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Bernie Madoff's Victims: The List
Silicon Valley Insider ^ | 12/14/08 | Henry Blodget

Posted on 12/15/2008 6:25:20 AM PST by marshmallow

Bernie Madoff's Victims (So Far)

HSBC "has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn to the investment manager’s collapsed venture...HSBC’s exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Mr Madoff. HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture. Under the typical terms of these deals, if the US authorities recover any funds from Mr Madoff, HSBC will be paid first, with its clients suffering the first tranche of losses." (FT:)

Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested in funds which outsourced their management to Madoff securities, although this is a tiny fraction of the division’s $25bn of assets. (FT)

Tremont Capital. Fund of funds. More than $1bn invested. (FT)

Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff. (FT)

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

Fairfield Greenwich Group. Bloomberg: The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said... Fairfield Sentry has a record of more than 15 years with an annual return of 4 to 6 percentage points above benchmark interest rates, according to a marketing document dated this month that was prepared by Zurich-based NPB New Private Bank Ltd. On an absolute basis, returns exceeded 10 percent every year from 1991 through 2000. Since then, they ranged from 6.4 percent to 9.8 percent...The strategy is a “split-strike conversion,” where the investment manager buys shares of large U.S. companies and enters into options contracts to limit the risk, the document says.

Fix Asset Management. Bloomberg: Fix Asset Management, which had an account worth at least $400 million with Madoff Investments. The firm said it’s checking with lawyers about the holdings. “We are very shocked,” John Fix, the son of founder Charles Fix, said by phone from Greece. “We put in redemptions in the past few months and got our money back no problem. We are just so surprised about all this.”

Kingate Management Ltd. Bloomberg says $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff.

Santander. WSJ: The eurozone's largest bank by market value, said its clients had an exposure of €2.33 billion ($3.1 billion) to Madoff's investment funds, mainly through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund. More than €2 billion belongs to institutional investors and international clients of its private-banking business, which provides services to wealthy individuals, it said. The remaining €320 million belongs to private-banking customers in Spain, where Santander is based.

Thyssen Family. Source sends the following: Thybo Investments grew out of a family office for Thyssen. They have been in fund of funds it seems since 1989. Thybo International is a "proper" fund of fund but it's newer share class G invests only in one manager - and i'm 99% sure it's Madoff as the returns are almost the same. Some more info. The fund started in Jan 2007. Ernst & Young. Luxembourg are the auditors. UBS Luxembourg is the administrator. Thybo states on their webpage: "Our track record incorporates audited financial statements at both a composite firm-wide and individual portfolios level."

Ira Roth's family. WSJ: Ira Roth, a New Jersey resident, who says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff's firm, is "in a state of panic." He said his 86-year-old mother-in-law has been living on the investments' returns, and he has been using the funds to pay college tuition.

Sterling Equities. Fund controlled by Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the NY Mets, confirms it had money with Madoff.

Stephen Abbott, a San Francisco lawyer. WSJ: [Abbott] and two siblings had several hundred thousand dollars invested with Mr. Madoff. They inherited the trust from their father, who had befriended Mr. Madoff years ago. Performance remained steady through the current bear market, he said. "People were floored," he says. "We were making money in this lousy market." He says he is concerned about recovering the money but "you have to get philosophical about this stuff. It could be worse; we still have our health."

Palm Beach Country Club. Source: CNBC's David Faber

Lawrence Velvel, "69, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, said he and a friend may have lost millions of dollars between them (AP). "This is a major disaster for a lot of people," Velvel said in a telephone interview from his Andover, Mass., office. "You work all your life, you finally manage to save up something, and somebody who's entrusted with it, it turns out suddenly he's a crook. Lots of people are getting fully or partially wiped out." Velvel said he wants to know where government regulators, as well as accountants and others at Madoff's company, were when the money was being lost." (AP)

Loeb Family. Source: CNBC's David Faber

J. Ezra Merkin. GMAC LLC Chairman. WSJ: Mr. Merkin, the chairman of former General Motors Corp. financing arm GMAC, is also a money manager at Ascot Partners LLC in New York. Ascot, which had $1.8 billion under management as of Sept. 30, had substantially all of its assets invested with Mr. Madoff, according to a letter to Mr. Merkin sent to clients Thursday night. Mr. Merkin said as one of the largest investors in Ascot, he believed he had personally "suffered major losses from this catastrophe."

