Free Republic

We are at the beginning of the most consequential domestic conflict the United States has fought since the Civil War. Like the battle between the Blue and Grey, this one is for the continued existence of the country. Today’s weapon of choice might be the legislative pen and the protest sign and there may not be blood flowing in the streets, but make no mistake, the stakes are exactly the same: The survival of the nation as we know it. If that sounds like hyperbole, think about the German inflation of the 1920’s or Zimbabwe today. At some point taxpayers...

Countrywide’s VIP program is the first subpoena target for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said a committee aide. The “Friends of Angelo” program, named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, has been under committee investigation since 2008 for allegedly granting generous mortgage deals to influential government officials, lawmakers and employees at Fannie Mae. “Countrywide orchestrated a deliberate and calculated effort to use relationships with people in high places in order to manipulate public policy and further their bottom line to the detriment of the American taxpayers even at the expense of its own lending standards,”...

Bernard L. Madoff said he never thought the collapse of his Ponzi scheme would cause the sort of destruction that has befallen his family. In his first interview for publication since his arrest in December 2008, Mr. Madoff — looking noticeably thinner and rumpled in khaki prison garb — maintained that family members knew nothing about his crimes. But during a private two-hour interview in a visitor room here on Tuesday, and in earlier e-mail exchanges, he asserted that unidentified banks and hedge funds were somehow “complicit” in his elaborate fraud, an about-face from earlier claims that he was the...

When Bernie Madoff popped up in the news again last week, this time when it was alleged that his bankers at JP Morgan Chase saw red flags in his actions but failed to tell the authorities, I felt that familiar feeling again--nothing. Because I don't hate Bernie Madoff. Why should I? SNIP I shed no tears for Madoff, but nor do I clench a fist. Madoff didn't do anything to me. However, if I were forced to join an investment fund that I knew to be a Ponzi scheme and made to watch helplessly as my dollars were sucked out...

The trustee liquidating Madoff’s asset management firm, has filed a complaint against JPMorgan Chase, claiming the bank had suspicions about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme going back to at least 2006, but waited until 2008 to alert authorities while it earned hundreds of millions of dollars from doing business with Madoff. The complaint seeks to recover nearly $1 billion in fees and profits, and an additional $5.4 billion in damages, for JPMorgan Chase’s decades-long role as primary banker for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities’ (BLMIS), allegedly aiding and abetting Madoff’s fraud. “Incredibly, the bank’s top executives were warned in blunt terms about...

But the Sterling partners’ reliance on Madoff’s consistent and steady returns ran further than just opening hundreds of accounts. Sterling used its BLMIS accounts as a substantial source of liquidity to develop and sustain its businesses, including professional baseball and real estate. For instance, much of the approximately $90 million of other people’s money withdrawn from the Mets’ BLMIS accounts helped fund its day-to-day operations. Sterling also used BLMIS returns to generate sufficient profits to meet capital commitments for its Sterling American Property real estate funds. Further, BLMIS returns provided the necessary cash flow to Sterling’s internal bank—Sterling Equities Funding,...

A high-level JPMorgan risk officer was warned that Bernie Madoff had “a well-known cloud” over his head and was suspected of running a Ponzi scheme nearly 18 months before he was charged, according to the FT. The lawsuit in which it's alleged that the executive was forewarned was filed against JPMorgan by Irving Picard, the trustee responsible trying to recover as many funds as possible for Madoff. It has just been unsealed, and was filed secretly at JPMorgan’s request. The suit aims at recovering $1 billion in fees and profits that JPMorgan earned as the primary banker to Madoff’s firm...

Mets owners are in a much tighter squeeze than they are letting on. Sterling Equities, which is controlled by Wilpon and son, Jeff, is supposedly worth some $750M and $1B. The Wilpons want to replace roughly $750M,...their losses with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.....and are now in settlement talks with the Madoff estate trustee, who claims they withdrew $48M more than they invested. They are opposing a move to unseal legal papers, saying the papers are attempted "character assassination"..... painting [Mets owners] as persons who should have known that Madoff did no trading".........

