Andrew H. Madoff, son of convicted financier Bernie Madoff, dies at 48

Andrew Madoff had been battling mantle cell lymphoma. He was 48.

Madoff’s eldest son, Mark Madoff, committed suicide in 2010 after being unable to cope with the disgrace of the huge Ponzi scheme his father had orchestrated. Bernard Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

Andrew Madoff, who ran the market-making business of the Madoff broker-dealer operation, had long claimed that he never knew that his father’s investment firm was bogus and would cause some $18 billion in losses. He said that he and his brother turned in their father in December 2008 after Bernard Madoff confessed to them as the scam fell apart amid the financial crisis. Andrew Madoff remained adamant that he would never forgive his father, but he did reconcile with his mother, Ruth Madoff, after she cut off ties with Bernard.

Still, questions have always lingered about what Andrew Madoff did know. He was never charged with committing a crime, but there had recently been reports that a federal criminal investigation was still looking into Andrew Madoff’s involvement with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. As part of his lawsuit against Andrew Madoff, Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee of the investment firm, this summer claimed Andrew Madoff and his brother created phony accounts and received payments disguised as loans.

A photo from 2011 shows Andrew Madoff with his fiancee Catherine Hooper and his mother Ruth.

Andrew Madoff is pictured with his daughters, Anne and Emily, from his first marriage

“As Madoff’s sons, the Madoff Brothers had special access to information about BLMIS’s operations and activities, including their own investment accounts, which demonstrated the company was engaged in fraud,” Picard claimed. “They knew of, and willfully blinded themselves to, the clear indicia of fraudulent activity in BLMIS’s IA Business for their personal benefit.”

Andrew Madoff, however, always denied such accusations and consistently blamed his father for destroying their family. “Even on my deathbed I will never forgive him for what he did,” Andrew Madoff said.

Picower Estate Said to Pay $7.2 Billion in Biggest Madoff Fraud Settlement

The estate of Jeffry Picower, an investor with imprisoned con man Bernard Madoff, agreed to pay $7.2 billion to recover money he made from the fraud.

Picower’s estate will pay $5 billion to Irving Picard, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s firm, and $2.2 billion to U.S. authorities, according to two people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the settlement isn’t public. Picard has recovered $2.5 billion for other investors to date.

The $7.2 billion represents the entire amount that Picard sought in a May 2009 lawsuit claiming Picower should have known Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme. Picard has filed hundreds of suits against banks, feeder funds, investors and others alleged to have profited from Madoff’s decades-long fraud.

Picower, a billionaire, had a heart attack and drowned in his swimming pool in Palm Beach, Florida, in October 2009. He was 67. Picard claimed Picower, his charitable foundation and related entities withdrew $7.2 billion from Madoff’s firm over 20 years, including $2.4 billion in the six years before Madoff’s arrest.

William Zabel, an attorney for Picower’s widow Barbara, said in August that the settlement range was between $2.4 billion and $7.2 billion. Zabel didn’t return calls seeking comment. Picard and Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in New York, declined to comment.

Bharara and Picard will announce the settlement today at 12 p.m.

Bank Medici

This month, Picard sued Bank Medici AG and its founder, Sonja Kohn, as well as Bank Austria, UniCredit SpA and dozens of other parties. He is seeking $19.6 billion from them, which could triple to $58.8 billion under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

In a settlement announced Dec. 8, the family of Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro agreed to pay back $625 million in Madoff profits. Under the agreement, the Shapiros agreed to pay $550 million to Picard for distribution to Madoff creditors. The family also agreed to pay $75 million to the Justice Department, which named Picard as special master to distribute the funds.

The deadline for Picard to file claims expired Dec. 11, the two-year anniversary of when Madoff confessed the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. He is serving a 150-year prison term.

In Picower’s will, dated 10 days before he died, Picower left $200 million in cash to his wife. He also left $25 million to his daughter, Gabrielle Picower, and about $15 million to 20 other beneficiaries. The unspecified remainder is to go to charity.

