Ponzi scheme

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Brits Hit Court to Battle Yanks for Madoff Assets

UK liquidators have already seized $235K Aston Martin

(Newser) - The Madoff liquidators are turning on each other, reports the Times of London. The trustees handling the London arm of the Ponzi schemer's imploded business recently seized several American assets, including a $235,000 vintage Aston Martin, that were acquired with London money. UK liquidators will argue tomorrow in a...

Madoff Yanked $165M from London Branch Just Before Bust

Cash transferred to scammer vanished

(Newser) - A month before he came clean on his Ponzi scheme, Bernie Madoff sold $165 million in UK bonds from his London office and the money disappeared, the Independent reports. Madoff ordered a director of the London arm to transfer the money to his New York office so Madoff could use...

Madoff 'Staged the Whole Thing': Secretary

With nerves fraying, Ponzi schemer 'chose to get arrested'

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff’s secretary thinks he staged his own arrest. “Bernie was never careless,” Eleanor Squillari writes in Vanity Fair. “He set up exactly how he wanted to go down.” Madoff began acting strangely weeks before the arrest, writing odd things in his appointment book. He’...

Hsu Guilty of Squeezing Donors for Campaign Cash

Big Hillary fundraiser faces up to 20 years

(Newser) - Ponzi schemer and Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu has been convicted of campaign finance fraud after two days of jury deliberations, the Wall Street Journal reports. Prosecutors said Hsu had pushed his investors to donate tens of thousands to his chosen political candidates, including Hillary Clinton, between 2004 and 2007. Hsu...

Madoff Money Man Steps Down
 Madoff Money Man Steps Down 
May 19, 2009 10:45 AM CDT

Madoff Money Man Steps Down

Cuomo pushes Merkin out

(Newser) - Thanks to some strong arming from Andrew Cuomo, financier J. Ezra Merkin is stepping down as manager of his hedge fund and placing it into receivership, the Wall Street Journal reports. Cuomo charged Merkin in a civil fraud complaint last month, saying he “betrayed hundreds of investors,” by...

Madoff Clients to Get $100M Back Soon

Funds address fraction of 9,000 claims: trustee

(Newser) - It's a start. Some of Bernie Madoff's clients will get back at least a portion of the money that he stole. Trustee Irving Picard says he expects to approve at least $100 million of investor claims—mere hundreds out of nearly 9,000 filed claims—by May 25, Bloomberg reports....

Stanford Exec Faces First Criminal Charge

Probe of alleged Ponzi scheme nabs chief investment officer

(Newser) - A federal grand jury in Houston yesterday handed up the first criminal indictment in Stanford Financial Group's alleged Ponzi scheme, reports the Houston Chronicle. Chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt, 35, faces two counts of obstruction. She and boss Allen Stanford already face accusations in a civil suit by the SEC....

$12B Withdrawn From Madoff Accounts Before Arrest

(Newser) - Operators of so-called feeder funds withdrew $12 billion from Bernie Madoff's accounts in the year before his arrest, nearly half of it in the final three months, reports the New York Times. The analysis of financial records offers hope that defrauded investors will be able to recoup at least some...

Stanford Was a Drug Informant: Report

Fraudster was likely shielded from SEC in 2006 for his trouble

(Newser) - Allen Stanford may have received earlier protection from the SEC by working as a drug trade informant, a BBC investigation has found. The accused fraudster’s bank paid $3.1 million to the DEA a decade ago as a middleman for a Mexican drug lord, and in 2006 an SEC...

'Mini-Madoff' Scammed Churchgoers, Blames Banks

(Newser) - For some, 2009 may be remembered as the year of the Ponzi scheme: Last year, federal regulators prosecuted 13 such scams, but in just the first few months of this year, they’ve already filed 22 cases, reports ABC News. One recent bust is Long Island's Peter Dawson, who stiffed...

