Madoff Scandal Could Take Six Months To Unravel

Bernard Madoff's financial records were "utterly unreliable" and will take six months to sort out, said Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corp.

"There are some assets, but I have no idea what the relationships of the assets available are to the claims against them," Harbeck said on Bloomberg Television. "The records are utterly unreliable on this case."

His comments came as Bank Medici AG of Austria became the latest lender to reveal a loss from Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud. Two funds at the Viennese bank, 75 percent owned by Chairman Sonja Kohn, invested $2.1 billion entirely in Madoff's firm, the bank said today. It joined institutions and wealthy individuals from Tokyo to Paris. New York's Yeshiva University said it lost $110 million, mostly through hedge funds controlled by trustee J. Ezra Merkin.

Read they full story here

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::Vicky Ward: Blame Our Own Greed For Madoff Mess

Comments

[Clayton139]

One Name that should of caught it !
SEC: Chairman - Christopher Cox !!!

[PhilipTaylor]

Unfortunately, the Madoff Scandal is the "teeny tinny tip of this iceberg!"

There is more to come from other Hedge Funds and Instruments:

1. All Hedge Funds are unregulated and many have similar problems including $500 million +/- fees.
2. The entire Derivative/Instruments Market has no transparency and is center of Economic Crisis.

Madoff and the other problems were created by the Exorbitant Fees and Incomes taken at every level of the Layered Schemes.

NY may need to expand the size of Attica Prison!

[PhilipTaylor]

Most of the FUNDS are in his PERSONAL POSSESSION:

Liquidate THESE FIRST:

1. OFF-SHORE accounts of the Family - this is why the international proposal is so important
2. The MANSION he probably loaded with expensive paintings and other trinkets
3. Other hidden businesses

He will not need the mansion where he is going and my guess it was funded with Excessive Fees from the people he Stole From!

[booboo111]

Anyone notice how the government is rushing to bail out the wealthy Madoff investors, but won't help the big three workers. Hey, why should that surprise me?!

[horsey]

there needs to be a story about all the crazy new taxes in NY.

[Vinca]

WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE GO AFTER TAXES< OWED TO GOV, BY SNOW, AND OTHER LIKE HIM < THAT SEEM TO FEEL TAXES < ARE TO BE PAID , BY THE LITTLE PEOPLE

[partyofone]

I read with a sense of irony, a NY Times article about legal violations involving online gambling, and the requirement that the owner forfeit $300 million in profits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/technology/17bet.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

So we have legalized, mega-trilion dollar online gambling on Wall Street, and if convicted of billions in illegal profits, the perpetrators pay a $5 million fine?

When will the federal government go after the billions taken as profits and bonuses in the PONZI SCHEME call WALL STREET? Why are the Corporate executives and directors who organized and sanctioned GAMBLING that now is threatening to collapse the GLOBAL economy get to keep their IL-GOTTEN gains?

Where is justice?

[PacificGatePost]

MADOFF IS NOT SO UNIQUE

Much requires cleaning-up on Wall Street¦

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/12/is-madoff-really-anomaly.html

[partyofone]

Before Wall Street can be cleaned up, Congress must be cleaned out. Greedy corporate interests own Congress. And to implement the CHANGE he promised, Obama is appointing a fleet of Senators, and former Clinton administrators whose finger prints are all over the mess we are in.

[Vinca]

PacificGatePost; I AGREE, MADOFF IS ONE OF MANY, I ONCE HEARD ON THE RADIO, THAT FORMER ADMIN MEMBER, JOHN SNOW< SOLD 100 MILLION IN STOCK, AND NEVER PAID TAXES ON IT

[loki]

I wonder if he too will have the Ken Lay kind of heart attack? And spend the rest of his life under an assumed name in another country , wallowing away in OPM? Im sure Paulson will help him out with some Tarp funds if he needs something to tide him over until he can funnel a few billion through the banks in Panama or something.

[research]

Please, where is that hedge fund manager, defending complex Derivatives???

[thegreatgiginthesky]

This guy is going to be like Ken Lay. He is going to kick the bucket right before the trial.

[robinhood1]

The story is getting more coverage than you realize, including the Wall St. Journal, Bloomberg, Barron's, the New York Times, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and of course, Huffington Post. It has also been covered by National Public Radio, PBS and related business programs. No one is trying to sweep it under the rug.

[partyofone]

But they are portraying it as unique rather than typical of the abuses of Wall Street. Madoff may prove to be the tip of the iceberg, and all the federal bailouts are meant to keep the Ponzi schemes going.

[Kassandra]

How long will it take to "unravel" the finances of AIG, B of A and Citigroup? Oh, that's right, we aren't investigating THEM......or our kleptocracy government.

How the MSM ( TradMed) loves to throw out a fall guy to take the attention off the real culprits. Just like Blagojevich who now they are saying "Where's the crime?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16legal.html

[Free2Speak]

Just imagine after 9/11 the media turned their attention to cover a case like OJ and Nicole Brown.What would you say or think?Well that what going on with the Wallstreet bailout vs Madoff.The bailout is estimated to be a price tag 8 trillion dollars of loans and cash to the banks and CEO's in the next 4 years.

It would be nice to have a daily investigative report on the bailout.It would capture America just like OJ because people are hurting,frustrated and angry.Madoff has a face so it easy to direct anger at him but it no substitute for the trillions these Wallstreet barrons will get away with.

[roninroshi]

He most likely do the Ken Lay thing...have a heart attack and disappear...