"Scandal dampens the charity galas; Boston hospitals reconsider events" by Jeffrey Krasner, Globe Staff | December 18, 2008
The scene was a society party at Donald Trump's famed Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. One guest was Robert Jaffe, 64, who had recruited investors for Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager who last week admitted to a Ponzi scheme in which he lost $50 billion of his clients' money. Another was 78-year-old Jerome Fisher, founder of the upscale shoe store chain 9 West, who reportedly lost millions with Madoff and was upset by Jaffe's presence at the club Saturday night.
According to Trump, the two almost came to blows. "It was as if these people were born to be prizefighters," Trump said in an interview yesterday. Fisher did not return a call seeking comment. A spokeswoman for Jaffe said, "This categorically did not happen."
Nonetheless, despite the scores of Palm Beach residents and Bostonians who have lost money with Madoff, Jaffe is still scheduled to preside over the Discovery Ball, a gathering of socialites and philanthropists Feb. 21 at the Breakers hotel in Palm Beach....
*****************
The situation highlights how the Madoff scandal has upended a crucial part of fund-raising for many of Boston's world-renowned hospitals. For years, the hospitals have gone to Palm Beach seeking donations from rich donors, many of them snowbirds or transplants from the Boston area. They hold lavish events at hotels and private parties at homes in an effort to attract donations.
Now, with many donors out millions, that strategy is being reevaluated. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, for instance, is reconsidering a March event in Palm Beach aimed at impressing donors with the hospital's latest medical advances.
"Because of the economy, we had already planned to scale back the extent of it," said Paul Levy, Beth Israel's chief executive. "We are considering what further steps we might take in light of the Madoff news because it affects too many people in Palm Beach. We don't need as large a place and we might want a place that's a little more modest." At its 2007 gala, Beth Israel touted $15 million in gifts, though not all of the money was raised at the event.
"I don't know if it makes sense at all" to have the Jaffes chair the Discovery Ball, said Trump, the hotel and gambling tycoon, and a Dana-Farber contributor who attended the ball last year. "I don't know the level of animosity or hatred, but I got a bit of it the other night."
--more--"Who cares about some Jews and richers being ticked at each other? I want to know who worked at his firm, why the SEC allegedly "missed" all the theft, etc, etc, etc. WTF?
Want some real investigation (all off the blogs):
Madoff Moved The Money To Israel?
Tax Law to Provide Bailout to Madoff's Victims
New SEC chief gave Bernard Madoff's son a job
Madoff funds may have been used to evade taxes
Wait a minute? They AVOIDED TAXES and are now going to get a BAILOUT?
"Duped investors may recoup funds; Tax rules allow theft deduction" by Bloomberg News | December 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - Individual investors who lost money in Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud may be able to recover some of their money by seeking tax refunds.
Capital-gains taxes may be refundable for 2005 through 2007, lawyers said. In addition, if investors can convince the Internal Revenue Service they are victims of theft, it would let them deduct losses from their taxes dating back to 2005. Any unused theft losses could be used to reduce tax liabilities for the next 20 years.
"The Madoff debacle will result in what amounts to another federal government bailout," said Warren Kessler, an attorney in Los Angeles. In the theft scenario, "It is likely that the Treasury will wind up refunding taxes" at least on the loss of the principal they invested with Madoff.
Oh, doesn't that just make you feel swell, American! That butt-hole must be as wide as the Lincoln Tunnel by now!
Many of Madoff's investors were charities and pension funds that were tax-exempt and wouldn't be owed a refund. The extent of refunds to investors who paid taxes will depend on how much theft loss can be deducted by individuals and how much investment income was fraudulently reported to the IRS.
John Barrie, a tax partner at the New York law firm Bryan Cave LLP, said investors will want to claim a theft loss rather than an investment loss. A theft loss can be used to reduce ordinary income, while an investment loss can only offset capital gains, which most people don't have this year, he said.
To claim the more valuable deduction, Barrie said, the taxpayer must establish that a theft occurred, a threshold he said will likely be met by Madoff's indictment. Taxpayers must also establish there is no likelihood of recovering the money, which he said they probably can do unless they get compensation from the government-sponsored Securities Investor Protection Corp.
