Ruth Madoff, Bernie Madoff’s wife, Says Swindled Investors Shouldn’t Get Any of Her Cash

Boohoo, Ruth Madoff, the wife of scumbag extraordinaire Bernard Madoff, is crying about their precious money. Never mind that fact that her husband robbed thousands of investors to the tune of $50 billion, she’s scratching and kicking for the $62 million she supposedly squirreled away, saying that that doesn’t belong to them. The question I have is why hasn’t she been investigated for this mess?

Lawyers for accused swindler Bernie Madoff claim the money and a penthouse apartment are his wife’s, have nothing to do with any scheme and shouldn’t be subject to forfeiture, according to documents filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

“They maintain that some of the assets … are unrelated to the alleged Madoff fraud and only Ruth Madoff has a beneficial ownership interest in these assets,” wrote Manhattan Federal Judge Louis Stanton on Monday after reviewing the documents.

Bernie Madoff’s lawyers yesterday agreed to lift a freeze on some of the disgraced investment guru’s assets so that the trustee hunting for lost Madoff cash can pay back ripped-off customers. But the lawyers refused to let go of Ruth Madoff’s interest in the E. 64th St. apartment, valued at $7 million, as well as $45 million in municipal bonds controlled by Cohmad Securities and $17 million in a Wachovia account.

On Feb. 11, a Massachusetts state regulator revealed that Ruth Madoff withdrew some $15 million from a Cohmad Securities account in the weeks and days before her husband’s Dec. 11 arrest.

Cohmad is partially owned by Madoff and regulators claim he paid brokers who raised money for him through Cohmad. Over the past eight years, Madoff’s New York investment firm paid Cohmad $67 million, nearly 84% of the firm’s income over that period, Massachusetts regulators say. Source: NY Daily News

As you know, she has not been criminally charged in this financial debacle and it is being reported that federal regulators continue to probe others who may have been involved in this Ponzi scheme. You see, Mrs. Madoff doesn’t care one bit about the people her husband made penniless and her actions should not be taken lightly. She enjoyed the spoils of her husband’s actions and all their money should be taken away, much like what happened to that 90-year old man who had to go back to work after losing all his retirement savings at the hands of Bernie Madoff. Ruth Madoff is just being greedy and selfish. Why she isn’t charged with being an accessory to this crime is beyond me. Of course, she will claim complete ignorance in the matter.

Filed under: Bernard Madoff, Ponzi scheme, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, Ruth Madoff

Nicholas Cosmo Arrested, Charged with Mail Fraud as Feds Invesitgate Another Possible Ponzi Scheme on Long Island

Photo: Entrepreneur Magazine, Nicholas Cosmo

More drama. Another Ponzi scheme in coming to light. Nicholas Cosmo, president and CEO of Agape World Inc., in Hauppauge, Long Island, has been accused of bilking investors through a scheme that has been running for quite a long time. The scumbag surrendered to authorities tonight and has been charged with mail fraud. Hah. Another one bites the dust! Angry investors descended on the office earlier on Monday demanding information on their accounts, which are most likely nonexistent now. Cosmo was able to attract $400 million in investments from unsuspecting investors, maybe a few greedy ones as well.

According to 1010 Wins, on Friday, Cosmo told more than 150 investors that all payouts are suspended because real-estate deals the firm backed are facing foreclosure. Suffolk County police were called to the building after the investors refused to leave the offices. Agape said it specializes in short-term loans to builders, paying a high interest rate to those who invest. It also seems to specialize in robbing people blind. If these allegations are true, we will see more people literally losing the shirts off their backs. I am glad they caught him before he tried to kill himself or stage his death.

1010 Wins WEB EXTRA: Letter from Cosmo to Investors

While the amount in question here pales in comparison to the $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly spearheaded by Bernard Madoff, the amounts are large enough to attract investigation from the big guns — FBI, U.S. Postal Inspectors and local law enforcement. Yeah, there will be more Ponzi schemes uncovered as the financial industry declines. It seems that Mr. Cosmo is not a stranger to the correction system. He was convicted of a federal charge of felony fraud and swindle in 1999 and sentenced to 21 months in prison. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, he was released in August 2000. But he backslid and committed an even bigger crime. I am all for second chances, but this scumbag needs to be behind bars for a long time.

