SYNAGOGUE OF $UFFERERS; (praise God for alert, conscientious Israeli officials)

NY POST ^ | 12/21/08 | STEFANIE COHEN and KELLY MAGEE

[Liz]

BERNIE'S SCAM HITS ELITE TEMPLE

Members of a posh Upper East Side synagogue suffered a $2B bloodbath in the epic Ponzi scheme. The Fifth Avenue Synagogue ranks with Palm Beach Country Club in terms of members scorched by the scam. Ira Rennert, synagogue board chair, and owner of the priciest Hamptons mansion, had $200M in Madoff's fund, Fortune mag reported...... The synagogue was a breeding ground for Madoff investors....synagogue president, J. Ezra Merkin....is said to have given Madoff, who does not belong to the synagogue, access to a slew of universities and Jewish organizations and had $1.8B w/ Madoff through his fund, Ascot Partners...... Other prominent members include Elie Wiesel whose foundation lost $37M, investment banker Michael Jesselson's SAR Academy, Bronx, an Orthodox Jewish school, took a $1.3M hit. The synagogue is the favored house of worship for former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu..... The close-knit, 300-family congregation was dubbed by the author Herman Wouk, a member, as a "Who's Who of World Jewry." Yeshiva University invested $110M likely at Merkin's urging. Tufts and NY Law School also signed hefty checks over to Merkin, who placed the money w/ Madoff. The controversy didn't stop Merkin from attending 9 am services yesterday where he was "warmly received," said a member....... The FBI admitted the Madoff scandal had grown so large that it was forced to shift agents from counter-terrorism operations to the alleged swindler's case, and other Wall Street scandals.

[Liz]

Fifth Avenue Synagogue board chair Ira Rennert’s palatial Hamptons mansion....rivals Buckingham Palace or Versailles.

TAX EVASION Alert, conscientious Israeli officials apparently blew the whistle on this tax evasion scam. One infamous tax evasion scam (some years back) involved tax-exempt donations to a synagogue. The temple took a cut then deposited the bulk of the “donation” to an Israeli bank for the donor‘s use later-----out of sight of the IRS, and US banking laws. The tax-evader was prosecuted thanks to alert, conscientious Israeli officials who apparently blew the whistle on the scam. In another notorious case (involving the Clintons), Israel refused to harbor an Hasidic rabbi who absconded to Israel to escape prosecution for bilking the US government for millions. The Clintons pardoned four New Square scammers----who then voted Hillary into the Senate. Bernie and the billionaires probably worked scam under cover of religion.

The buzz is Madoff has billions stashed offshore and so do his investors. When arrested he claimed he had $300M left from $500B "invested." That much money does not just evaporate. US investigators need to ask Israel to reveal Madoff’s activities in Israel--including the frequency of trips Madoff made, and the number of bank accounts in Madoff’s or his investors’ names.

Most of his investors figured Madoff was doing something illegal---frontrunning---that's why they were getting big returns (16% even in down markets). These "smart, rich" types were never bothered about Madoff's sub rosa activities.

NEWS EXCERPT Madoff was single-handedly managing billions of dollars in offices he kept separate from the rest of his firm........The only oversight was conducted in a Rockland County accounting office only slightly larger than a cubicle. The firm's main office was in NYC.

Madoff made his fortune embracing the latest and best technology, BUT he forbade investors to get online access to their accounts, insisting instead on paper printouts....

For well over a decade, competitors and experts said they found Madoff's track record suspicious. He seemed immune to any volatility in the market and, no matter what was happening in the economy at large, managed to finish each month with almost identical profits. Madoff dismissed attacks as "envy" and said critics simply did not "understand" the complexities of his strategies.

Aksia LLC was hired to investigate Madoff several years ago, said principal Jake Walthour. The probe only increased the concerns about the fund. Madoff's returns were "abnormally smooth" from month to month, and it seemed impossible to replicate his investment strategy or verify his track record.

Madoff claimed to be moving as much as $13 billion in and out of the market every month, but "no one on the street could verify it or even see his footprints," Walthour said. "That organization was incredibly secretive." When they staked out the tiny accounting firm no one had ever heard of, investigators concluded something was amiss. "We decided there are several scenarios here, one of which is, this could be a Ponzi scheme," Walthour said. Those who have invested in the fund have told investigators that withdrawing cash from it was an arduous process that involved faxes and inexplicable delays.

SOURCE Bloomberg and NY Post wire reports
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12132008/news/regionalnews/alarm_bells_in_1999_ignored_143971.htm

CONCLUSIONS If investors were venal enough to give Madoff $100-500 million, that’s too damn bad. The so-called "investors" sob stories are calculated---they are looking for a bailout from us peons.