Only individuals who invested directly with Madoff can deduct theft losses, Barrie said. Those who invested indirectly through a hedge fund or other entity must wait for the fund to report the theft loss on tax forms before they can claim any benefit.
The biggest area of "tension," Barrie said, will be whether the IRS agrees that Madoff's victims suffered theft losses rather than investment losses. While some other claims of theft loss resulting from stock transactions haven't succeeded, in the Madoff case, the investors will be aided by the indictment, he said.
An IRS spokesman said, "We're aware of the situation, but beyond that we have no comment." A Treasury spokesman declined to comment. In addition to filing refunds for capital gains taxes, Kessler said investors may be able to get refunds on taxes paid on any interest and dividends falsely reported by Madoff.
"They will seek to eliminate any Madoff earnings reported on those returns and ask for a refund of taxes paid on such phantom' income," Kessler said. In most cases, the amended returns should be filed before April 15, he said. US tax law allows people seeking refunds of capital gains paid on fictitious profits to amend their tax returns for the three most recent years.
--more--"As for FINDING THOSE that worked with him, well....
"Some skeptical that Madoff acted alone" by Associated Press | December 19, 2008
NEW YORK - Bernard Madoff's contention that he pulled off one of the biggest financial frauds in history without any help is being met with disbelief by his investors and specialists in the securities industry.
And not just them, either!! You got me here!
It normally takes a team of accountants, stock brokers, lawyers, and more to operate the kind of multibillion-dollar investment fund that Madoff ran from the 17th floor of his Manhattan headquarters.
The firm had clients around the globe. Simply generating the detailed financial statements investors got in the mail every month would have been a monumental effort for just one person, observers said, even if those reports were pure fantasy.
"Someone had to create them. Someone had to create the appearance that there were returns," said attorney Harry Susman, who represents several Madoff investors.
"The guy was 70 years old. Could he have done it himself? The computer systems would have needed to be extensive. Supposedly, he's selling puts, buying puts, selling calls, buying stocks. Somebody had to sit there and buy stocks. Where are these people?"
And WHY is the MSM not INVESTIGATING or REPORTING such information?
Federal investigators are still in the early stages of trying to answer those same questions as they decipher Madoff's operation. Already, they have discovered multiple sets of books and what appear to be fraudulent documents in his Manhattan offices, raising the question of who prepared them. It may take time before they can say whether he had accomplices....
Translation: We have a cover-up underway, we have a cover-up underway!
Now back to the poor beneficiaries of Madoff's largesse, of course!!
"Major foundation falls to Madoff fraud; Prominent MIT, Harvard benefactor to close; May be largest charity claimed by scandal" by Jeffrey Krasner and Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | December 20, 2008
The unfolding scandal surrounding the alleged Ponzi scheme run by Bernard L. Madoff yesterday claimed as a victim one of the largest foundations in the country, which has funded groundbreaking brain research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and diabetes research at Harvard Medical School.
The Picower Foundation of Palm Beach sent an e-mail to "colleagues and friends" late yesterday saying that it was a victim of Madoff's alleged scheme and that it would soon shut down. With assets of more than a half-billion dollars, it is believed to be the largest charity to have been forced to close by the unfolding scandal....
Now why would the Globe CUT this from its website? In my paper!Yesterday, authorities put tighter bail restrictions on Madoff, 70. He will be under house arrest at his New York apartment and will be required to hire a security firm to provide video monitoring of his apartment door. He will also be monitored by the FBI. The conditions, set by a magistrate, are intended to prevent "harm or flight."
Who is PAYING for that, because if IT IS TAXPAYERS I WANT HIM in JAIL!!!! No FBI needed!
Madoff and his wife had already given their passports to authorities. He had also put up three properties as collateral on $10 million in bail. Just how so many nonprofit organizations wound up with Madoff handling such a significant share of their money, and thus were left so vulnerable to his problems, is a topic of growing concern among investment advisers to foundations and similar tax-exempt groups....
Awww, the poor, tax-exempt, jew-richers were "vulnerable." Wait until you experience the rape like we have!!!!
--more--"
Gotta love that censorship, huh? What, they don't want us getting mad the SOB isn't in jail? How much you gotta steal if you are a rich Jew to get thrown in jail? Guy steals $200 around here from a convenience store and he's in the clink for two years!
