List Of Entities Announcing Exposure To Madoff Investments
January 08 2009 - 3:45PM
Dow Jones News
The following entities have announced exposure to Bernard L.
Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the New York-based business that
allegedly lost $50 billion in a giant pyramid scheme.
Entity: Carl Shapiro
Exposure: $400 million
Date of disclosure: Jan. 7
Notes: Shapiro have Madoff $250 million around Dec. 1, though it is unclear
whether the money was in the form of a loan or an investment. The $400
million figure, disclosed Dec. 16, includes the Dec. 1 transaction.
Shapiro's charitable foundation, the Carl & Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation,
lost an estimated $100 million or more.
Entity: New York University
Exposure: $24 million
Date of disclosure: Jan. 7
Notes: NYU filed a lawsuit Dec. 24 claiming J. Ezra Merkin turned over his
investment responsibilities to Madoff's funds and lost $24 million of the
school's money. The suit names as defendants Merkin's Ariel Fund Ltd.; the
fund's investment manager, Gabriel Capital Corp.; and Fortis Bank. An NYU
lawyer said the school invested $94 million in Ariel, a partnership between
Merkin and Fortis, in the mid-1990s. A lawyer for Merkin said the school
only invested $30 million and made $60 million. Ariel plans to liquidate
due to Madoff-related losses, but a temporary restraining order prohibits
assets from being transferred out of the fund.
Entity: Bard College
Exposure: $3 million
Date of disclosure: Jan. 6
The school said J. Ezra Merkin's Ariel Fund invested the money with Madoff
without its knowledge. The losses on the investment include profits.
Entity: Martin Rosenman
Exposure: $10 million
Date of disclosure: Jan. 3
Notes: Rosenman, managing member of Rosenman Family LLC, wired $10 million
to Madoff via a JPMorgan Chase Bank account on Dec. 5, just six days before
Madoff's arrest. The funds weren't supposed to be touched until Jan. 1,
according to a suit filed in bankruptcy court, but Rosenman received a
statement Dec. 5 explaining the money was used to sell short $10 million in
U.S. Treasuries. There is no record that the Treasury short ever occurred.
Entity: Bank Medici AG
Exposure: $2.1 billion
Date of disclosure: Jan. 2
Notes: Bank Medici first reported its exposure Dec. 19. The bank is 25%
owned by Unicredit SpA (UCG.MI) and 75% owned by chairwoman Sonja Kohn.
Hedge funds run by the bank had almost all their money invested with
Madoff. Investor redemptions at the Herald funds have been suspended. The
bank has also stopped calculating net asset values. Austria's government
named Gerhard Altenberger to manage the bank, but won't supply it with
funds.
Entity: Henry Kaufman
Exposure: "several million dollars"
Date of disclosure: Dec. 31
Notes: The former Salomon Brothers chief economist had the money in a
brokerage account with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities for more
than five years. Kaufman said the amount was "no more than a couple percent
of my entire net worth," estimated to be several hundred million dollars,
and "immaterial to my financial well-being."
Entity: Genium Advisors
Exposure: nearly 6.7% of a EUR3 million ($4.2 million) fund invested in
Fairfield Sentry
Date of disclosure: Dec. 30
Notes: Roland Priborsky, Genium's chief, said he was comfortable with the
Fairfield Sentry investment in part because it was included in a list of
funds on which Union Bancaire Privee said it had done due diligence.
Entity: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Exposure: n/a
Date of disclosure: Dec. 30
Notes: The actors' exposure was confirmed by Bacon's spokesman, Allen
Eichhorn.
Entity: Union Bancaire Privee
Exposure: $700 million via funds of funds and client portfolios
Date of disclosure: Dec. 30
Notes: Half of UBP's 22 funds of funds put at least some of their money
into Madoff-related investment vehicles, including one run by J. Ezra
Merkin. The principal fund, Dinvest Total Return, had about 3% of its more
than $1 billion of assets in Madoff-related funds. One fund of funds had as
much as 6.9% of assets in Madoff-related funds. UBP said total potential
Madoff-related investments amount to less than 1% of assets under
management. UBP also provided services such as investment advice and loans
to a division of Fairfield Greenwich Group. The bank managed $124.5 billion
as of June. The bank had most recently met with Madoff Nov. 25 as part of
an ongoing vetting process.
Entity: Rothschild & Cie
Exposure: n/a
Date of disclosure: Dec. 29
Notes: The investment bank has frozen its Elite fund, which had invested
nearly 23% of its assets in Access International Advisors' Luxalpha fund.
Entity: Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet
Exposure: $50 million
Date of disclosure: Dec. 29
Notes: De La Villehuchet put "the bulk of his wealth" with Madoff,
according to his brother. The French aristocrat was found dead of an
apparent suicide Dec. 24.
Entity: Access International Advisors
Exposure: $1.5 billion
Date of disclosure: Dec. 24
Notes: The investment-advisory firm's co-founder, Thierry Magon de La
Villehuchet, was found dead Dec. 24 in an apparent suicide. Access
International Advisors oversaw Luxalpha Sicav, a fund with Madoff-run
assets. Investors included Rothschild & Cie investment bank and Liliane
Bettencourt.