From Forbes 

#371 Jeffry Picower - The Forbes 400 Richest Americans 2009

Net Worth $1,000 million	Source investments, Self Made
Age 67	Hometown Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Marital Status Married	Education (Brooklyn Law School, Doctor of Jurisprudence ), (Columbia U, Master of Business Administration ), (Penn State U, Bachelor of Arts / Science )

Former New York lawyer and accountant likely worth billions more; alleged to have extracted billions of dollars from Bernard Madoff's fund before it collapsed. He and his foundation are named in a lawsuit by the liquidator for Madoff's investment business, who is seeking to recover funds allegedly obtained through "fraudulent activity." In motion to dismiss, Picower claims if he knew Madoff was a fraud he would not have transferred money into Madoff accounts. Last December Picower Foundation shut down after losing its $1 billion endowment in the Ponzi scheme; charity had given millions to MIT, Human Rights First and the New York Public Library. Made first fortune selling medical device maker Alaris 2004; netted nearly $1 billion.

Son of Bernard Madoff is found dead of apparent suicide in New York City

On the two year anniversary of Bernie Madoff's confession, his son Mark Madoff has been found dead in a suicide.

Officers were called to 158 Mercer Street to respond to a report that Mark Madoff was hanging in his apartment in Manhattan's fashionable SoHo section.

He was found at 7:30 a.m. by his father-in-law, said police sources.

There was no note, the sources said.

Both Mark and his brother Andrew worked at the firm.


A law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mark Madoff was found hanged in his apartment, and his father-in-law notified police around 7:30 a.m.
Mark Madoff and his brother, Andrew, have not faced any criminal charges in the massive Ponzi scheme that led to Bernard Madoff's prison sentence, but were under investigation.

Madoff's sons, Mark, 46, and Andrew, 43, as well as his brother Peter, 60, are the target of a criminal tax-fraud investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan,  as well as a civil suit brought by the court-appointed trustee in charge of recovering assets for Madoff victims.

It's unclear what alleged tax fraud federal prosecutors are investigating, although such cases commonly deal with alleged failures to declare income or false deductions, such as deducting personal expenses as business costs. David Friehling, who pleaded guilty last year to preparing false tax returns for Bernie Madoff and signing off on fake audit reports for the firm, is assisting with the investigation.

All three men are former tax clients of Friehling. A separate civil suit filed in October by Irving Picard, the trustee, seeks $200 million in damages from Madoff family members who worked at the firm and alleges that Peter, Mark, and Andrew each withdrew $16 to $18 million from their firm accounts in "brazenly fabricated transactions." The civil suit also charges that the three should have recognized irregularities as evidence of Madoff's fraud.

Bernard Madoff swindled a long list of investors out of billions of dollars and is serving a 150-year prison term in North Carolina. He was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008, after confessing his crimes to his family.

Madoff's sons, according to the family's attorneys, were the ones who turned him in.

The scandal put a harsh light on members of the family. The financier's brother, Peter, played a prominent role in the family's company. Mark and Andrew Madoff both worked on a trading desk at the firm, on a side of the business that wasn't directly involved in the Ponzi scheme.

A year ago, the court-appointed trustee trying to unravel Madoff's financial affairs sued several relatives, including Peter, Mark and Andrew, accusing them of failing to detect the fraud while living lavish lifestyles financed with the family's ill-gotten fortune.

The lawsuit accused Mark Madoff of using $66 million he received improperly to buy luxury homes in New York City, Nantucket and Connecticut.

In February, Mark Madoff's wife petitioned a court to change her last name and the last names of her children, saying her family had gotten threats and was humiliated by the scandal.

Mark Madoff in 2005, at his father’s firm in New York.

Madoff Firm Trustee Sues Bank Medici Before Deadline

(Bloomberg) -- The trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s investment firm, facing a deadline today for filing so- called clawback lawsuits to help victims of Madoff’s fraud, sued Bank Medici AG and its founder, Sonja Kohn, for $58.8 billion.

Irving Picard, the trustee, has filed hundreds of suits in the past month, seeking more than $34 billion from banks, feeder funds, investors and others alleged to have profited from Madoff’s decades-long Ponzi scheme, the biggest in history. So far, Picard has recovered about $2.5 billion.