"Tufts loses $20m in Madoff scheme" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | December 20, 2008
Tufts University has lost $20 million through an investment in a fund tied to Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street trader accused of running the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
The losses occurred through Tufts's stake in Ascot Partners, which invested the sum with Madoff Securities, school president Lawrence Bacow wrote in a letter e-mailed to the university community yesterday. The $20 million amounts to less than 2 percent of the school's $1.5 billion endowment, he said....
Earlier this week, Yeshiva University in New York said it had lost about $110 million in investments tied to the Madoff scandal....
See, I told you.... a lot of Zionist and Jewish charities!
--more--"
Now here are some items (ones my Zionist War Daily won't tell me) guaranteed to get you steamed:
Federal Bail-Out for Madoff Investors
Bailout payout tops $8 trillion
Bernard Madoff...How The Practice Of Ecomomic Ethnic Nepotism Can Bite You In The Ass"
Madoff's Ponzi Scheme Dwarfed By Illuminati Rubin's
The arrest of financier Bernard Madoff Thursday for operating a "Ponzi scheme" costing investors $50 billion made the TV network news. Curiously, a lawsuit the same day against Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for defrauding Citibank shareholders of more than $122 billion, also described as a "Ponzi scheme," got no airplay whatsoever.
As we shall see, Rubin, a Director of Citibank, profited from the shady practices that destroyed the financial system and sent the world's economies into a tailspin. Then, to repair the damage, he and his banker friends put the taxpayer on the hook for trillions.
Rubin didn't get the same publicity as Madoff because of his close connection to Barack Obama.
Robert Rubin's son Jamie was Obama's main Wall Street fund raiser and is now one of his principal advisers. More significant, Obama's economic team consists of Rubin's proteges including Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, Senior Economic Adviser and Peter Orszag, Budget Director. The Times of London has already dubbed them the "Robert Rubin Memorial All Stars."
Clearly, the media don't want people to see that the candidate of "Change" chose the people responsible for this calamity to be his "economic team." While in the Clinton White House, Rubin, with Summers, helped tear down the regulatory walls between banks, brokerages and insurance companies and freed them to trade in unregulated and little-understood derivatives worth trillions of dollars.
By the way, WHERE do you think Madoff HID the $$$$?
Related: Jew-Ron
Additional links:
Also see: Who is Bernard Madoff?
Feds Argue Return Law Makes Jews Flight Risk
Madoff debacle hits region's Jewish community
Update:
They still don't get it!
"Bernie Madoff's man to see; Debonair middleman Robert M. Jaffe finds himself in a most uncomfortable place
This story was reported by Jenn Abelson, Beth Healy, and Casey Ross of the Globe Staff. It was written by Abelson.
PALM BEACH, Fla. - Even in the rarefied world of high society in Palm Beach, Robert M. Jaffe cut quite the figure. With his impeccably coiffed hair, a golf game to envy, and a $17 million waterfront mansion, he was a man to be seen.
He was also the man to see, if you wanted in on a sure thing - Bernard L. Madoff's investment fund. Jaffe moved among the rich and richer in Palm Beach and Boston, finding suitable clients, among the many who clamored to get a piece of Madoff's irresistible, too-good-to-be-true investment returns.
But now the 64-year-old Newton native finds himself at the center of one of the biggest scandals to rock the financial world, which has wiped out billions of dollars from an A-list of the powerful and famous, as well as his closest friends, family - and himself.
As investigators unravel the $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly masterminded by Madoff, Jaffe has become the subject of intense scrutiny as the New York money manager's debonair middleman. Unlike Madoff, who was aloof and rarely attended parties, Jaffe relished his access to wealthy friends and investors at country clubs and charity galas.
"Jaffe had access to Madoff, and that made him a superstar. He was bigger than life," said Herb Gray, a Boston native with a home in Palm Beach. He is a close friend of Robert I. Lappin, a Swampscott resident whose private family foundation financed trips to Israel for Jewish youth but was forced to shut down this month after losing all of its estimated $8 million to Madoff.
Related: The Lappin Foundation
The most racist site you’ll see today
As Madoff's financial empire has crumbled, so has Jaffe's place at the pinnacle of Palm Beach's social life. At the ritzy Mar-a-Lago club, an angry investor who lost millions with Madoff confronted Jaffe at a party last Saturday. Massachusetts Secretary of State has since subpoenaed Jaffe related to the scheme. And his son's engagement party, which was supposed to be held at the exclusive Palm Beach Country Club last night, was abruptly canceled.