Filed under: Agape World Inc., Foreclosure, Nicholas Cosmo, Ponzi scheme

Joseph Forte Sued by Commodity Futures Trading Commission, SEC for Running $50 Million Ponzi Scheme

Another money manager bites the dust. According to Dow Jones Wire, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission have brought civil charges against Joseph S. Forte of Pennsylvania, who is accused of running a $50 million Ponzi scheme.

Authorities said Forte, of Broomall, Pa., recently confessed to federal officials after his alleged Ponzi scheme fell apart. It was unclear if criminal charges have been filed. According to the SEC, Forte obtained the $50 million from as many as 80 different investors through the sale of securities in the form of limited partnership interests in his firm, Joseph Forte, L.P. They claim he told the investors he would invest their money into an account that trades in securities futures contracts, including S&P 500 stock index futures.

The CFTC’s complaint, filed in a U.S. district court in Pennsylvania, accuses Forte of solicitation fraud, misappropriation of commodity pool funds, sending customers false account statements, and failing to register as a commodity pool operator. The charges against Forte come at a time when Ponzi schemes are at the center of attention after it was revealed that Bernard L. Madoff, a renowned investor, was allegedly operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme and managed to evade regulators for at least a decade.

Yep, I hear criminal charges coming soon for Mr. Forte and he will be sent up the river for a long time, when convicted and sentenced. He should be held to the same standard as the common criminal.

To read the SEC’s complaint, CLICK HERE.

Filed under: Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Joseph Forte, Joseph Forte LP, Ponzi scheme, Securities Exchange Commission

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, Hedge Fund Manager, Whose Firm Lost $1.4B in Madoff Ponzi Scheme, Commits Suicide

They ought to add murder charges to the fraud charges scumbag Bernard Madoff is facing. The French business daily La Tribune has reported that Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a founder of the hedge fund Access International Advisors, was found dead early Tuesday in his office in Manhattan, after losing as much as $1.4 billion that had been invested with Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager who has been accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

La Tribune reported that Mr. de la Villehuchet had been trying to recover the money that Access International raised in Europe and invested through Mr. Madoff’s business.

Luxalpha, a $1.4 billion Luxembourg-based fund sold across Europe, invested in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. Access International last week called Mr. Madoff’s arrest a shocking development in a note to investors. Investors in the fund included a unit of Rothschild and several clients of the Swiss bank UBS.

UBS had been the custodian and administrator of the fund until this year when Access International took over. No one answered the phone at Access International’s New York office. UBS has stated that Mr. Madoff was not on the bank’s wealth management recommended list as a direct investment option but it produced and sold funds containing the investment manager’s products. UBS would establish fund of funds structures at clients’ requests. Source: NY Times

To echo the words of Jamaican superstar Buju Banton’s song, I will say of Mr. Madoff:

Murderer! Blood is on your shoulders
Kill I today you cannot kill I tomorrow
Murderer! Your insides must be hollow
How does it feel to take the life of another
Yes, you can hide from man but not your conscience
You eat the bread of sorrow
Drink the wine of violence
Allowed yourself to be conquered by the serpent
Why did you disobey the first commandment
Walk through the valley I fear no pestilence
God is my witness and He is my evidence
Lift up my eyes from wence cometh help
You will never escape this judgement

Of course, some parts of the lyrics are in patois, the broken language of Jamaica. The message is the same, Bernard Madoff is no better than a murderer for what he has done to these people.

Filed under: Access International Advisors, Bernard Madoff, Ponzi scheme, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, Suicide, UBS

Wealthy Investors Duped by Bernard Madoff May Be Protected by Government

Once again, the federal government may come to the rescue of yet another wealthy group. Former NASD chief and disgraced investor Bernard Madoff may have duped his investors out of $50 billion, but a federal judge may be the life line these wealthy people may need through an order of protection. Meanwhile, a federal judge on Monday threw a lifesaver to investors who may have been duped, saying they need the protection of a special government reserve fund set up to help investors at failed brokerage firms. U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton ordered that clients of Madoff’s private investment business seek relief under a federal statute created to rescue cheated investors. Stanton also ordered that business be liquidated under the jurisdiction of a bankruptcy court and named attorney Irvin H. Picard as trustee to oversee that process. So, when rich folks get duped, there’s a life line thrown at them, but when Main Street needs help against foreclosure, they are undeserving of any government assistance to stay in their homes.