The lawsuit names Kohn, Bank Medici, Bank Austria, UniCredit SpA and dozens of other parties. It seeks $19.6 billion tripled to $58.8 billion under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. It’s the biggest claim filed by Picard, who has sued investors, banks, so-called feeder funds and others for money to pay investors with valid claims.

Kohn, 62, whom Picard called Madoff’s “criminal soul mate,” used a relationship with the con man that began in 1985 to help build the Vienna-based bank, feeding more than $9.1 billion of investor money into his company, Picard said yesterday in a complaint in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

“The illegal scheme enriched Kohn, her family, and scores of other individuals and entities, including the largest banks in Austria and Italy, at the expense of the BLMIS estate and on the backs of Madoff’s victims,” Picard said in court papers, referring to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Higher Returns

In the 153-page complaint against Kohn, Picard claimed she told investors she was very close to Madoff and could deliver higher returns on investments made through his firm. Instead, Madoff was secretly paying Kohn, who knew Madoff was running a fraud, to funnel money into the Ponzi scheme, Picard said.

According to the trustee, Kohn ran her own complex scheme centered on Bank Medici, parts of which overlapped with Madoff’s own fraudulent enterprise, delivering $9.1 billion into the Ponzi scheme. They funneled $4 billion of the total through feeder funds including Primeo Fund, Thema International, Herald Fund Alpha Prime Fund, Senator Fund and Herald (Lux), which placed all of their investors’ money with Madoff, according to Picard.

Shortly before Madoff confessed, in December 2008, Kohn withdrew $536 million from Madoff’s firm, Picard said, and took steps to hide her connection to the money manager.

Bank Austria

Bank Medici operated as a branch of Bank Austria, which administered its accounts, according to Picard. In return, Bank Austria, which is named as a defendant, was paid at least $31 million.

Bank Medici renamed itself 2020 Medici AG after Austria’s Financial Markets Authority withdrew the company’s banking license because of insufficient capital in May 2009.

Andreas Theiss, a lawyer for Kohn, didn’t respond to a call to his cell phone or an e-mail seeking comment.

“Our attorneys are reviewing the matter and we will manage this through the normal course legal process,” UniCredit said in an e-mailed statement on behalf of itself, Bank Austria and its fund management unit Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA, which is also a defendant. “We intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”

Former UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo, who was ousted from the Italian lender in September, is also named as a defendant in the suit.

“The allegations are completely unfounded and will be defended vigorously,” said a spokesman for Profumo.

150-Year Prison Sentence

Madoff, 72, who pleaded guilty, is serving a 150-year sentence in federal prison in North Carolina.

At the time of his arrest, his financial statements reflected 4,900 accounts with $65 billion in nonexistent balances. Investors lost about $20 billion in principal.

HSBC Holdings Plc was sued this month for $9 billion by Picard, who alleged Europe’s biggest lender enabled Madoff’s fraud. Picard previously sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $6.4 billion over claims the New York-based bank aided and abetted the fraud.

Earlier this week, Citigroup Inc.’s Citibank, Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and five other banks were sued by the trustee to recover more than $1 billion.

The banks, which include Natixis SA, Fortis Prime Fund Solutions Bank (Ireland) Ltd., ABN Amro Bank NV, Nomura Bank International Plc. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, received money through Madoff feeder funds when they knew, or should have known, that Madoff’s investments were a fraud, Picard said in a statement at the time.

UBS, Tremont

Picard also sued UBS AG and Tremont Group Holdings Inc., the hedge-fund firm owned by Oppenheimer Acquisition Corp., over claims they profited from Madoff’s fraud. Picard, along with the liquidators of Madoff’s U.K. operation, sued the unit’s former directors in a London court seeking at least $80 million.

All of the banks have denied wrongdoing and vowed to fight the lawsuits.

Also this week, one of Bernard Madoff’s first clients, along with 19 family members, settled potential lawsuits by agreeing to forfeit $625 million in profits from the con man’s investment fraud.

