Update 3-17-09: Madoff’s Wife Declares Palm Beach Home Main Residence (Bloomberg) http://bit.ly/df8Ua

Ruth Madoff’s Palm Beach home she gets to keep. How is she ever going to survive? http://bit.ly/kGs7l

Update 3-12-09: Madoff Ordered to Jail Pending Sentencing After Ponzi-Scheme Guilty Plea (Bloomberg) http://bit.ly/vppZA

Madoff Investigators Claim to Find 100 Checks in Desk (Bloomberg)

Investigators searching the office desk of Bernard Madoff after his arrest found about 100 signed checks, totaling about $173 million, ready to be sent to family, friends, and employees, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have previously disclosed that Madoff, before his Dec. 11 arrest, had said he wanted to transfer $200 million to $300 million of his investors’ money to “selected family, friends, and employees.” Litt’s letter today indicates that Madoff was ready to send the money out.

“The only thing that prevented the defendant from executing his plan to dissipate those assets was his arrest by the FBI on Dec. 11,” Litt wrote in his letter. [Read more]

Bernie’s a class A jackass. Okay, I said it–but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

Why is he not in jail already? Probably because he had already written a check to his judge.

Aimee
Aim for Answers 

Madoff Remains Free as Judge Considers Prison Request (Bloomberg)

Bernard Madoff, awaiting trial for securities fraud, remained free on bail while a federal judge considered a request by prosecutors to send him to prison for mailing $1 million of valuables in violation of an asset freeze.

The items included cuff links, watches, a pin and a pair of mittens, Sorkin said. The cuff links are worth $25 and the watches are worth more, he added, without being more specific. He told the Madoffs on Dec. 30 to get the items back, Sorkin said.

The items were mailed to his brother Peter Madoff, his two sons, a daughter-in-law and an unnamed New York City couple now vacationing in Florida, Sorkin and Litt said. [Read more]

This is insane. Lock Madoff up already.  I wonder if they haven’t put him in jail in hopes that someone would have fed him to the fishes by now.

Aimee
Aim for Answers 

Madoff’s Stolen Statue Recovered By Pest Control Workers (FINalternatives)

The statue was found by two pest control workers this morning.

A note attached to the statue read: “Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners. Signed by–The Educators.”

The 4-foot-high statue worth more than $10,000 was stolen from Madoff’s estate eight days after he was arrested in New York in connection with operating the $50 billion Ponzi scheme. [Read More]

I seriously doubt Bernie even knew he owned a lifeguard statue.  Too bad for him that the lifeguards aren’t real.  He could surely use a lifesaver now. 

Aimee
Aim for Answers 

Madoff to Reveal Assets as Investors Sue for Funds (Bloomberg)

Investors looking to recoup some of the $50 billion they lost in Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme may get a better idea what the New York financial adviser has left when he is forced to reveal his assets to regulators.

Madoff, 70, must provide a detailed list of all investments, loans, lines of credit, business interests, brokerage accounts and other holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission by New Year’s Eve, a federal judge ruled. Madoff’s foreign business units were given until Jan. 26 to provide a similar accounting. [Read More]

The judge gave him until New Year’s eve to report all assets to the S.E.C.  This list should be a real eye opener.  Victims will learn more of the awful truth surrounding their investments with Madoff.

On another note, there seems to be a ton of gossip surrounding Walter Noel, his girls, and Fairfield Greenwich.

BEAUTIES HIT WITH MADOFF MUD (New York Post)

Hunting Monica & Walter Noel (Cityfile)

Aimee
Aim for Answers

Madoff Fund Operator De La Villehuchet Found Dead in New York  (Bloomberg)

Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, who ran a fund that invested with Bernard Madoff, was found dead at his Madison Avenue office today, a New York City police officer at the scene said. The death appeared to be a suicide, he said. [Read more]

OMG! Okay, I hate using OMG, but in this case it was my gut reaction.  Apparently, he had over $1 billion invested with Madoff. Is there going to be more of this?  I wonder what Walter Noel is thinking.

Aimee
Aim for Answers

Fairfield Greenwich Fund Sued by Investors for Madoff Ventures (Bloomberg)

Noel’s Greenwich Sentry fund invested $220 million with Madoff and his Fairfield Sentry fund invested $7.3 billion solely in Madoff, jeopardizing investors’ interests while collecting “millions of dollars in fees,” according to a complaint filed Dec. 19 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. [Read more]

Unfortunately…. (Dealbreaker)

First we had the problem where our NAV calculations suffered due to a division by zero error.  [Read more] [Dear Fairfield Investor]

Madoff: Lifestyles of the rich and infamous (Fortune)

Bernard Madoff, the man behind an alleged $50 billion fraud, has a yacht named ‘Bull,’ owns several luxurious homes and may even have had two private planes on call. [Read more]

Air Bernie: Welcome Aboard! (Cityfile)

It’s not all bad news for the folks defrauded by Bernie Madoff. In addition to his handful of homes in Manhattan, Montauk, and Palm Beach, it’s likely Madoff’s 50 percent stake in this $24 million Embaer Legacy jet will eventually be distributed to the people he cheated as part of his elaborate scheme. [Read more]

Madoff investor seeks relief from SEC: report (Reuters)

An investor who lost nearly $2 million investing with Bernard Madoff has filed a claim against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging the agency was negligent in failing to detect an alleged decades-long fraud, the Wall Street Journal said. [Read more]

Why is it that so many of the Forbes 400 are hedge fund managers?  These guys are dumb and their only talent is wasting other peoples’ money.  From Bernie and Walter to Chris Cox and George Bush, these guys are the reason our financial system is collapsing.  What these guys don’t get is that we live in the age of information.  The masses know all about these idiots, where they go, what they spend, and how they live.  

