Liliane Bettencourt, World's Wealthiest Woman, Among Madoff's Victims

The epic Madoff fraud saga appears to have added another high profile name to its list of victims. Both Bloomberg and the Times of London are reporting that Liliane Bettencourt, the world's wealthiest woman, had entrusted part of her fortune to Madoff by way of Thierry de la Villehuchet, a Madoff Investor who, it was reported Tuesday, appears to have committed suicide after a $1.4 Billion loss.

More details from Bloomberg:

The 86-year-old daughter of L'Oreal SA founder Eugene Schueller was the first investor in a fund managed by Access International Advisors, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because her investment isn't public.The body of Access co-founder Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, 65, was found in his Madison Avenue office yesterday. Police said he probably killed himself.[...]

Bettencourt, the only child of Schueller, holds a 30 percent stake in Paris-based L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics maker, according to Bloomberg data. She inherited L'Oreal in 1957 when her father died and holds a seat on its board.

Bettencourt rarely speaks to the media. She gave her first interview in 20 years this month to the weekly Figaro Magazine.

Bettencourt is number 17 on the 2008 Forbes list of the world's richest people, with an estimated wealth of 22.9 billion.

In other Madoff news, AFP reports that doubts are growing over whether Madoff acted alone:

In a criminal complaint filed against the 70-year-old Madoff, prosecutors said Madoff stated "in substance, that he had personally traded and lost money for institutional clients and that it was all his fault."

But many members of the financial community are skeptical that Madoff could have single-handedly maintained accounts for the fictitious investment scheme involving tens of billions of dollars and a multitude of clients.

Read more about Thierry de la Villehuchet.

Comments

[SILVANUS]

I'm crying.

[trucap]

whoever married to her last month is the luckiest man in the world.

[hopefulinflorida]

I don;t know anything about this woman, however, if she's 86, she's probably living alone with a houseful of servants and her money is handled by lawyers and accountants. She probably has no clue about anything, just like Doris Duke. People of this magnitude of wealth are oblivious to the problems of the world.

[taricaziz]

PLEASE, leave this woman alone!!!

[WasteNJ]

Hard to feel bad for the super-rich taking a hit on their investments. boo-hoo.

[AZWolfster]

OMG, why can't the richest woman in the world afford a decent-looking haircut?

[richardgordon]

Frankly this woman has too much money anyway. What does an obscenely wealthy woman like this do with her money anyway? Just think how much good she could do for the Planet if she spent some of it on worth-while causes.

[MarsAmbassador]

Do you have ANY idea how much philanthropy and charity work rich people do? Practically every single college, university, arts program or endowment fund, scholarship and non-profit organization on the PLANET was started by, and is still dependent upon, rich people and their patronage. Not to mention every single company on the planet, thus all our jobs.

[glaze]

Wealth redistribution, anyone?

[Mikeatle]

It's funny how we scream to heaven about "wealth redistribution" if the wealthy are in danger of losing some money, but when it's the wealth of the middle class flowing upwards to the wealthy elite, nothing is said.

Come on: who really cares if this rather unattractive woman loses a few billion? Really? Who cares? And if a good chunk of that money ends up in middle class distribution, all the better.

[DeanThoreau]

Does this mean she will be homeless?
Does it mean she will go without a meal?
I am sorry she lost money but I do not have a single drop of sympathy for her. Greed is what drove people to invest with Madoff, greed is what made him a theif, and she probably pays less in taxes than I do.

[duze]

I co-sign.

[bobwalters]

Me, too.

[hollywood2008]

No one is saying she deserved to get robbed, or that Paris Hilton deserved to get robbed...b­ut they are guilty of something: negligence.

If you really are careful about your money, then this would never happen to you. Hedge fund investors, on average, don't really do due diligence. They say, oh this fund is doing well, lets invest in that...BIG MISTAKE. I cannot BELIEVE that some people had to sell their houses because they lost money in this fund...any investor with half a brain would know not to invest more than 20% of their assets in alternative investments. That is THEIR FAULT cause hedge funds have a disclaimer that value of their assets may decline because of the market.

[Clavis]

Now she'll have to sell one of her islands...

[esquire07]

Good. It is wonderful to see so many Rich Greedy Slobs losing so much money.

[DeanThoreau]

And they can all write it off on their taxes as a loss!

[bobwalters]

What taxes? Leona Helmsley said it all: "Only the little people pay taxes!"

[joycehelene]

It would have been much better and wiser if she had donated her money insead of being greedy and wanting to get 9% interest which she really had no need of. No need to worry about her she still will have plenty, but look at all the good that the money would have done if she used it wisely in the first place.

[whatsthatsound]

That is so right. If the two richest men and two richest women in the world kept only a "measly" billion for themselves and did something benevolent with the rest of it, the world would be a more healed place. Even if the money was just divvied up equally among all six billion people, a family of five with nothing to their name would get one hundred eighty bucks, close to a year's wages for them. It could mean getting a kid off a trash heap and into school, or not selling the eldest daughter off to a life of servitude.

[richardgordon]

Agreed. Look, I want to make money to provide a comfortable lifestyle for myself just like every one else, but this type of wealth accumulation is totally obscene. What does a woman like this do with herself? Does she give a damn about the poorest people on earth? Does she give a damn about the planet? No. Life for her is about accumulating more wealth. Just think of the positive things she could do with all that money. I would hate to be her, lying on her death bed thinking of all that she could have accomplished but didn't because her life was only about accumulating material wealth.

[GerberInk]

I think we're forgetting she is the victim of the crime. It doesn't matter whether she invested thousands or millions (or billions). She got ripped off by a callous sob who has the audacity to smile for the camera after he committed his crime. He should be tarred and feathered- not the people who fell for his scam, whoever they may be.

[richardgordon]

Save your pity for people who are more deserving.

[Mikeatle]

Precisely.

[SkuddGobang]

Yeah, cry me a river. Gamblers lose all the time. How is this any different?

[watchingthings]

Greed! Why else would anyone with all that money fall for the promise of "huge returns on your investment".

[chirps]

Well, let's see. There's greed. And then of course, there's greed. And then there's even more greed. I think we have the answer!