Carl Shapiro, a Boston-based philanthropist, held an account with Madoff’s firm beginning in 1961. His son-in-law, Robert Jaffe, is the former vice president of Cohmad Securities Corp., a feeder fund that shared offices with Madoff’s firm.

Picard also sued the owners of the New York Mets baseball team for the return of profits earned from their Madoff investments. The defendants and Picard confirmed they are in settlement talks.

Public Accountants

Yesterday, Picard said in a statement that he sued Frank Avellino and Michael Bienes, two certified public accountants, as well as family members, for more than $900 million, seeking money they withdrew from Madoff’s firm. Picard called Avellino and Bienes “among the earliest enablers” of Madoff.

Picard announced yesterday that he had settled for more than $80 million against a group of charities and non-profit organizations that profited from their Madoff investments.

One settlement announced, with Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America Inc., will add $45 million for distribution to Madoff victims, Picard said in the statement.

Hadassah’s former finance chief, Sheryl Weinstein, wrote in a book published last year about an affair she had with Madoff.

The case is Picard v. Kohn, 10-5411, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Madoff’s Home in Palm Beach Sells for $5.65 Million

(Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff’s Palm Beach, Florida, home sold today for $5.65 million, a third less than its original asking price, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.

The five-bedroom, seven-bath property at 410 North Lake Way was listed for sale in September 2009 for $8.49 million. By August of this year, the price had been reduced to $6.5 million, according to real estate website Zillow.com.

The house is the last of three Madoff homes that the U.S. government sold to pay restitution to victims of his Ponzi scheme, the largest ever. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina.

“We will continue to dispose of the remaining assets with the goal of receiving maximum gain for the victims of this crime,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Roland Ubaldo said in an e-mail today.

An auction of Madoff’s personal property, including jewelry, art and antiques, will be held in New York on Nov. 13, Ubaldo said. The items include a grand piano and a diamond ring of about 10 karats, he said.

The 8,753-square-foot (813-square-meter) Florida house was purchased in 1994 for $3.8 million under the name of Madoff’s wife, Ruth, according to the deed. Its appraised value was $9.4 million in 2008, Palm Beach County records show.

Madoff’s 3,000-square-foot home on Old Montauk Highway, on the east end of New York’s Long Island, sold in October 2009 for $9.41 million. His penthouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was purchased in May for $8 million, according to property website StreetEasy.com.

Corcoran Group, a New York-based brokerage, marketed the Palm Beach and Long Island homes for the Marshals Service, and represented the buyer of the Manhattan penthouse. Buyers for all three properties were selected by the Marshals Service. Ubaldo declined to identify the buyer of the Palm Beach property.

Madoff trustee sues family entities

(Reuters) - The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's investment firm late on Thursday filed three lawsuits against entities affiliated with family members of the imprisoned swindler, accusing them of taking nearly $200 million of investor cash to fund "lavish lifestyles."

The lawsuits filed in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan collectively seek to recover more than $30 million, and are the latest effort by the trustee Irving Picard to recoup assets to be distributed to victims of Madoff's estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

One of the cases was filed against a family fund, another against a business that owned oil and gas properties, and a third was against a trading-related business.

In the complaint against the family fund, Picard accused Madoff's brother Peter, sons Andrew and Mark, and niece Shana of failing to perform their senior management duties at Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the center of the patriarch's fraud.

"While acting in complete dereliction of their management responsibilities to BLMIS, Peter, Andrew, Mark and Shana were also among the unlawful recipients of close to $200 million of BLMIS customer funds which they used to fund lavish lifestyles," lawyers for Picard alleged in one of the lawsuits.

Bernard Madoff, 72, pleaded guilty in March 2009 to running a decades-long Ponzi scheme. He is serving a 150-year sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

Trustee could sue 1,000 Madoff investors

(Reuters) - The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's asset management firm might sue about 1,000 former clients of the now-imprisoned swindler who he believes made a profit on their investments.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee, "could sue" about half of the estimated 2,000 former Madoff clients whom he considers "net winners," or those who withdrew more money than they put in, a spokesman said.

