Madoffs Victims
By Barry Ritholtz - December 15th, 2008, 7:30AM
A partial list of Bernard Madoff’s alleged ponzi scam victims
| Madoff Investor | Investor Type | Possible Losses | Source |
| Fairfield Greenwich Group | alternatives firm | $7.5 billion | firm statement |
| Banco Santander | bank | $3.5 billion | El Pais |
| Kingate Management | alternatives firm | $2.8 billion | Bloomerg News |
| Ascot Partners | hedge fund | $1.8 billion | Wall Street Journal |
| Benbassat & Cie | bank | $935 million | Le Temps |
| Union Bancaire Privee | bank | $846 million | Le Temps |
| Fix Asset Management | alternatives firm | $400 million | firm statement |
| Pioneer Alternative Investments | alternatives firm | $280 million | Bloomberg |
| Maxam Capital Management | fund of hedge funds | $280 million | WSJ |
| EIM Group | bank | $230 million | Le Temps |
| Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation | charity | $145 million | Boston Globe |
| Vincent Tchenguiz | individual | $61 million | The Telegraph |
| Banque Benedict Hentsch | bank | $47.5 million | firm statement |
| Town of Fairfield, Conn. | pension fund | $42 million | Associated Press |
| Reichmuth Matterhorn | bank | $33 million | Le Temps |
| Bramdean Asset Management | alternatives firm | $31 million | WSJ |
| Madoff Family Foundation | charity | $19 million | WSJ |
| Richard Spring | individual | $11 million | WSJ |
| Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation | charity | $8 million | Washington Post |
| Chais Family Foundation | charity | $7 million | WSJ |
| Julian J. Levitt Foundation | charity | $6 million | WSJ |
| Neue Privat Bank | bank | $5 million | Bloomberg |
| North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System | pension fund | $5 million | statement |
| Ira Roth | individual | $1 million | WSJ |
| Steven Abbott | individual | less than $1 million | WSJ |
| Access International Advisors | hedge fund | n/a | firm statement |
| Banco Popolare | bank | n/a | MarketWatch |
| BNP Paribas | bank | n/a | WSJ |
| Norman Braman | individual | n/a | WSJ |
| Lautenberg Family Foundation | charity | n/a | AP |
| Loeb family | family office | n/a | CNBC |
| Nomura | bank | n/a | WSJ |
| Notz, Stucki & Cie | bank | n/a | Le Temps |
| Optimal Investment Services | alternatives firm | n/a | Bloomerg |
| Palm Beach Country Club | country club | n/a | CNBC |
| Sterling Equities | investment firm | n/a | firm statement |
| Tremont Capital Management | fund of hedge funds | n/a | WSJ |
| Thyssen family | family office | n/a | Clusterstock.com |
| UniCredit | financial firm | n/a | MarketWatch |
| Lawrence Velvel | individual | n/a | WSJ |
| Wilpon family | family office | n/a | WSJ |
| Yeshiva University | university endowment | n/a | WSJ |
Hat tip: Fin Alternatives
December 15th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Some of these dummies deserve it. Again, some of these jokers had all their money in one place. The finanace managers of these places should be jailed for lack of common sense.
I’m starting to get short this morning. IWM Jan $55 put. Will start at $8.50. Looking for the next 6 weeks to be downward. IWM back to $42 ish. S&P around 810.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:26 am
@jmborchers:
Some of these dummies deserve it?
December 15th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Bruce,
either the fund manager who decided to put 100% of what they had with him or the individual who put 100% of what they had in one place deserves it. Yes.
There is no excuse for this kind of incompetence.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I think we need to start a pool on whether this is the biggest scam arising from the hedge bubble that will come to light.
I put the over at $100 billion and I’m taking the over.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:17 am
jm:
It may not be excusable, but no one “deserves” to lose this kind of money. Women walk alone in the dark too, but if something tragic happens they didn’t deserve it…
What about the people who were 100% in stocks and now have lost 40-50% of their savings? Did they deserve what has happened to them?….easy on the judgments…
December 15th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Bruce,
If you had 100% in a single stock that’s very different than being diversified. find it amazing that after the internet bubble, enron and all the other disasters people still haven’t learned a lesson about sticking money all in one place.
December 15th, 2008 at 9:52 am
There’s an investor named “Ira Roth”? Really?
December 15th, 2008 at 10:01 am
What does this mean for the stasis of Ivy Leaguers (and more importantly, Ivy League Schools) who worked for these firms as risk assessors?
http://zignalsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/wisdom-of-harvard-mba.html
It doesn’t pay to be stupid.
DJF
December 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I wasn’t able to get the price I was looking on IWMMC but those 2 trades are mine (9.15 and 9.40). Looking to sell at $11.40 and $12.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Fairfield Greenwich Group
As of November 1, 2008, assets under management at FGG totaled approximately $14.1
billion, of which approximately $7.5 billion was invested in vehicles connected to
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
Partners:
* Walter Noel
* Jeffrey Tucker
* Andrés Piedrahita
* Richard Landsberger
* Lourdes Barreneche
* Cornelis Boele
* Matthew C. Brown
* Yanko Della Schiava
* Harold Greisman
* Jacqueline Harary
* Vianney d’Hendecourt
* David B. Horn
* Daniel Lipton
* Julia Luongo
* Mark McKeefry
* Charles Murphy
* Maria Teresa Pulido Mendoza
* Santiago Reyes
* Andrew Smith
* Philip Toub
* Amit Vijayvergiya
FGG’s due diligence process is deeper and broader than a typical Fund of Funds, resembling that of an asset management company acquiring another asset manager, rather than a passive investor entering a disposable investment.
