Madoff May Plead Guilty

It appears that Bernard Madoff may be nearing a plea deal with prosecutors. Madoff was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008 and charged with securities fraud for his leading role in an estimated $50 billion Ponzi scheme. According to Bloomberg, "Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt today filed a one-page document in Manhattan federal court indicating the government will file an “information,” or charging document, after Madoff agrees to waive a grand jury indictment. Defendants who agree to plead guilty to an information often first waive indictment."

According to a former SEC attorney interviewd by Bloomberg, "“Madoff is about to enter his guilty plea. A criminal information is a consented- to criminal charge used to enter a guilty plea.”

The document released today byt the US Attorney's Office does not indicate if Madoff will waive indictment.

In related news today, the SEC announced it has plans to revamp its whistle-blower policy in wake of the Madoff fraud (and presumably the Stanford CD fraud as well). This comes after years of lax enforcement and a culture which seemingly did little to encourage whistle blowers to come forward.

Prosecutor Seeks to Jail Madoff for Alleged Transfers

Assistant US Attorney Mark Litt sought yesterday to revoke Bernie Madoff's bail after allegations Madoff may have transferred as much as $1million in jewelry and other items to family members. A condition of Madoff's bail was that no money be transferred without court approval.

However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis decided not to make any changes to Madoff's bail at this time.

Read the full article here:

Investors Sue Other Hedge Funds Over Madoff Fraud

Investors Sue Fairfield Greenwich Group, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, over Lack of Due Dilligence in Madoff Scheme


Among the casualties in the Bernie Madoff (BLM Capital) scheme are hedge fund Fairfield Greenwich Group and Massachusetts Mutual, the former of which is accused of failing "to manage properly their investments and to carry out necessary due diligence that would have uncovered the massive Ponzi scheme," by investors.

The lawsuit against Fairfield Greenwich Group was filed by Pasha Anwar and Julia Anwar of Illinois.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company was sued in a separate case on Monday. The suit was filed by Arthur E. Lange of Connecticut and Arthur C. Lange of New York.

Also named in the suit against Massachusetts Mutual are Tremont Group Holdings and Oppenheimer Acquisition Corp.

Read the full article:

Did Madoff Have Co-Conspirators?

Madoff's Acomplice?

Given the apparent magnitude of Bernie Madoff's alleged fraud, some experts have suggested he couldn't possibly have acted alone. Madoff asserts that he acted alone, but could a $50 billion dollar hedge fund really operate with dozens of traders, accountants, banks, regulators and others all kept in the dark? Founder of SeaBreeze Capital, Dave Kass suggests, "This was a very large scheme, and he couldn't have done it without the cooperation and assistance of someone well informed who could process trades, report them and create monthly statements."



Because the Madoff hedge fund, know as BLM, was essentially a family business, some are suggesting an obvious place to look for co-conspirators is with Bernie's brother Peter, sons Andy and Mark, and neice, Shana. They were the firm's CFO, director of trading, director of proprietary trading, and compliance attorney, respectively. However, it should be noted that authorities have mostly ruled out involvement by Madoff's family memebers.



Some "outside help" is also being investigated and Boston investment firm Cohmad Securities has had its records subpoenaed by regulators.



Read the full article:

Fairfield Greenwich Group Profited from Madoff Scheme?

Fairfield Greenwich Group Makes More than $500 Million from Madoff Fund
Investors channeled to Bernard Madoff by hedge fund, Fairfield Greenwich Group, will likely lose the entirity of their $7.6 billion in investments and Fairfield Greenwich's directors probably lost $60 million of thier own funds in the scheme. However, Fairfield Greenwich may have made more than $600 million in management fees from those same unfortunate investors, the Financial Times reported today.

Estimates of the size of the losses from Madoff's ponzi scheme are between $30 billion and $50 billion. The SEC admits receiving a variety of warnings about Madoff including a 2005 report entitled "The World's Larges Hedge Fund is a Fraud."

Madoff's firm is formerly know as Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities "BLM"