Picard has until December to file such "clawback" lawsuits, marking the two-year anniversary of Madoff's December 11, 2008 arrest and the start of criminal and civil proceedings.

While Picard would prefer to settle, "we have received few responses, if any, to our overtures," the spokesman said.

Many so-called "net winners" consider themselves victims of Madoff's estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme and have argued that clawback lawsuits will increase their financial pain.

They contend that, while they may have taken out more money than they deposited while investing with Madoff, they suffered losses when the fraud was exposed.

Bernie Madoff cited as risk in Santander documents

Spanish banking group Santander had suspicions over the activities of investment fraudster Bernie Madoff in 2006, internal documents have revealed.

The details emerged at a court in Miami where a class action lawsuit has been filed against the financial services provider.

According to the report, made by Optimal Investment Services, a Swiss division of the bank, the activities of Mr Madoff and his business were “shrouded in secrecy” while there was no independent assessment of trading processes in place.

Santander and its investors lost $3.2 billion in the fraud perpetrated by Mr Madoff.

In the report, Optimal said: “Madoff Securities is a privately-owned family business which ... increases the possibility of collusion."

However, the study concluded that “despite the above, we believe the organisation is efficiently and professionally managed”.

The case in Miami has been launched by a group of investors in Optimal, who claim the bank should have done more to protect them from Mr Madoff and his activities.

Bernie Madoff has been jailed for 150 years for heading up the Ponzi scheme, which cost investors an estimated total of $65 billion.

BNY Mellon unit faces Bernie Madoff-related fraud charges

A division of Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon has been hit with fraud charges related to investments tied to disgraced Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernie Madoff.

Ivy Investment Management has been made subject to charges from New York's attorney general office, which published a 50-page civil complaint against the BNY Mellon unit.

It is alleged that Ivy Investment Management decided in 1998 that it should no longer put any of it clients' money with Madoff, after concluding that he was not investing the funds in the way they were advertised to investors, reports the Financial Times.

However, the company is then said to have decided it did not wish to lose its fee incomes from clients with investments with Madoff and as a result took no action to inform investors of its concerns.

Between 1998 and 2008, Ivy Asset Management made around $40 million in client fees tied to Madoff vehicles, the complaint alleges.

When Madoff's multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme was uncovered that year, Ivy Asset Management customers lost $227 million between them.

Andrew Cuomo, New York's attorney general, said: "Ivy and its former co-principals saw the trouble with Madoff coming around the bend, but instead of guiding their clients through the financial waters, they sold them down the river.

"They shamelessly profited off of their own clients' impending misfortune and we are holding them accountable for their actions."

BNY Mellon, which took over Ivy in 2000, said it intends to defend itself against the allegations and stated that most of those with money in the Madoff vehicles were professional investors who had enough experience to make their own decisions.

In March, a court in Luxembourg ruled that victims of Madoff who had money in the LuxAlpha investment fund could not sue UBS.

The bank had helped set up the fund but the court told investors who were aiming to make claims against UBS for neglecting its management duties that they should instead seek redress via the liquidators of LuxAlpha.

Madoff Aide Daniel Bonventre Is Indicted for Fraud

(Bloomberg) -- Bernard M. Madoff’s ex-operations chief, who was arrested last month, was indicted by a federal grand jury for helping his boss run a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors and illegally infused $750 million into parts of the business that Madoff insisted was legitimate.

Daniel Bonventre, 63, is the sixth person charged in the largest-ever U.S. Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors and regulators said he was a key aide to Frank DiPascali, the Madoff lieutenant who is helping the government unravel a fraud that cost investors billions of dollars.

Bonventre’s indictment follows charges against Madoff, DiPascali, Madoff accountant David G. Friehling, 50, and two computer operators, Jerome O’Hara and George Perez. O’Hara and Perez were previously indicted, and their case was joined to Bonventre’s in today’s indictment.

Bonventre is free on a $5 million bond. He lived in Queens, New York, while working at Manhattan-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. His attorney, Andrew Frisch, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. Frisch previously denied Bonventre did anything wrong.