Norman Braman. Former Philadelphia Eagles owner

Leonard Feinstein, co-founder of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond. (WSJ)

Mort Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman, the chairman of real-estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report, had significant exposure through a fund that invested substantially all of its assets with Mr. Madoff (WSJ)

Richard Spring. WSJ: A Boca Raton resident and former securities analyst, says he had about $11 million -- or 95% of his net worth -- invested with Mr. Madoff. "That's how much I believed in him," Mr. Spring said.

Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity. Total assets of about $10 million.

Members of half-a-dozen country clubs: WSJ: "Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, investors say. One of them estimated that investors from the two clubs may have invested more than $100 million combined. One of the largest clusters of Madoff investors was in Florida, where losses could be substantial. Mr. Madoff relied on a network of friends, family and business colleagues to attract investors. According to investors and agents, some of these agents were paid commissions for harvesting investors. Others had separate, lucrative business relationships with Mr. Madoff. "If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money," one investor says. "Everyone wanted to sign up." Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff's clients. "Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff," he says. Two of his investors said that among his clients, Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he'd take down half the world with him."

Bramdean Alternatives in the U.K. 9% of portfolio.

Banque Benedict Hentsch, Geneva-based private bank, $47.5 million.

Nomura and Neue Privat Bank. "Marketed access to Fairfield Sentry Ltd., a fund overseen by Mr. Madoff and sold through Fairfield Greenwich. The shares offered by Neue Privat and Nomura were leveraged three times -- meaning $3 of borrowed money was added to every $1 of capital invested in order to magnify returns, greatly increasing the potential losses for those investors." (WSJ)

Unicredit. The Italian firm had unspecified amount with Madoff via its Dublin-based Pioneer alt-asset group. (MarketWatch)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Unspecified (Newsday).

Robert Lappin Foundation in Massachusetts closed its doors today and is citing relationship to Maddoff fund. $8MM foundation plus personal holdings. Foundation supported Jewish organizations throughout North Shore of Massachusetts. (source: Jewish Journal)

Wunderkinder Foundation, a Steven Spielberg charity. In the past the foundation "appears to have invested a significant portion of its assets with Mr. Madoff, based on regulatory filings. In 2006, the Madoff firm accounted for roughly 70% of the foundation's interest and dividend income, according to regulatory filings. A representative of Mr. Spielberg confirmed that the foundation has suffered losses on its investments with the Madoff firm. He said he didn't know the size of the losses and couldn't comment further, including on whether Mr. Spielberg had any of his own money invested with the Madoff firm." WSJ

BNP Paribas. "BNP Paribas's exposure, the extent of which is not clear, may stem from BNP's lending relationship with a fund of funds that was a big Madoff client, said people familiar with the matter. A BNP spokeswoman declined to comment." WSJ: BNP, France's largest bank by market value, said it could lose as much as 350 million euros as a result of the alleged fraud. The bank said it has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services. BNP Paribas, however, said it is exposed to these funds through its trading business and lending to hedge funds that had invested in Madoff's funds.

Ira Rennert. Vicky Ward of Vanity Fair, said on CNBC."Heavily, heavily invested."

Englebardt family of Los Angeles. (Reader)

Swiss private bank Reichmuth & Co. "said its clients had an exposure of some 385 million Swiss francs to Madoff funds. The bank said Reichmuth Matterhorn, a fund that invests in other hedge funds, faced a potential loss of about 8.6% on its exposure to Madoff. That amount represented about 3.5% of the 11 billion Swiss Francs Reichmuth & Co. has under management, the bank said." (WSJ)

Union Bancaire Privee. UBP spokesman said the bank's clients have "limited" losses related to Madoff, but wouldn't be more specific or comment further. (WSJ)

EIM Group, the European investment manager with about $11 billion in assets, had a number of non-U.S. investors into funds overseen by Mr. Madoff, according to people familiar with the matter. Overall, EIM assets at risk are less than 2% of what it manages, which means losses could top $200 million. (WSJ).

UBS: ""Very limited" direct exposure to the Madoff funds...But the Zurich-based bank's wealth-management arm helped clients in Europe and possibly elsewhere invest with Mr. Madoff, according to investment professionals in Europe who spoke with some of these clients. UBS is currently reviewing its clients' exposure to Mr. Madoff's funds, according to the person familiar with the matter. The person said the funds weren't on UBS's list of "recommended" investments for its U.S. clients, but that they may have been among the firm's suggested investments for overseas clients." (WSJ)

Stephen A. Fine, president of Biltrite Corp. (Reader)

Avram and Carol Goldberg, former owners of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain (Reader)

Helfman family of Miami. (Reader)

Saul Katz, co-owner of the New York Mets.