Impossible to believe astute businessman who made fortunes in competitive businesses would allow themselves to be scammed.....unless......these privileged elites were in collusion with Madoff to engage in a massive tax evasion scheme. Tax evasion would explain why savvy, astute businessmen were giving this guy huge sums ---$100-500 million--- to “invest.” Apparently Madoff kept a cut of the “investment” and wire-transferred the bulk offshore to friendly money laundering havens. The whole scam crashed b/c Madoff probably wanted a bigger cut but the "investors" refused.

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Investigators are looking for signs that others participated in Madoff's alleged fraud and are examining why his wife's name appeared on documents linked to transactions under scrutiny.

Mr Madoff ran his scam through a spinoff----separate from his main firm called Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. The much larger main company operated broker-dealer accounts - trading securities for investors - while the spinoff was a hedge fund.

Madoff was single-handedly managing billions of dollars in offices he kept separate from the rest of his firm........The only oversight was conducted in am upstate Rockland County accounting office only slightly larger than a cubicle (the firm's main office was in NYC). Friehling & Horowitz is a three-person accounting operation based in the northern suburbs of New York City. It is run by one partner, David Friehling, who is in his seventies and is understood to live in Florida, and employs an accountant and a secretary. David Friehling is now under investigation.

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FEDS DISCOVER YET ANOTHER MADOFF SIDELINE After he was nailed, federal investigators found evidence Madoff ran an unregistered money-management business alongside his firm's brokerage and the investment-advisory subsidiaries. Clients of Madoff's sideline may have included hedge funds......Investigators need to look at Merkin's Ascot Funds for any improprieties he might have used to bilk innocent synagogue congregants.

[Ann Archy]

A Synagogue had 2 BILLION DOLLARS????? OMG!!

[Canedawg]

“The synagogue was a breeding ground for Madoff investors...”

Was it also a breeding ground for Obama supporters?

I feel badly only for investors who may have lost money if they supported Gov. Palin’s ticket in the election. Any Jews who supported Odumbo do not identify with Israel, and are JINOs.

[Nokia]

2 BILLION DOLLARS.........from just one Synagogue?

Now that’s impressive.

[silverleaf]

No wonder Hillary was willing to wear a prayer shawl on the campaign trail- She and Bill probably ate a few latkes too

[Leisler]

Taxes are the biggest cost, and potential profit if avoided, for any business. Further, if a ‘business’ figures how to keep some taxes, especially if it is a small margin industry, it will have a capital advantage over competitors. In other words, it will thrive while others wither.

To be short, the money isn’t in the business, it’s in the taxes. That’s where the big dough is.

We pay half of our earnings in taxes. Roughly, that means half of the wealth, the money is in taxes. Why struggle with the private economy when you can mine the big tax pile?

Anyways, if Madoff is part of a larger scheme, trust that the Government will for it’s own prestige, and to keep us sheeple sleeping, will bury it. Madoff and Company will/are just uncommonly good chiselers, but the government, already at historic lows, doesn’t want us peasantry to see them as they really are.

[stockpirate]

Madoff is a bleeding heart socialist democrat. Jews by large numbers vote for and fund socialism inside the US.

I have no sympthy for their joint fate concerning Madoff.

It just means less money for them to donate to left-wing causes.

[ChicagoHebrew]

Not the synagogue itself itself, the synagogue’s members (read the article closely) — of which there are hundreds, including some of the wealthiest Jews in NY.

[ChicagoHebrew]

Madoff is a bleeding heart socialist democrat. Jews by large numbers vote for and fund socialism inside the US. I have no sympthy for their joint fate concerning Madoff.

Then you are an asshole. And, if you call yourself a Christian, you evidently aren't a good one. No one deserves to be conned or stolen from. And that includes Democrats. The law is clear. It is "Thou Shall Not Steal." Not "Thou Shall Not Steal, Except From People You Disagree With Politically."

Moreover, you are also wrong. Many of the victims were Jewish non-profits that have no political agenda -- hospitals, old age homes, high schools, etc. A few of the schools that were hit are Orthodox, and have student bodies that lean to the right politically.

[Strutt9]

True on one hand, that they will have less to donate to liberal causes... but they will receive a bailout from thier fellow congresscritters that they helped win elections.

[Liz]

The synagogue was a breeding ground for Madoff investors...” Was it also a breeding ground for Obama supporters? Jews who supported Odumbo do not identify with Israel---they are JINO‘s.

Support could have been based on Obaba’s chosen COS---Rahm Emanuel--who has close ties to Israel. During the 1991 US Gulf War, Rahm volunteered his services to the Israeli army. Apparently Rahm served in a civilian capacity although he may have been accidentally paid out of the trillion dollar Israeli military budget (which would wipe out his American citizenship--Americans who serve in the military of a foreign government lose their US citizenship). Rahm's daddy was a member of the fighting Israeli Irgun. I would imagine that even a JINO would consider Rahm and his dad certified Israeli heroes.