FGG’s legal, compliance, and accounting teams specialize in investment management regulation, securities compliance, corporate operations, and tax issues. Hedge fund managers function within an ever more complex legal and regulatory landscape, and the role of this part of the diligence exam is to determine the seriousness of any deficiencies in this area which may cause risk of sanction, loss, or reputational embarrassment.
Both in-house and retained legal professionals interview the management and staff of the manager, research regulatory filings, and review corporate organizational documents, as well as fund memoranda and related material contracts.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I should be grateful if you could correct the erroneous assertion that Vincent Tchenguiz has a possible loss of $61m as a result of Bernard Madoff’s alleged activities. This figure is incorrect on a number of levels and is being picked up from your website and repeated elsewhere.
Mr Tchenguiz has no direct exposure to the alleged Madoff scam. Elsina Ltd, whose ultimate beneficial owner is the Tchenguiz Family Trust, which is advised by Vincent Tchenguiz’s Consensus Business Group, has a 29.9% holding in Bramdean Alternatives Ltd (“Bramdean”. You list Bramdean’s possible loss separately and you are therefore double counting.
Bramdean announced on Friday 12th December that it “has two holdings that maintain trading accounts with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“Madoff”), Defender Ltd. and Rye Select Broad Market XL Portfolio Ltd., representing approximately 9.5% of” Bramdean’s net asset value as at 31st October 2008 (US$220,245,659 ).
Therefore Elsina Ltd is, arguably exposed to 29.9% of 9.5% of US$220,245,659 – which is $6,256,077. However, as one invests in the shares of a company, not in its net asset value, even this calculation is spurious.
Please amend your table accordingly.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I certainly wouldn’t say they deserve it, the entire situation is just sad. They just had a couple in their 70s on CNBC who had their entire savings with Madoff. I just find myself thinking “Why, why, why?!”.
This keeps happening. Massive frauds and people who had their savings in a single company or with a single manager. Why will someone work for 50 years to build up a nest egg then trust it all to a single person? They can’t take some time out of that 50 years to read some basic investment guides and learn to manage at least a portion of their own money? These same people are probably very dilligent about making sure their car, house and life insurance are up to date. If completely defies logic.
Nobody cares about your interests more than you, end of story. Some of these people are outright crooks. Some start out honest, but all of us are honest only up to a point – what varies is the point. For example, if my daughter gets sick and with all other possibilities exhausted it comes down to steal your money or let her die, your money is gone. Whatever that makes me, it is what it is.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am
The information that I posted comes from Fairfield Greenwich Groups website. This post does not relate to the SLB’s post above.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Okay. No one “deserves” but they certainly were asking for it. Never invest in one place. Ever. Even for a fund that’s supposed to be diversified.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am
In the meantime, I wonder how many other money managers got redemption calls today.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I think they need to bring back public hangings… many would think twice before ruining families.
And what’s this, he’s out on $10M bail? His bail should be equal or above what he swindled!
He’ll die of old age before he goes to the slammer.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
a little off topic, but what is the reason for the massive decrease in foreign purchases last month? Do these numbers fluctuate this much, or is this evidence of severe foreign contraction?
http://briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm
Net Foreign Purchases
December 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
agree with what going broke said above. and let me add a HAHAHAHA.
is it a law of nature that more money equals more stupidity?
i don’t believe in any meritocracy at all anymore. these people who lost their money are supposedly in their positions of power because of their merit? yeah right.
December 15th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I guess the “smart money” wasn’t so smart this time… I think this was a ring, the feeder funds are going to be crucified by the forensic accountants.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Why did I have the strange idea that SIPC didn’t protect in the case of fraud?
Why did the SIPC ask the court for coverage?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_arrest;_ylt=AuN9laGjHNhwAmoSOu2Yjc8DW7oF
I guess these people are special and all, since they’re in the news paper, but will $500k each really do much for them? Are they planning on some other way to game the system and get even more?
December 16th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Why did these people have so much in one spot? Because the returns were the best there, simple as that. When you bet on the horse that pays the most, you aren’t the victim if it loses. In this case they were the participants in fact, and some may end up in jail too.
High return == high risk, and high *always* means you can lose everything. That is a lot different than getting raped walking home, sorry.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:31 am
To put it a little less harshly.. : )
If that sweet old couple had pulled their money out last year, and now was asked to give back the (unreasonable and criminal) profits they had made in the fund, they would have a lawyer handy in about 30 seconds. Suddenly the ‘unfair loss at the hands of a criminal’ would become ‘profit earned in good faith that rewarded our risk’. The weepy couple would be shrill and righteous. It is the same transaction, so you can’t have it both ways. If you deserve your profits, you deserve your losses.
We can still feel sorry for them, they are human and they lost some money, whatever. Personally I’d rather feel sorry for people that never had any money (…and if they weren’t all so damn happy I would).
December 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
mark Says:
December 15th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I think we need to start a pool on whether this is the biggest scam arising from the hedge bubble that will come to light.
I put the over at $100 billion and I’m taking the over.
mark,
you’ve already won, see TARP..
December 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
It seems a little silly to spend much time on this one guy, this one fund…
WHEN THE ENTIRE AMERICAN FINANCIAL SYSTEM WAS ONE BIG PONZI SCHEME
In interesting, but insignificant, sideshow.
No?
December 17th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Why would he bilk his own family foundation (unless the foundation is another family member’s).
Just wonderin’….