Irwin Kellner, of Port Washington. (Reader)

Carl and Ruth Shapiro, donors to Brandeis University, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The Boston Globe reported on Saturday that the Shapiro family foundation lost almost half its money, or about $145 million.

Fairfield County, Connecticut. Bloomberg: First Selectman Ken Flatto and other elected officials in Fairfield, Connecticut, thought the 58,000- person town’s pension fund was holding up well amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The 18 percent decline in total assets since the end of June looked smart compared with the 31 percent plunge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and total assets of $286 million left a cushion over the $270 million of estimated liabilities. Flatto’s mood darkened yesterday when he heard Bernard Madoff, a Wall Street executive who oversaw $42 million of the assets, had been arrested and charged with fraud. “We classified this on our portfolio as one of the more conservative investments,” Flatto said in an interview. “You rely on your experts and your managers to be honest.”

Various Boston families: The Boston Globe.

More as we get them...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bernardmadoff; billionaires; fraud; fundingtheleft; investment; madoff; millionaires; ponzi; ponzischeme; pyramid; pyramidscheme; scam; scheme
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To: marshmallow

HSBC - Am I sensing another arm outstretched holding a hat ready for ANOTHER FREAKING BAILOUT!!!!!!! I hope not!

HSBC got taken for a ride - Oh boo-hoo!!!

So let me get this right - HSBC - the Credit Card Crooks, who charge ridiculous amounts of interest, then raise your interest even if you always pay on time!!!

The same crooks who DARE to charge $35 LATE FEES, even if your have always paid your bill on time - because IF you send it through the computer - instant transfer AND they get it immediately AND they have your funds - because they choose to not credit it for 24 hours!!!!(Oh yeah - let’s not forget - they did take it out of your bank account immediately!)

Who then add the late charge which then makes you go over the credit limit so its another $35 OVER THE LIMIT CHARGE!!!! Oh yeah THOSE CROOKS!!!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!! IT’S KARMA BABY - IT’S KARMA!!!!


61 posted on 12/15/2008 7:56:09 AM PST by HomeschoolMomma (No thanks...I already have a Messiah!)
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To: Hildy

I hadn’t noticed, actually.

Intersting that YOU did, though.


62 posted on 12/15/2008 7:56:53 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: WayneS

Because I AM JEWISH, we kind of notice these things. Good try, though...


63 posted on 12/15/2008 8:00:43 AM PST by Hildy
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To: nuconvert

Individual, bank or “legitimate” investment firm (of which none have existed since it became legal for them to “double” as banks). It makes no real diffrence.

GREED is still behind their decisions to “invest” with this man. They saw the HUGE “returns” and obviously failed to do any real research into what was going on with Mr. Madoff.

And it DEFINITELY appears that no one’s Mommy or Daddy taught them that if something appears to be too good to be true, then it IS too good to be true.


64 posted on 12/15/2008 8:01:24 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: Hildy

Well, I don’t. Not unless some racist (or other person who cares about such things) points it out to me.


65 posted on 12/15/2008 8:02:15 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: Hildy
According to the news stories I have read regarding Mr Madoff, it has been suspected/rumored for years that he was having problems, or at a minimum, many were questioning his veracity.If you can afford to invest the sum of money that has been reported his investors invested with him, you can afford to hire an accountant with an eye toward the truth. I do not feel bad for people so short sited to invest all their holdings with one individual.
66 posted on 12/15/2008 8:02:39 AM PST by devane617 (...And to the Republic For Which It Stood...)
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To: nuconvert

And “Banks and Legitimate investment firms” couldn’t see this coming from a mile away???

Freakin’ PuuLeeaassseee...

I saw this crap coming 5-6 years ago, and invested accordingly. I read the fine print and studied the trends, saw that unsustainable levels of debt creation were running rampant. You had to KNOW nothing good was going to come from it.

Also, it’s happened TIME AND TIME AGAIN throughout history. It’s RIGHT THERE for review, Laws’ land scam, “not worth a Continental”, Tulip mania, The Roaring 20’s, etc... but most people buy the BS that “it’s different this time”, or “there’s a new paradigm”.