The case is U.S. v. Bonventre, 10-cr-228, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

LuxAlpha Madoff victims barred from suing UBS

Victims of Ponzi fraudster Bernard Madoff who invested in the LuxAlpha fund have been told they can not sue UBS, the bank which helped set up the investment vehicle, a court in Luxembourg has ruled.

The ruling was made in a test case involving ten claimants following the filing of more than 100 lawsuits against UBS alleging that it neglected its duties in the management of the fund.

It was ruled that victims must instead seek claims via the liquidators of the fund.

Tatiana Togni, a spokeswoman for the Swiss bank, said: "UBS welcomes the clarification of Luxembourg law as expressed by today's decisions of the Luxembourg Commercial Court."

Last month, UBS reported profits levels of $1.1 billion for the final three months of 2009.

Chief executive officer Oswald Gruebel has set the bank an annual target of pre-tax profits of $15 billion – a figure he wishes UBS to achieve by 2014.

Ex-operations director of Madoff Securities, Daniel Bonventre, arrested

The director of operations for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities was arrested Thursday morning for his role in defrauding investors out of tens billions of dollars in wealth.

Daniel Bonventre was arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with securities fraud, falsifying books and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. The falsification of accounts was chronicled in Securities Industry News in November.

Bernie Madoff family members under investigation for tax fraud

Bernie Madoff's brother and his two sons are under investigation for alleged tax fraud, it has been reported.

Insider sources told the Wall Street Journal that Peter Madoff, the brother of the notorious Ponzi scheme fraudster, and sons Andrew and Mark Madoff are under investigation from US prosecutors.

Peter Madoff was chief compliance officer of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities, while the two sons helped run the company's market-making unit, which was not involved in the multi-billion Ponzi scheme.

However, the nature of the alleged offences has not been revealed, while representatives of the three men have denied they had any knowledge of fraudulent activities.

Last September, the three men, along with a niece of Bernie Madoff, were targeted in a $198 million lawsuit pertaining to the Ponzi scheme.

The court-appointed trustee Irving Picard claimed that all four of them held executive positions within the firm and should have known about the fraud, which went on for 20 years.

"Whether or not they have a criminal problem we will pursue them as far as we can pursue them," said Mr Picard at the time.

"If that leads to bankrupting them - then that's what will happen."

Book : Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff

When Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme unraveled at the end of 2008, many in the industry wondered how he did it, how otherwise savvy investors were lured into it, and how regulators failed to stop it. These are the questions that Erin Arvedlund attempts to answer in her book “Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff.”


The book explores Madoff’s background, interviewing classmates from his days at Far Rockaway High School in New York, who noted that Bernie was an average guy who they never dreamed would ascend to titan of Wall Street and chairman of the Nasdaq. She also discusses Madoff’s involvement in the early development of electronic trading, including the Nasdaq and the Cincinnati Stock Exchange, an all-electronic stock market that actually moved to Chicago through a membership deal with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in 1995.


The book goes on to explain how Madoff carried out his Ponzi scheme through his illegal advisory business with the help of the legal side of his business, a brokerage firm. Both businesses were on three floors of the same building. Arvedlund’s descriptions of how the activity on the broker-dealer business on the eighteenth and nineteenth floors differed from the advisory business on the seventeenth are fascinating. It’s amazing how Madoff was able to get away with mailing his investors tickets for trades supposedly made on their behalf that never actually happened. The book explains that instead of actually trading for the advisory business, he would take investors money, deposit it into a bank account, and send it back to earlier investors.

One of the more amusing accounts in the book is the story of Salomon Konig, a money manager who is essentially in exile in the United States after running a mini Ponzi scheme in Venezuela. Konig would ask any fund of hedge funds he considered doing business with if they had any money in Madoff, and if they did, he would not deal with them. As another of Arvedlund’s interviewees points out, “it takes a crook to smell another crook.”

“Too Good to Be True” is an informative account of how Madoff carried out his scheme, how he lured in his victims, how industry experts raised alerts about it, and, ultimately, how the investigations into it failed. Anyone who is interested in this Ponzi scheme to end all Ponzi schemes will find it a worthwhile read.