My advice to Bernie and his friends: watch out and sleep with one eye open.  The revolution will not be televised, but it will be available on YouTube.

Aimee
Aim for Answers 

Madoff Monday begins with some gossip on Andrew Madoff’s wife, Deborah, who reportedly filed for divorce the same day Bernie got arrested.  Mark and Andrew are apparently not speaking to their parents either.

Were you ever a Madoff investor? Thought you made some money and avoided this nightmare? Think again. 

BRIDGES BURNED WITH MADOFF CLAN (New York Post)

Brothers Andrew and Mark Madoff have not uttered a word to their disgraced financier father since they turned him in to authorities on Dec. 11.

It became even tougher for Andrew, 42, when his wife of almost 17 years, Deborah, 41, filed divorce papers in Manhattan Family Court on the same day his dad was cuffed. [Read more] [Bernie's Circle]

Sosnik Bell To Madoff Victims: We’re “Shocked” To Learn Of This Fraud (CLUSTERSTOCK)

Gold Medal Swindler Madoff Rips Off Olympic Committee (The Business Sheet)

Added Insult to Madoff Investors (Fortune)

According to Bentley, it is long-settled law that some investors might have to give back some or all of their investment gains. But what has changed as a result of a federal court ruling in 2007 — stemming from the faked results and misappropriation by the now-convicted managers of the $450 million Bayou hedge funds — is that some investors might have to return some of their principal, too. [Read more]

Want to see the details of Madoff’s criminal complaint?  

U.S. v. Madoff, 08-mag-2735

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/madoff.html

Order Freezing Assets and Granting Other Relief 

Go way back and see Madoff web site through the years. Or see it today: madoff.com (taken over by the courts).

Aimee
Aim for Answers

Today, I’m reading the growing list of Madoff investors/victims.  Also, the FBI is shifting resources to deal with fraud cases, including Madoff.  

There’s also more gossip and rumors surrounding the case, including photos of Madoff watching TV and  big Madoff investors still living the high life in the face of huge losses. And more info surrounding Tremont Funds.

Bring Us The Bodies (Dealbreaker)

Although his Fairfield Greenwich Group had its ass torn out of the revelation that Madoff’s biz was a Ponz, Walter Noel is apparently still living it up, in velvet dinner jackets, no less. So that’s nice. Unfortunately, then we have killjoy Ezra Merkin, liquidating his Gabriel Capital LP: [Read more]

Madoff Mania (New York Social Diary)

Great article for those who want to know the skinny surrounding Madoff (complete with photos).

Someone told me that among the crowd congregated outside his building was a man who threw a punch at him. There are others who suggest that he’s endangering himself by going out in public. There are others who are convinced that some distraught now-former client will want to kill him. Or that he wlll do it himself. [Read more]

PICTURE OF BERNARD & RUTH MADOFF, ALL DRESSED UP [PHOTO] (Women Hoo Embarrass Women)

Madoff CFO, Frank Dipascali, Married to JPMorganChase Private Banker (Mrs Panstreppon’s Blog)

Nice family. Frank pushes phony equities and his wife writes worthless mortgages.

FBI Agents Shifted From Terror Work to Madoff, Subprime Probes (Bloomberg)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had to engage in “triage” in responding to successive frauds involving subprime mortgages, auction-rate securities and Madoff, who prosecutors said confessed this month to bilking investors out of $50 billion, Cardona said in an interview yesterday. [Read more]

Madoff’s Victims [Investor list & Amount of Exposure] (The Wall Street Journal)

Victims include hedge funds, charities, schools and even a Korean Teachers pension fund.  Wow, the International Olympic Committee too. OMG!

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro Investigating Tremont Group Holdings and the Rye Fund, Alleged Feeder Funds Affected by Madoff Fraud (PR-inside.com)

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP (www.hbsslawsecurities.com/tremont) is investigating the actions of MassMutual’s Tremont Group Holdings, Inc., Rye Investment Management and the parent company Oppenheimer Funds, on behalf of investors who lost millions in the recent Madoff downfall. The firm is investigating potential breach of fiduciary duties and other legal obligations to clients who invested in Tremont Funds, specifically the Rye Select Fund (“The Rye Fund”) and Tremont Capital. [Read more]

Aimee
Aim for Answers

Here’s a bit of my Saturday reading on Madoff and his mess.  From folks obsessed to fights in Palm Beach, all the sorted tales are revealed.

• Superrich Madoff Investors Fight At Trump Palm Beach Party. (THE BUSINESS SHEET)
• Billionaire Madoff Victim: Bernie Was Anxious Last Month. (THE BUSINESS SHEET)
• PETER DAVIS’ STATUS UPDATE: WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S (PAPERMAG)
• How Long Has This Been Going On? (CLUSTERSTOCK)
• Innocence Lost (Portfolio) 
• Mr. Madoff’s Secrets (NO MORE CORPORATE SECRETS)

NewsDaily: Charity Picower says closes from Madoff losses

(2008-12-20) — The Picower Foundation, a charity that supports programs ranging from medical research to education, said it was shutting down because of losses from investments with Bernard Madoff.

If I turn myself into the police, will I get locked up in a $7 million dollar upper east side apartment too?

So who’s really paying for his [security] guards?  If his wife wrote a check, doesn’t that actually mean that his victims are paying to protect him?

Hey Mr. Madoff:  All these charities, Really? You suck !!!

Aimee
“Aim for Answers”