The Banks and Institutions intuitively knew this was coming, they just thought there’d be enough chairs left when the music stopped that they [individually] would have a seat...


67 posted on 12/15/2008 8:03:16 AM PST by Axenolith (Government blows and that which governs least blows least...)
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To: Hildy

There is a HUGE difference between what is goign on in this country right now and REAL capilaism.


68 posted on 12/15/2008 8:04:18 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: marshmallow

So what’s the problem here? All these people should be told that this is “wealth redistribution” and they will be happy!


69 posted on 12/15/2008 8:04:22 AM PST by Enterprise (No Presidency for illegal aliens from Kenya.)
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Comment #70 Removed by Moderator

To: marshmallow

Oh Oh, it sounds like a huge bailout for wealthy (or formerly wealthy) Libs.


71 posted on 12/15/2008 8:05:21 AM PST by mortal19440
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To: devane617

One story on a blog by a discredited ex-broker does not prove anything.


72 posted on 12/15/2008 8:06:10 AM PST by Hildy
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To: HomeschoolMomma

I agree with you.

This is the bank that has gouged my clients in mortgage forclosure with add on fees and high interest rates... this after ripping them off by high loan origination fees, discounting the variable rate to sucker them in and then doubling the mortgage rate in two years. Also with their focus on low income people with high rate and user fee credit cards. They are parasites at best.

I had an account with them a few years ago and closed it upon finding out their business practices. They are the only financial institution where I referred the case to a consumer protection attorney.


73 posted on 12/15/2008 8:07:29 AM PST by tired&retired
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To: Hildy

I really don’t give a fig what you think, but I WILL tell you that there actually ARE some people in this world who genuinely don’t CARE about others’ race or religion.

You are obviously some kind of unbalanced, self-absorbed little person who thinks “everybody” is some kind of closet-racist and/or is “out to get” them.

I defy you to reasearch my posting history and find ONE SINGLE INCIDENT of an anti-Semitic remark or belief. You won’t be able to do it.


74 posted on 12/15/2008 8:10:58 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: Hildy
The knee jerk reaction of so called conservatives on this sight that the wealthy “deserved” this is downright frightening.

You know what it is - we don't mind when people work hard for what they get! We believe in a honest days pay for an honest days work and the American Dream - if you work hard, you too can someday go from working out of your garage to being president of your own company. (Case in point: Bill Gates - worked his way to the top!) If you work hard enough, anything can be yours - its just a matter of perseverence! What we hate is GREED!!!!

Many conservatives are also Christians. Christianity is based upon Judeao principles. We believe in honesty, fairness, good business practice, ethical behavior, "Thou shall not steal". We do not like to see businesses fail - we love for success for all - success is the American Dream. But the American Dream should not come at a price.

My dad always said, "Be careful who you step on on your way up, because they are the ones who will support you on your way down!" How True! Those companies stepped on alot of people, and we have no symapthy. You reap what you sow!!!!

75 posted on 12/15/2008 8:11:22 AM PST by HomeschoolMomma (No thanks...I already have a Messiah!)
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To: Axenolith

“And “Banks and Legitimate investment firms” couldn’t see this coming from a mile away???
Freakin’ PuuLeeaassseee...”

It doesn’t matter if the banks and investment firms could or couldn’t see it coming. The people whose money they used are still innocent and don’t deserve the derogatory comments and insults being thrown at them.


76 posted on 12/15/2008 8:14:00 AM PST by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: Las Vegas Ron
Yes...you are right. As I remember now, Rich was a fugitive from a warrant for his arrest. Thanks for the correction.

Odd, though, to pardon someone who has not been convicted. Ah well...lawyer stuff.

77 posted on 12/15/2008 8:14:54 AM PST by Pharmboy (BHO: making death and taxes yet MORE certain...)
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To: HomeschoolMomma

BULL...you’re rationalizing envy. Did you even look at the list of the victims?


78 posted on 12/15/2008 8:15:08 AM PST by Hildy
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To: Boiling Pots
**Velvel said he wants to know where government regulators, as well as accountants and others at Madoff’s company, were when the money was being lost.”**

He needs to direct that question to people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. In case he doesn't know, they are Democrats.

79 posted on 12/15/2008 8:15:30 AM PST by Enterprise (No Presidency for illegal aliens from Kenya.)
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To: WayneS
I really don’t give a fig what you think,

Apparently, you do.

80 posted on 12/15/2008 8:15:50 AM PST by Hildy
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