, for approximately US $651 million.
EXCERPT FROM STORY Spanish banking giant Grupo Santander SA, which recently purchased Sovereign, a big US bank, said it placed $3.1 billion of its private banking customers in Madoff's care through its Optimal Strategic. Santander, which has to date emerged unscathed from the global financial crisis, said in a statement on Sunday that its investment fund Optimal had exposure to Madoff Securities of 2.33 billion euros, 2.01 billion of which were funds invested for institutional investors and private banking clients outside Spain. The remaining 320 million euros were part of the investment portfolios of private banking clients in its home country, which are qualifying investors, the bank said in a statement.
"Optimal will undertake legal actions to defend the interests of the shareholders of the subfund," the bank said in a statement on Sunday evening.
Santander said its exposure came from an investment company managed by Optimal called Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland, which was authorized by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority. The Irish-based company had a subfund called Optimal Strategic US Equity which had used Madoff Securities to carry out its investments.
The custodian of Optimal Multiadvisors and Optimal Strategic is HSBC Institutional Trust Services in Ireland, which belongs to HSBC, said Santander.
It said the Santander group also had 17 million euros invested in Madoff-related investments through another fund. In its statement, BNP Paribas said it had no investments of its own in Madoff funds but had risk exposure through its trading business and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds.
==================================
REFERENCE Gluliani and Texas Gov Perry took land from Texans via eminent domain and handed it over to Spaniards.
Bracewell & Giuliani Firm Advises Cintra in First Privatization of Toll Road in Texas DALLAS (March 1, 2007) Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Texas-based law firm with global connections) advised Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a Spanish transportation company, in its successful bid to develop State Highway 121 into a toll road through Collin and Denton counties ("trade road" is four football fields wide). The award to Cintra, approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, is the first privatization of a Texas toll road. Bracewell is acting as project counsel to Cintra with respect to the 50-year concession from the Texas Department of Transportation. Cintra will pay a $2.1 billion upfront and annual lease payments totaling $700 million. "Cintra was awarded this project because of its proven expertise and competitive proposal," said Thomas O. Moore, partner with Bracewell & Giuliani. "This is the largest transportation deal of 2007. This is one of only five deals in the country." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1803916/posts
Wonder if they ever heard of “Fraudulent Conveyance” a legal imperative which means that any proceeds investors obtained through fraud must be returned.....also has tax implications.
"Better be very afraid to open your mail, or your front door, Palm Beachers."
I believe it is considered fraud to convert public monies designated for one purpose to another purpose.
No question----her remarks were clearly made to "soften up" the public to the coming crash.
All the money is gone, you can’t get blood from a stone.
That is exactly right.
I have friend - business associate who lost all his money AND the Company he owned exactly because of that.
Unknown to him, he was an early 'investor' in a Ponzi Scheme. When the guy running it skipped town (Chicago area) when the jig was up, the FEDS went after my friend because he had received some early 'profits'.
The Cops finally caught up with the guy in AZ (iirc) with his 'secretary'. After a short car chase he did the honorable thing and blew his brains out. BUT my friend was still on the hook.
Dollars to doughnuts....this whole operation, especially the part about the so-called “Ponzi Scheme” is a scam to get money out the USA so ‘Bama can’t see it or find it....
Gee I hope Rooty doesn’t lose all his money in the Madoff scam. His gold-digging (cough) ‘wife’ may dump his penniless butt.
I'll be honest with you----I'm all broken up about the thought that poor Judy won't be shopping at Vera Wang and Jimmy Shoo (sob). She won't be getting her hair and nails done. And that luxe Hamptons pad will be on the market, too.
Quick, gimmee a kleenex (bawl).
Madoff was just copying the policies of taking from some and giving to others ala Federal Gov’mint - or spreading the wealth like the Other one!!!!
The money went somewhere - he didn’t burn it.
The beneficiaries should be tracked down and made to cough up the difference between what they “donated” and what they recouped.
That’s the ticket!!!!
Yep. Like W.C. Fields once said..
"You Can't Cheat An Honest Man"Those that got 'took', thought they were the 'takers'. So a big 'Ha-Ha' on them.
(and never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump)
As they say: Payback is a ..... 'Hillary'
;-)
Charles Gasparino, author of the piece, produced a very good book (Blood in the Streets, as I recall) that helped explain the dot-com bubble crash. Expect another book soon.
I wonder if its too late for Judi to get her regular seat back at that Cigar Bar?
(a girl's gotta make a living)
If he was a Republican, we'd already be inundated with that news.
Yeah.......those tricks are gonna get a lot cheaper, especially wearing those Goodwill dresses. LOL.
Also, many of the investors are like some of the non-profit organizations which have now lost everything, based on trust in the integrity of the American financial system. Most people, if offered an annual return of between 6% and 15%, would NOT consider that there was anything at all suspicious about that. Why in the world would they? At the moment, I am receiving 6% interest on some 5-year CDs I set up 2 years ago. Receiving a 6% positive return during the worst financial climate of our lifetimes doesn't sound the least bit suspicious to me. My wife and I have absolutely no money in the stock market directly because, growing up without much money, we would much prefer a smaller guaranteed return than the ups and downs of the stock markets OR bond markets, even during the boom of the 1990s. I would tend not to assume the worst of innocent people.
BUT - the intent I used (and WC Fields) is that these investors were (likely) looking for, expecting something, 'Too good to be true' - a guaranteed fixed rate of return and NO losses. Unless you're buying something like gubmint T-Bills, that is impossible if all is above board, or we'd all be millionaires.
“Somewhere someone raised this point: most investors with him did not believe he was honest but thought he was involved in insider trading or market manipulation to make the returns he was touting.”
See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2148724/posts?page=65#65 , also follow the link there to “I Knew Bernie Madoff Was Cheating—That’s Why I Invested with Him” for more details on it.
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