Ponzi scheme

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Madoff HQ Was 'Coke-Fueled Animal House'

Ponzi kingpin now sharing cell with drug offender

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff ran the druggiest, most decadent securities fraud in town, according to court papers filed yesterday. Madoff's offices were so awash in cocaine—paid for with investors' money—that it was nicknamed "the North Pole," and the firm hosted drug-fueled parties featuring topless waitresses, according to a...

Madoff in Prison Yard Tussle
 Madoff in Prison Yard Tussle 
Oct 13, 2009 5:21 AM CDT

Madoff in Prison Yard Tussle

Bernie shoves another senior citizen in stock market argument

(Newser) - Scam king Bernie Madoff got into a shove match with another con during an argument about the stock market, according to jailbird witnesses. Another oldster con at the North Carolina fed pen where Bernie's serving 150 years shoved Madoff as the argument escalated. Madoff pushed back, causing the other inmate...

Madoff Trustee Sues Relatives for Not 'Doing Their Jobs'

$199M suit spreads blame to firm's execs

(Newser) - The trustee in the Bernie Madoff case, delivering on his threat to sue the imprisoned fraudster's relatives and co-workers, filed a $199 million lawsuit today in bankruptcy court. Rather than alleging that they knew about Bernie's Ponzi scheme, Irving Picard's complaint takes issue with the way brother Peter, sons Mark...

Ponzi Loot Puts Madoff Client Among Richest Americans

Picower made $7.2B, lands on Forbes list

(Newser) - Jeffry Picower is a secretive guy, which must have made his turn in the spotlight this week all the more uncomfortable. The former lawyer, who was already being sued for $5.1 billion in alleged profits from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, cracked Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans...

Dem Donor, Ponzi Schemer Hsu Gets 24 Years

(Newser) - Norman Hsu is a man of many hats, but the Hillary Clinton fundraiser extraordinaire, Ponzi schemer, and onetime fugitive has been sentenced to wear them in prison for the next 24 years. While significantly less than the 30 years prosecutors had asked for, Hsu’s lawyer tells the Wall Street ...

Imprisoned Ponzi Schemer: It Happens to the Best of Us

Jailed Ponzi lawyer just wanted a beach house. $380 million later...

(Newser) - Before he left house arrest in his posh New York apartment to start serving a 20-year sentence, Ponzi schemer Marc Dreier attempted to explain his bizarre actions. Dreier sold bogus debt to expand his law firm, impersonating execs from other companies to do so. His criminal enterprise, he tells Vanity ...

Sir Allen Banged Up After Jailhouse Fight

Stanford back in cell after suffering broken nose, concussion

(Newser) - Allen Stanford is back in his jail cell today after spending the weekend recuperating from injuries suffered in a fight with another inmate last week. The alleged Ponzi schemer was taken to the hospital with a concussion, a broken nose, and two black eyes. “He is in reasonably good...

Trustee to Sue Madoff's Sons, Brother, Niece

He'll seek $198 million; sons may also have 'criminal problem'

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff’s sons, brother, and niece will all be sued this week for $198 million, the trustee in charge of sorting out the Ponzi mess said last night. Sons Mark and Andrew Madoff in particular withdrew roughly $35 million, despite making little if any investment. “Whether or not...

Only Half of Madoff's Clients Lost Money

The rest withdrew more than they invested, prosecutors say

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors said yesterday that a review of most accounts held by Bernard Madoff's customers when he was arrested shows that about half of the customers had not lost money because they withdrew more than they originally invested. That doesn't, however, take into account the loss of any money they...

Madoff's Beach Home Sells for More Than Asking Price

Montauk manse was on the market for $8.75M

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff's Montauk beach house is off the market, ABC reports. A buyer paid cash "over the asking price" of $8.75 million, say Realtors involved with the deal. The US Marshals Service, which is selling the home to get money back for Madoff's victims, won't divulge the buyer's...

'Lebanese Madoff' Shames Hezbollah

Financier accused of using ties to party to dupe Shiites out of their savings

(Newser) - A Lebanese businessman's billion-dollar Ponzi scheme has left thousands of investors penniless and Hezbollah leaders seriously embarrassed, reports the New York Times. Salah Ezzedine—dubbed the "Lebanese Bernie Madoff" by the nation's press—has strong ties to Hezbollah, and many of the mostly Shiite investors in his scheme say...

Wells Fargo Fires Exec Who Squatted at Malibu Pad

Senior VP Cheronda Guyton used house that belonged to Madoff victims

(Newser) - Wells Fargo said today it has fired the executive who turned a seized California beachfront mansion into a personal playground, the Los Angeles Times reports. Neighbors say they saw Cheronda Guyton staying in the $12 million Malibu Colony property, which had been turned over to the bank by a couple...

Cops Probe Death of Accused Ponzi-Schemer

Bizman likely died of suicide

(Newser) - Police are investigating the weekend death of accused Ponzi-schemer Danny Pang to determine if it was suicide or death by natural causes, reports the Wall Street Journal. There is no evidence of foul play in the California financier's death, but results from a definitive toxicology test will take two months...

Florida's a Dying Ponzi Scheme, But I Love It

Tax base erodes as tourists, snowbirds dwindle

(Newser) - Florida resident Diane Roberts isn’t surprised—or even upset—that her state is collapsing. The Sunshine State's population is dwindling for the first time since World War II as tourists and snowbirds pull out, eroding the tax base that funded just about everything. "Our whole economy is more...

Despite Sex and Scandal, Madoff Books Are a Bust

(Newser) - Sex and scandal have not been enough to make major sellers out of books about Bernard Madoff. According to Nielsen BookScan, neither a much-discussed tell-all by alleged ex-mistress Sheryl Weinstein nor a recent wave of biographies about the imprisoned financier have caught on with the public. Weinstein's Madoff's Other Secret,...

SEC Report: We Never Did 'Competent' Madoff Probe

(Newser) - The SEC's inspector general says the agency had plenty of chances to take down Bernie Madoff and whiffed on every one, Bloomberg reports. In a report released today, H. David Kotz writes that the SEC received "detailed and substantive complaints over the years to warrant a thorough and comprehensive...

Madoff's $8.75M Beach House Not All That

Marshals Service puts property up for sale

(Newser) - Those who see Bernard Madoff as an evil purveyor of excess might be disappointed by his beach house: It's not that palatial. At 3,014 square feet, the home is cottage-size by super-rich standards. There's no garage. Not even a walk-in closet. But the 1.2-acre lot sits closer to...

Trustee Set to Gouge Madoff's Sons, Brother

May ask for $50M of clients' cash back

(Newser) - They're not accused of being in on the fix, but that's not stopping the court-appointed trustee of Bernard Madoff from going after the swindler’s sons and brother, CBS News reports. Trustee Irving Picard will file civil complaints against Mark, Andrew, and Peter Madoff and seek up to $50 million...

Madoff-Burned Owners Must Sell Mets: Author

Mets call remark 'completely irresponsible'

(Newser) - The Wilpon family will have to sell the New York Mets after losing $700 million to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, according to an author who wrote about the money manager. “It's possible they would have to sell by next year,” says Erin Arvedlund, author of Too Good to ...

Stanford 'Fraud Scheme Sealed With Blood Oath'

Banker accused of giving bribes, Super Bowl tickets to Caribbean regulator

(Newser) - Alleged Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford cut his wrist and made a secret blood pact with the banking regulator of the island of Antigua, where his bank operated, according to court documents. Stanford and the official pressed their bloody wrists together in a "brotherhood ceremony," after which the...

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