Madoff associate Jeffry Picower dies at 67

Jeffry Picower benefited greatly from Ivan Boesky's fraud in 1980s and made about $6 billion from Bernie Madoff's scheme.

Jeffry Picower, a philanthropist accused of profiting more than $7 billion from the investment schemes of his longtime friend Bernard Madoff, was found at the bottom of the pool at his oceanside mansion and died Sunday, police said. He was 67.

Picower's wife discovered his body and pulled him from the water with help from a housekeeper, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Medical Center at about 1:30 p.m.

Palm Beach police are investigating the death as a drowning, but have not ruled out anything on the cause of death.

Picower suffered from Parkinson's disease and had "heart-related issues," said family attorney William D. Zabel. He described Picower's health as "poor."

Picower's body showed no visible injuries, said Joseph Sekula, spokesman for the Palm Beach Fire Department.

"There wasn't anything noted as far as trauma or anything to the body," he said, adding that "it did appear that he was swimming because he was wearing swimming trunks."

Detectives were still at the home more than six hours after the initial 911 call. The iron gate to his long driveway was open and several Palm Beach police cars were parked near the mansion. The home and property is worth more than $33 million, according to the county property appraiser's records.

Picower had been accused by jilted investors of being the biggest beneficiary of Madoff's schemes.

In a lawsuit to recover Madoff's assets, trustee Irving Picard demanded Picower return more than $7 billion in bogus profits. In an e-mailed statement Sunday, Picard said only that "litigation will continue."

Zabel, the Picower family attorney, said in a statement that "there was progress towards a settlement with the trustee."

Picower and his wife started the Picower Foundation in 1989, which has given millions to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Human Rights First and the New York Public Library. It also funded diabetes research at Harvard Medical School.

The foundation, whose assets were managed by Madoff, said in its 2007 tax return its investment portfolio was valued at nearly $1 billion.

After the Madoff scandal broke in December, the Picower foundation said it would have to cease grant-making and would be forced to close.

But the trustee's lawyer said Picower's claims that he was a victim "ring hollow" because he withdrew more of other investors' money than anyone else during three decades and should have noticed signs of fraud.

According to the lawyers, Picower's accounts were "riddled with blatant and obvious fraud," and he should have recognized that because he was a sophisticated investor.

Picower had asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, saying it was unsupported by the facts.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after he admitted losing billions of dollars for thousands of clients over a half-century career that saw him rise to be a Nasdaq chairman. Madoff's attorney, Ira Sorkin, did not respond to a request for comment.

Jonathan Landers, an attorney representing a large group of victims, said in an e-mail that it was impossible to tell what effect Picower's death would have on efforts to recover funds lost in Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme.

"While there are allegations regarding his knowledge of the Madoff fraud and his possible liability to investors, none have been proven," he wrote. Landers added that even if such facts could be proved, Picower's "death could make it easier or more difficult to obtain and collect on claims."

"It may cause those who have control of his assets to fight harder because there is no longer any personal dignity or desire to settle and move on," he wrote.

Jerry Reisman, another attorney representing about 26 victims, said that Picower's death does make it more difficult for the trustee to recoup some of the money for the victims.

"We won't be able to hear from his own words whether he was complicit," Reisman said.

HSBC facing multiple lawsuits in Ireland over Madoff investment

HSBC Holdings is facing a potential 60 lawsuits in Ireland after investors lost money it had given to the bank in Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi fraud.

A Dublin court is to decide later this week whether investors can pursue a lawsuit against HSBC, which is alleged to have breached its custodian services to the clients.

It is claimed that HSBC Institutional Trust Services in Ireland used Madoff's investment securities subsidiary.

Earlier this year, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for masterminding the scheme.

His brother and his wife have also been named in separate lawsuits relating to the scam.

The largest claimant in the HSBC case is Thema International Fund, which is seeking around $1.5 billion for its investors.

Individual shareholders, including finance houses and foreign banks, have also launched claims against the bank.

HSBC spokesman Brendan McNamara told Bloomberg: "HSBC considers that it has good defenses to these claims and will continue to defend them vigorously."