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FAST FOWARD TO TODAY Rahm has gone underground to clean up his involvement in the Blago scandal. But Rahm may have a problem cleaning up his Wall Street connections---perhaps connections to Madoff.

Did Rahm fillout the 63-count seven-page personnel application Obama gave to possible appointees? If so, how did Rahm outline his ties to financial institutions involved in the federal bailout. How about emails that Obaba figures might embarass the new president? Did Rahm ever email Bernie Madoff?

After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel resigned from his position in the Clinton administration. He then became an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella, (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002. In 1999, he became a managing director at the firm’s Chicago office. Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker, according to Congressional disclosures.

At Wasserstein Perella, he worked on eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC. After Mr. Emanuel left banking to run for Congress, members of the securities and investment industry became his biggest backers, donating more than $1.5M to his campaigns dating back to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Mr. Emanuel also leaned heavily upon the industry as 2006 Dem Congressional Campaign Committee Chair. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8M to the Dem committee, behind only retirees.

Then President Bill Clinton in 2000 named Emanuel to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac"). Rahm's position paid him $31,060 in 2000 and $231,655 in 2001. During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) later accused the board of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention." Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 when he ran for Congress.

REFERENCE: RAHM 'PITCHED BAM PICK' By DAPHNE RETTER, POST WIRES WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, had multiple phone conversations with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, pushing for the president-elect's pick to fill his Senate seat, according to a report yesterday. Sources with knowledge of the investigation into whether Blagojevich sought to sell Obama's seat told the Chicago Sun-Times that Emanuel had pushed for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, although they did not suggest that Emanuel had attempted to make an inappropriate deal with the governor. The Obama camp strenuously denied the source's claims, saying that Emanuel discussed only his own plan to accept the chief-of-staff position, according to the Sun-Times.

SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/seven/12192008/news/politics/rahm_pitched_bam_pick_144955.htm

[Canedawg]

Liz, these investors invested in this scheme before Odumbo selected rahm as his COS, didnt they?

I dont see how they could use rahm as an excuse to support odumbo in the election.

[stockpirate]

A non-profit does not mean it doesn’t have an agenda.

For anyone to blindly support another group whose aim is to destroy what you hold dear is insane.

Because of the behaviour of Jewish voters in America I have to rethink my support for the Jewish nation as a whole.

If they want our support they should also consider support for us.

It should not be a one-way street.

[Liz]

Keep in mind, Rahm was engineering the Obaba campaign. Rahm would not have gotten COS if he had not played a BIG part in Obaba's win.

Rahm first worked as a senioor aide to Clinton, then went to Wall Street. His clients included Loral Space & Communications, run by Bernard L. Schwartz, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, who said he got to know Mr. Emanuel while he was in the White House; the Chicago Board Options Exchange, whose chairman and CEO, William J. Brodsky, became friends with Mr. Emanuel while he was working forChicago's Mayor Daley; and Avolar, a business aviation company whose top executive, Stuart I. Oran, was formerly in charge of governmental affairs for United Airlines, a role in which he said he interacted with Mr. Emanuel at the White House.

Rahm next ran for Congress with a substantial political Rolodex......members of the securities and investment industry became his biggest backers, donating more than $1.5M to his campaigns dating back to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Rahm also leaned heavily on Wall Street when he was 2006 Dem Congressional Campaign Committee Chair. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8M to the Dem committee, behind only retirees.

No question, Rahm (due to his connections) raised lots of money for Obaba.

[Canedawg]

While what you say may be accurate, using Rahm’s previous Israeli military experience as a reason to support Obaba (lol) is akin to supporting Murtha and his positions because he previously served in the Marines.

Would I feel badly for investors who lost money because they supported Murtha and his illegal scheme (assuming he had a financial scheme)?

Of course not.

[padre35]

That is true, it is also said by Thieves that “take your chances with us, we will share what we steal..”

I don’t believe anyone “deserves” to be scammed, I do think that when investors rely on inside baseball/back room friend to friend deals, they are setting up themselves to be stolen from or to join in the theft.

[junta]

A fraud so obvious that even I a shmiel from the heartland the desolate plains of despair and dimwittery can figure it out. So then I say shame on these supposed sophisticates because they had to know that Madoff was a no goodnik. So this crew can join the rest of the chiselers and rot in hell why us little folks suffer at the dirty hands of “liberalism.”

[Hildy]

I'm shocked at the class envy on this site. And it's just not the green eyed monster that has showed it's ugly head over this Madoff story...it's more. There was a story today about anti-semitism all over the internet.

Our world is collapsing....and the Jews always are the whipping boys.

[onedoug]

Seats to the back, boys.

[Peanut Gallery]

Just Dang.