Stung by Madoff, SEC Steps Up Pace, Triples Fraud Cases

Embarrassed committee gets aggressive with enforcement

(Newser) - Haunted by the failure to catch Bernie Madoff, the Securities and Exchange Commission is dramatically stepping up its investigation workload, reports the LA Times. Since February, the SEC has frozen the assets of 27 fraud suspects, compared to seven in the same period last year. “The clear message from...

Madoff Victims' Advocate Sues Ezra Merkin

Trustee wants $558M back from feeder-fund withdrawals

(Newser) - The trustee representing investors who lost their savings with Bernie Madoff is suing Ezra Merkin, the feeder-fund manager who withdrew $558 million from Madoff's shop before the collapse of his Ponzi scheme. Irving Picard, who is responsible for winding down Madoff's defunct company, alleges that Merkin should have known from...

Madoff's $100K AmEx Bills Point to Rampant Abuse

Investors' money kept family living luxe

(Newser) - Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff used investors’ money as a “personal piggy bank” to support family, as well as some staff, extravagances, ABC reports. Documents filed in New York bankruptcy court show that Ruth Madoff used the company card to purchase nearly $5,000 of clothing at Paris boutiques last January,...

Secretary Dishes About Madoff's 'Roving Eye'

Inside details paint picture of lewd Ponzi schemer

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff “was irresistible to women,” his longtime secretary says, and the confessed Ponzi schemer felt the same way about them, perusing escort ads and keeping “about a dozen phone numbers for his masseuses” in his address book. Eleanor Squillari reveals intimate details about her boss, including...

Trustee Sues Madoff Insider, Says He Must Have Known

LA money manager got rich on fake returns

(Newser) - A trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernie Madoff's assets filed a lawsuit against one of the Ponzi schemer’s investors yesterday, accusing investment manager Stanley Chais of getting such “implausibly high” returns that he should have known they were a sham. Chais and his family withdrew “untold” funds...

Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak
Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak
investigation
Apr 24, 2009 2:01 PM CDT

Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak

Ponzi schemer a Luddite who crawled on all fours to align rugs

(Newser) - "Neat freak" may be one of the more polite epithets used to describe Bernie Madoff, who comes off as an obsessive-compulsive nut in a Fortune profile by James Bandler and Nicholas Varchaver. In immaculately tailored suits, he dusted furniture and got down on hands and knees to straighten rugs....

Madoff's 'Ninja' Deputy Willing to Talk to Feds

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff's chief deputy is ready to talk, Fortune reports. Frank DiPascali is working out a deal with federal prosecutors in which he’ll name names and give details of how the massive Ponzi scheme operated. Among the surprises: No Madoff family members will be implicated, at least by DiPascali....

'Devastated' Stanford: I'm No Thief

Billionaire denies running Ponzi scheme, points finger at former CFO

(Newser) - “As God is my witness, there is no Ponzi scheme," accused swindler Sir Robert Allen Stanford told the Houston Chronicle yesterday. His financial companies were well-run before the government seized and "disemboweled" them, claimed the billionaire. If any fraud was committed at Stanford Financial, it was done...

Judge Holds Madoff Assets for Feds
Judge Holds Madoff Assets for Feds
Apr 20, 2009 6:19 PM CDT

Judge Holds Madoff Assets for Feds

Holdings may go to government through criminal forfeiture

(Newser) - A federal judge stopped Bernard Madoff's assets from moving into bankruptcy today, saying the government may claim them through criminal forfeiture because of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg reports. US District Judge Denny Chin blocked more than $100 million from being moved, a setback to investors who had won the right...

Stanford Pulled in $5B While SEC Dithered

Feds ignored employee warnings, fumbled over jurisdiction

(Newser) - When the Securities and Exchange Commission sent probing questionnaires in 2005 to investors who’d bought certificates of deposit from Stanford Group, panic set in. “Then it all seemed to go away,” says one former Stanford employee. Concerns over jurisdiction stayed the SEC’s hand for almost 4...

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