An attorney for Bernard Madoff said the disgraced Wall Street money manager would give the Securities and Exchange Commission a list of his personal assets by 5 p.m. EST Wednesday to comply with a court order.
The list will provide an account of property that could eventually be tapped to make restitution to victims of what authorities say was a massive Ponzi scheme.
The SEC declined to comment on whether it received the list or would eventually disclose its contents to the public.
Madoff’s personal wealth is said to be substantial. He had mansions in the Hamptons and Palm Beach, Fla., a penthouse in Manhattan and a handful of luxury yachts. His firm operated proprietary stock trading desks in New York and London that were supposedly investing the family’s vast fortune.
Still, those assets would likely cover only a fraction of the billions of dollars that investors entrusted to Madoff.
Law firms representing Madoff’s clients said they were nonetheless still eager to see what might be available to repay victims.
Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said his client would comply with the court order Wednesday, but provided no additional details on the contents of the asset disclosure.
On Monday, a top SEC official is set to face a Congressional panel investigating the scandal.
The House Financial Services Committee, which is preparing for the most substantial rewrite of laws governing U.S. financial markets since the Great Depression, is scheduled to take testimony from SEC inspector general H. David Kotz.
A major focus of the hearing will be the inability of the SEC to unearth the scandal, said Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who will chair the hearing. The SEC has come under criticism for not fully investigating fraud allegations against Madoff’s investment firm. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has acknowledged that there were multiple failures by the agency’s staff during previous inquiries.
(Source: WCBSTV)
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7 Responses
I have some questions. Are the loses calculated on the basis of the principle or the claimed profits? Secondly, if taxes were paid on claimed gains, who is responsible for paying THAT back? No real profit, no taxes owed.
THAT is an excellent shailoh!
A huge amount of the “50 Billion” may be false profits that never existed. Already one institution who had to write down $110 million, came back stating that only 14.5 million was principal and the rest false profits. If this pattern persists with other investors and other investors who made “profits” through Bernie are forced to compensate actual losses, the final damage may be a small fraction of 50 billion in terms of true losses. I would not be surprised to see the final numbers well under 10 billion. If so this will by far not be the largest fraud in history.
Taxpayers who paid taxes that in retrospect weren’t owed (on non-existent paper profits) can file amended returns. Rather, their accountants can. I doubt any of the victims file their own taxes. Also, anyone who was able to cash out will have to return what they withdrew so it can be distributed among all the victims fairly.
However this isn’t a Jewish story. It’s about a frei Jew who was mainly ripping off hedge funds and international banks, of billions, and also some of his friends of millions.
Josh, whats 10 Bil? Pocket change…
akuperma, you can only file an amended return for the previous 3 years. And no one who recieved “profits” over 6 years ago can be forced to return it.
I thought all of the profits or dividends or CASH was in bank accounts in the Cayman Islands?
“Josh, whats 10 Bil? Pocket change…”
This will make it less than the Enron losses.
….Compared with the 850 Billion our government plans to spend later this month. Also the 850 billion will be borrowed and not money it actually has.
I hope some senators (at least 41) learn the lesson from the Madoff debacle and do true “due diligence” before approving the stimulus package.
No human being is reliable enough that one is excused from doing due diligence!!!!