Brawlin' Bernie: Madoff victorious in first prison fight

Bernie Madoff, after a heated debate with a fellow inmate over whether the stock market has actually bottomed out, reportedly got into his first altercation since being sentenced to 150 years in a Butner, N.C., federal prison.

Inmates who witnessed the fight told The New York Post that Mr. Madoff, who was sent to prison for bilking scores of investors out of $65 billion in a mammoth Ponzi scheme, clearly emerged as the victor.

"I didn't think Bernie had it in him. He got the best of him; he was really aggressive, and the other guy was in shock that he fought back," an inmate was quoted as saying in the report.

Mr. Madoff, 71, who was arguing with an inmate “over 60 years old,” was lucky that no prison guards observed the fight; otherwise, he "would have went in the 'hole,'” or solitary confinement, the report added.

Mr. Madoff's prison dust-up comes just a few weeks after R. Allen Stanford — who is accused of orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme of his own — was less fortunate in his first prison fight. Mr. Stanford was hospitalized after a row with an inmate that left him unconscious.

Perhaps helping his cause a bit, before Mr. Madoff's lock-up, he reportedly paid for a consultant to prep him for prison and offer "survival tips" for what's essentially a life sentence behind bars.

So it seems at least one investment Mr. Madoff made before hitting the slammer paid off somehow.

Madoff family to be sued over Ponzi scheme

Several members of Bernard Madoff's family are set to be sued for $198 million, according to the trustee who is winding down Madoff's company.

Trustee Irving Picard told CBS News that Madoff's brother, his two sons and a niece all held executive positions within the firm and should have known about the 20-year Ponzi scheme.

Bernard Madoff is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence after he admitted to masterminding the multi-billion dollar fraud, which saw investors paid with the money of new clients.

Mr Picard said the lawsuits filed against the Madoff family members accused them of negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and profiting personally from the crime.

"Whether or not they have a criminal problem we will pursue them as far as we can pursue them," he said.

"And if that leads to bankrupting them - then that's what will happen."

He estimated that around $18 billion of investors' money remained unrecovered.

Victims of the Ponzi scheme included director Steven Spielberg and talk show host Larry King.

Madoff's wife Ruth has been named in one of the 13 other lawsuits that Mr Picard and his lawyers have launched in an attempt to recover around $15 billion of the stolen funds.

But only $1.5 billion of the stolen money has been recovered so far.

Report highlights SEC's Madoff shortcomings

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) missed numerous opportunities to uncover the $65 billion fraud conducted by Bernard Madoff, an investigation has found.

According to a report by the SEC's inspector general David Kotz, Madoff's actions were not discovered even though the body conducted five probes into his operations.

"Despite numerous credible and detailed complaints, the SEC never properly examined or investigated Madoff's trading," Mr Kotz said in a statement, adding that staff missed "inconsistencies" that could have led to Madoff's capture.

Chairman of the SEC Mary Schapiro admitted that the body should have handled its investigations into Madoff better, stating that the shortcomings are a "failure that we continue to regret".

Madoff, 71, was sentenced to 150 years in prison for orchestrating the Ponzi scheme.

Last month, his chief financial officer Frank DiPascali confessed to being involved in the crime by pleading guilty to ten charges, confirming suspicions that Madoff did not act alone.

Three Madoff Homes to Be Auctioned Off

Three opulent homes owned by U.S. Ponzi scheme perpetrator Bernard Madoff will be auctioned off to help his victims, authorities say.

U.S. Marshal Service spokesman Roland Ubaldo said Friday that Madoff's cliffside summer home on New York's Long Island, a penthouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side and a palatial mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., would be sold to pay restitution to those who lost billions in the former financier's Ponzi scheme, The New York Daily News reported.

Together, the marshal service says, the homes are worth about $20 million.
"Our goal since day one is to maximize returns for the victims," Ubaldo said. "Obviously, our top priority is restitution for the victims."

Madoff this year pleaded guilty to a massive investment scam that affected pension plans, hedge funds, charities, celebrities and ordinary retirees $65 billion, the Daily News said.