Madoff bonanza Picower widow forfeits $7B from Ponzi scheme By KAJA WHITEHOUSE Last Updated: 8:10 AM, December 18, 2010 Posted: 11:39 PM, December 17, 2010 The widow of late philanthropist Jeffry Picower, who made billions in phony profits investing with Ponzi king Bernie Madoff, agreed to return a staggering $7.2 billion to federal prosecutors in the largest recovery to date for victims of the massive fraud. The huge windfall brings the total amount recovered since Madoff confessed to his crimes just two years ago to $9.8 billion -- nearly half the estimated $20 billion investors lost in the scheme.

If you're rich, you're guilty of profit. Hand it over!

NEW YORK—Carl J. Shapiro and various related people and entities have agreed to forfeit $625 million to the United States, all of which will be made available to the victims of the fraudulent investment advisory business which was owned and operated by Bernard L. Madoff. The distribution of funds to victims will be administered by Irving H. Picard in his dual capacities as the newly-appointed special master to assist the department in connection with the victim remission proceedings, and as the court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, under the Securities Investor Protection Act. The...

NEW YORK – The eldest son of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff hanged himself by a dog leash in his apartment Saturday after two years of "unrelenting pressure

Mark Madoff, the older of Bernard L. Madoff’s two sons, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Saturday, the second anniversary of the day his father was arrested for running a gigantic Ponzi scheme that shattered thousands of lives around the world.

Madoff trustee sues JPMorgan for $6.4 billion By Jonathan Stempel Thu Dec 2, 3:23 pm ET NEW YORK (Reuters) – The trustee seeking money for defrauded former clients of Bernard Madoff said he filed a $6.4 billion lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase & Co of aiding the imprisoned Ponzi schemer's fraud as his main banker. The lawsuit is the second largest that trustee Irving Picard has filed against former Madoff clients or others he believes assisted in the estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme. JPMorgan, the No. 2 U.S. bank, was for more than 20 years the main banker for Bernard L....

SOUTHLAKE -- Chase Bank told a businessman to remove the Christmas tree he donated to a local branch because it could offend people. Antonio Morales, owner of Bellagio Day Spa in Southlake, had assembled and decorated a 9-foot-tall tree in the lobby of the Chase Bank branch at 1700 E. Southlake Boulevard as a favor to the branch manager, who is one of his clients. The tree remained in the lobby from the Monday before Thanksgiving until Tuesday. Morales said his friend called him Wednesday to tell him the tree had to go. She later showed him an e-mail from...

Bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard, who is liquidating the bogus investment firm of convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff, gave $26.9 million to a Manhattan law firm to recover $849,000 for the victims of the largest Ponzi scheme in American history. In a filing with the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Picard noted that $15.8 million went to his own law firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP, in the second and third quarters, the New York Post reports. Another $7.1 million was spent on consultants and $107,560 on “hosting expenses.”

A trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Bernard Madoff's investment firm spent $26.9 million in the second and third quarters to recover $849,000 for Madoffs victims, according to a federal court filing. Irving Picard, the trustee, said in a filing with Manhattan federal court that much of the expense -- $15.8 million -- went to cover fees for his law firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP.

U.S. Department of Labor sues Syracuse firm to recover union pensions that went to MadoffCharley Hannagan / The Post-Standard Updated: Thursday, October 21, 2010, 5:53 PM Syracuse, NY -- The U.S. Department of Labor today accused J.P. Jeanneret Associates Inc., of Syracuse, its executives, and three other investment companies and executives, of causing pension, health and benefit plans to lose hundreds of millions of dollars through investments with Bernard L. Madoff. The lawsuit was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. If successful, it would return money to thousands of workers in Central...

More than 400 pieces of personal property from Bernard Madoff and Ruth Madoff, including a diamond engagement ring and a Steinway grand piano, will be sold during a live and online auction in New York next month by the U.S. Marshals Service. The property was forfeited and seized in connection with the criminal prosecution of Bernard Madoff. The proceeds from the auction will be used to compensate the victims of his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

NEW YORK, - U.S. marshals said a New York auction of items belonging to convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff includes the Ponzi schemer's monogrammed velvet slippers. The marshals said former possessions of Madoff, 72, at the Nov. 13 auction at Surroundart include the slippers, a 1917 Steinway grand piano, a 10 1/2 carat diamond ring, a desk and a bull-shaped bronze paperweight, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday. "These pieces are the last of what once occupied the homes and lives of Bernard and Ruth Madoff's residences in New York and Montauk, N.Y.," said Joseph Guccione, U.S. marshal for the...