Stanton signed the order after the Securities Investor Protection Corporation asked that steps be taken to protect investors in the scheme, which has ensnared several major banks and prominent figures as victims and could result in as much as $50 billion in losses.

Congress created the SIPC in 1970 to protect investors when a brokerage firm fails and cash and securities are missing from accounts. Funds can be used to satisfy the remaining claims of each customer up to a maximum of $500,000. The figure includes a maximum of up to $100,000 on claims for cash.

The order came just days after federal prosecutors charged Madoff with securities fraud, saying he had admitted to orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme. Madoff is free on $10 million bail after he was charged with securities fraud last week. Source: ABC News.

One thing I have learned is that the rich always strive to be richer, no matter what. So, this man comes along and offers them a big return and they fall for his “game.” Yes, he gamed them and they ought to feel really stupid. What about portfolio diversification? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket is the golden rule, but I guess the prospect of big returns clouded the judgments of many of these people. The sad reality is that it will affect the “little people” because many institutions and charities also got burned.

The scheme was operated out of the so-called “Lipstick Building” on Third Avenue. Bernard Madoff Investment Securities LLC occupies three floors and may have bilked investors of $50 billion. Prosecutors have said that it was a classic Ponzi scheme. The firm paid-off earlier investors with money from new investors. It collapsed amid a nervous economy when some people wanted their money out.

I guess the list of victims could get larger as more people claim they lost millions. The list of victims is quite interesting–Mets owner Fred Wilpon; former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman; investors such as Joan Sinkin who claims to be of modest means and lost her entire life savings; a charitable fund set-up by the family of Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey; several major banks including Spain’s Grupo Santander SA, Britain’s HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Man Group PLC, France’s BNP Paribas and Japan’s Nomura Holdings reported falling victim to Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme.

I would like to know how this man flew under the Securities and Exchange Commission radar for so long. I am pretty sure that there were warning signs, but what is indicative of the lax regulatory oversight on Wall Street, this should come as no surprise. The man is a crook and deserves to be incarcerated in a prison for violent offenders. Since the government is only too happy to help rich folks out, then they ought to help the millions of struggling homeowners across the country get affordable mortgages.

Filed under: Bernard Madoff, Ponzi scheme, Securities Exchange Commission, Securities Investor Protection Corporation, Struggling Homeowners, Wealthy Duped

Two dead amid Colombian protests over pyramid scheme: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

Old fashioned pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes have been around for more than a hundred years, probably longer. Apparently the people of Colombia are learning the lesson of these schemes the hard way:

The security guard for a Colombian investment company was killed amid riots in the capital Bogota on Friday. The shooting came after police said $270 million was believed to have been lost in a scheme run by the DRFE, or “Easy Money, Fast Cash,” agency across its 240 offices.

The scheme collapsed earlier this week amid rumours that its owner, Carlos Alfredo Suarez, who local residents said had, until recently, sold snacks on the streets and looked after parked cars, had fled the country. Source: Al Jazerra

I always wonder what makes people fall for these rackets. Is it greed? Stupidity? Desperation? Perhaps a little of each leads one to invest in these types of “get rich quick” schemes. Many pyramid or ponzi schemes are presented as modern day multilevel marketing (MLM) or network marketing. It can be very difficult to tell the difference between a legitimate MLM business and an illegal scheme.

I have been approached in the past by family, friends, and even the pastor of my church to participate in these schemes. You heard me. I said that the pastor of my church, my former church now, actually had the gall to bring what I recognized as a pyramid scheme into the house of God in order to steal from his people.

I am a level-headed person, however I just wasn’t ready to be on the look-out for a pyramid scheme in my own church. After the Thursday night service, the pastor had the nerve to actually allow a pyramid scheme to be presented to the congregation. The presentation was so smooth that the many in the congregation (including myself) rushed to fill out the paperwork to join. I had my checkbook ready to invest, when I made a call to my husband to talk it over with him. Being the steady and logical person that he is, his response to me was, “Baby, just come on home and don’t give those jokers anything.”

I never set foot in that church again after that day.

So my question to you is have you ever been asked to join a scam, or lost money in a business scam?

Filed under: By Cheri Thomas, civil unrest, Colombia, International news, Ponzi scheme, protests, Pyramid scheme