Categories

Legislative Update: August 2016

Dear NIAP members, Madoff and other Ponzi-Scheme Victims,

Even as victims are feeling increasing pressure from the Madoff trustee who has shown limited flexibility in the mediation efforts, new legislation has been introduced in Congress to provide protection for Madoff, Stanford and certain other fraud victims.

HR 5852, introduced on July 14th by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), and co-sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), is a slightly scaled-back version of HR3482 and [...]

Madoff accomplice Daniel Bonventre jailed for 10 years

Image caption Bonventre and four others Madoff associates were found guilty of fraud in March. A ex- associate of Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for aiding the disgraced Wall Street financier in his $65bn (£42bn) fraud scheme. Daniel Bonventre, 67, was also ordered to forfeit $155bn (£99bn). More in The Telegraph Leader here. [...]

The federal ‘rescue’ is failing Bernie Madoff’s victims

Seven years ago today, Bernie Madoff was arrested for orchestrating the most devastating Ponzi scheme in US history. Unfortunately, many of Madoff’s victims still haven’t seen the restitution they were guaranteed under federal law. More in the New York Post [...]

EX-MIT Dean and Son to Serve Prison Time for Hedge Fund Scam

A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology associate dean and his son have been sentenced to 3¾ years in prison for a hedge fund scam that cost investors more than $140 million. More on ABC News [...]

Madoff trustee sues Israeli universities, hospitals for $95m

Irving Picard, the trustee appointed to liquidate the assets of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff and return money to his victims, has filed a $95 million lawsuit against some of Israel’s largest educational and medical institutions. More in The Times of Israel [...]

Madoff Investors to Get Over $1 Billion in Added Recoveries

Two judges on Wednesday approved a $1 billion-plus payout to victims of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme, including those who invested with New York money manager J. Ezra Merkin. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

Jury Says Ernst & Young Liable for Madoff Investor’s Losses

A Washington state court jury on Friday found Ernst & Young liable for millions of dollars in losses a Washington investment firm took from the collapse of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

Financial funds linked to Bernard Madoff agree to settlement of $497 million

Two financial funds linked to the Ponzi scheme have agreed to a court settlement to the tune of $497 million. The tentative settlement between the court trustee and Primeo Fund and Herald Fund SPC will only augment the fund size,which is said to total $10.3 billion and which is being used at the moment to repay Ponzi scheme investors and customers. The announcement was made by Irving Picard, the court trustee on Monday. But the agreement still needs the approval of the US Bankruptcy Court. According to Geoffrey North, the court appointed lawyer for Picard, the agreement will help to avoid delay and coststhat are generally the results of a long drawn and controversial court case. More in the Daily News [...]

Thybo Asset Management Settles Madoff Clawback Claim for $46M

Thybo Asset Management, a family office turned hedge fund of funds, has agreed to settle a Madoff-related clawback claim instituted in 2009 by bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard. According to the settlement, which was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Friday, Thybo agreed to pay $46.6 million of the original $62 million sought by Picard in allegedly fraudulent transfers during the six years prior to the collapse of the ponzi scheme orchestrated by Madoff through his Madoff Investment Securities LLC. At the same time, Thybo will be allowed a total claim of $186 million against the Madoff estate, from which the $46.6 million will be deducted. More on FinAlternatives [...]

First Madoff Trial Set in Switzerland to Start Later This Year

Switzerland will start the criminal trial in early December of the head of the largest of the Geneva feeder funds that channeled money to convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff, seven years after the American admitted cheating investors. The trial of Manuel Echeverria, who ran Banco Santander SA’s Optimal Investment unit, will start Dec. 7 in Geneva’s Tribunal de police, said Henri Della Casa, a spokesman for the Geneva prosecutors’ office. He was charged in 2009 with aggravated mismanagement over his handling of client funds. The lead plaintiff is Franck Berlamont, a client of Echeverria’s. More on Bloomberg [...]