Madoff fund manager dead

[malaise]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeC.Rrn6kc24&refer=home
<snip>
Liliane Bettencourt, the world’s wealthiest woman, entrusted part of her $22.9 billion fortune with Bernard Madoff through the fund manager found dead in New York yesterday, two people familiar with the matter said.

The 86-year-old daughter of L’Oreal SA founder Eugene Schueller was the first investor in a fund managed by Access International Advisors, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because her investment isn’t public. The body of Access co-founder Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, 65, was found in his Madison Avenue office yesterday. Police said he probably killed himself.

Bettencourt, a Parisian, joins wealthy individuals from around the world, including Spanish billionaire Alicia Koplowitz, U.S. moviemaker Steven Spielberg and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, among victims of what Madoff, 70, told investigators was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

“More high-profile names who have been victimized by Madoff will start to become known now,” said Ron Geffner, who represents hedge funds at the New York-based law firm Sadis & Goldberg LLP. “There’s a strong sense of anguish, fear and distrust.”
----------------
Now DUers, if you had $22.9 billion why would you need the sort of interest associated with a Ponzi scheme?

[lovuian]

1. this is looking more and more like the witnesses are dying

that know where the money went

Its just too convenient

[malaise]

2. Very strange indeed

Almost too neat.

[Warpy]

8. Especially since he didn't leave a suicide note

which most but not all suicides do in one way or another.

It sounds like maybe some of Madoff's smart guys don't want anybody to know where the money went.

Madoff will take the fall. He didn't do it alone, though. That's where the focus of the investigation should be but probably won't.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. If they start getting knocked off, one by one, I will suspect that there is a state

interest involved. If this were just a thing between private individuals, sure they would lose face and end up in a condo on Miami Beach, but they could survive. If they were involved with investing money for governments, or funneling money to a foreign country, yeah, I see where this is going to become dire. However, I can't see that being the case because Madoff doesn't seem to be too concerned.

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. Huh?

The guy was played for a chump to the tune of more than a billion. Chances are he was feeling A LITTLE down after being, oh, completely wiped out.

And as for where the money went...um...it was a Ponzi scheme. Some people got a nice return (and probably reinvested), others
down the line got nothing. And Madoff himself probably took home QUITE a lot of money.

[anigbrowl]

11. Witnesses to what?

This guy may have shilled for Madoff's fund (indeed, it looks like most of the funds he managed were deposited with Madoff), but getting totally wiped out and possibly facing investigation himself would be quite enough for some people to give it up.

[Duppers]

15. uh? this man was a fund manager who had invested in Madoff's ponzi scheme

He was NOT Madoff's manager, nor Madoff's employee. How would he would have an idea what Madoff did with the money?

This man lost money for his clients, and his own, that he had invested with Madoff and was working night and day to try to recover it, according to news reports.

Ck it out: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/24/bernard-madoff-investing

==========

Get this:

"Investor tries to hold SEC liable for Madoff losses"

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A woman who says she gave accused swindler Bernard Madoff $2 million to manage is trying to hold U.S. regulators responsible for her losses, a case that shows how widely investors are casting their net in trying to find potential defendants in the scandal.

The claim by retiree Phyllis Molchatsky is believed to be the first attempt by an investor to recover investment losses from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Since Madoff was arrested, other investors have sued hedge funds they say improperly entrusted their money to him.

Molchatsky's lawyer said on Tuesday that the SEC failed to protect investors from Madoff, who has been charged with securities fraud by federal prosecutors but has yet to formally respond to the fraud accusations in court. The commission has also brought a civil fraud case against him.

"We believe in this particular instance that the SEC has fallen down on the job," said attorney Howard Elisofon, a former SEC lawyer who represents Molchatsky. "They should be held responsible for these catastrophic losses."

The SEC declined to comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081223/bs_nm/us_madoff_investor_sec

....

THE FRIKIN' SEC is responsible! IF the proper paper work was filed and followed up, this could not have happened. The IRS has some responsibilities here too because income statement had to be filed and check.

[Democrats_win]

3. RIP. Don't forget that people commit suicide over credit card ponzi schemes too.

Clearly this man was not the criminal in this case. The same is true of people who are victims of the usury of credit cards.

I sure hope things change.

[liberalmuse]

4. I think I've had too much to drink.

I read that as, 'Maddoff found in a manger, dead.'

[malaise]

5. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Yes you've had too much to drink :rofl:

[SoCalDem]

10. and with maggots..instead of Magi?

:rofl:

[stillcool]

6. huh...

[sam sarrha]

7. how long do you think Bu$h will last after he is out of office after causing Trillions to be lost.?

the people with all the Subpoenas for Murder, war crimes, crimes against humanity.. will never get thru the Blackwater security to deliver them..

[Duppers]

16. Madoff's clients' losses were due to fraud, not the economy

It was a ponzi scheme.

[sam sarrha]

17. the economy and the war are also due to fraud, on a global scale.. by the Bu$hitCo mafia

[Duppers]

21. 100% correct ! That's a given.

I thought about that when posting.

In fact, our economy is based on a ponzi scheme as seen from a macroscopic perspective.

[Generic Other]

19. I hope the whole bush fortune is heavily invested in madoff's schemes

would be fun to see the whole family in the poorhouse.

[Greyhound]

12. When you have $23B you're invested in everything. n/t

:kick:

[earth mom]

13. On the middle of the night CBS news an hour or so ago, I could have sworn they said Madoff was dead.

I did a google search, but nothing, so maybe I heard it wrong. :yoiks:

[Gin]

14. makes me wonder what I would do with a fortune if I had one...

what is safe anymore? the mattress?

[onethatcares]

18. 23 billlion, 23 million, Twohundredthirty thousand.

I sure do wish I had that kind of money at my disposal in cash. I imagine giving a lot away to those less fortunate, even if I had twohundredthirtythousand, everytime I see numbers like the other two, I can't even begin to cope as to how much that is.

Let's see, 23 billion = ? millions? How many jobs could that create? How many food pantries could that fully stock? How many people could you help with that amount of dinero?

Peace

[malaise]

20. I can't even think about those numbers either

Good Effing grief! I don't know how many victims were involved in charity but they were still looking for even more money. When is enough enough.

[TWiley]

24. Well, if a $100 bill is 0.040" thick, then a (only) 23 Billion stack is about 150 miles high

That is a stack of $100 bills from the lowest part of the earth to far beyond the edge of the stratosphere. If you had 3000 of these stacks, then you would be slightly under the $850 Billion figure.

[TWiley]

23. This reminds me of how so many JFK assisination witnesses disappeared.

One difference would be that the assisination witnesses were not all complicit in the crime. One similarity is that both mysteries will be harder to unravel without their official testamony