Yup, these guys are still GOING to PARTIES, etc, etc. The THIEVES are NOT HURTING, AmeriKa, and I SAY EAT THEM!!!!!!! I'm hungry!!!!!!!
"He's in a terrible position. It's a tragedy," said Lawrence Sperber, a Boston lawyer who has a home in Palm Beach and has known Jaffe for more than 40 years and has friends who have lost millions of dollars. "Was he out selling Madoff? Yes. Did he use his contacts to sell the product? Yes. But he's as much a victim. I don't think he had any idea. And he's messed up his relationship with the rest of the world."
(This blog author is just astonished, folks! Yup, and Osama bin Laden and Ahmadinejad are just victims, too, right, jewpress?)
.... Jaffe, who drove a green 1954 MG TF British convertible, seemed to find more success doing business on the golf course than in the boardroom. And it showed in his game: Jaffe was the club champion earlier this year at the Palm Beach Country Club, according to the local paper....
And UP COMES my morning cup of Joe!
********************
At Jaffe's creme-colored stucco home in Palm Beach, resplendent with marble floors and a waterfront cabana, a closed iron gate kept out visitors last week. When a reporter outside his mansion requested an interview on Tuesday, Jaffe replied: "Absolutely not." His 11,800-square-foot home sits two doors over from Madoff's manse....
Now check this out:
But part of Madoff's allure was his exclusivity. He enlisted several middlemen, such as Jaffe, who focused on recruiting clients with a high net worth. Investors and potential investors say that Madoff at times made it difficult to get in, often requiring connections and an investment of more than $1 million....
Yeah, WHO ARE THEY? The Zionist obfuscator, I mean newspaper, doesn't tell me!
--more--"Maybe the next article?
"Trust was undoing for many charities" by Ross Kerber and Hinda Mandell, Globe Correspondent | December 21, 2008
Earlier this year, the American Jewish Committee got a feeler from Bernard L. Madoff: Would it care to invest some of its $90 million endowment with the storied New York investment manager?
The organization's investment committee took a pass, said spokesman Kenneth Bandler, because Madoff wouldn't provide enough information about how he achieved such steady, high returns.
"We dodged that bullet," Bandler said.
Not every such group can say the same. Along with statements of surprise, shock, and sympathy, another sentiment is quietly circulating in nonprofit circles: that social and cultural ties, as well as Madoff's exceptional reputation, trumped fiduciary caution among the charities, foundations, and hedge funds that lost money. Authorities said Madoff confessed this month to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, and by one estimate, the community that counted Madoff as one of its own lost as much as $1 billion....
Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna, a specialist in American Jewish history, said he knows of several organizations that passed up the chance to park money with Madoff....
The Globe called in the big guns!
But still, we only get the Jewish victims of Madoff's terrorism, er, I mean, thievery!
********************
A wide swath of foundations and philanthropies entrusted significant portions of their portfolios to the secretive Madoff. Several were run by prominent Jewish families who were socially connected to Madoff and his children, often through common memberships in country clubs and boards.
On Friday, the unfolding scandal claimed the Picower Foundation of Palm Beach, Fla., one of the largest educational benefactors in the country. The $952 million foundation, which has ceased making grants, funded groundbreaking research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.
In Salem, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation said it had to shut down because Madoff had lost all its money, potentially including funds from employees' 401(k) plans. In Boston, the family foundation of noted philanthropists Carl and Ruth Shapiro lost between 40 and 45 percent of its assets, or $145 million.
In Brookline, the Maimonides School says it stands to lose to $5 million, not because it was a Madoff client, but because the money was in the hands of managers who were.
Many prominent national figures were drawn in as well. One, the foundation of Holocaust survivor and activist Elie Wiesel, reported it lost $15.2 million, nearly all of its assets, with Madoff. In New York, Yeshiva University said it lost about $110 million, or nearly 10 percent of its endowment, through an investment with Ascot Partners, a fund that placed nearly all its assets with Madoff. Ascot's manager had also been chairman of the university's investment committee, and Yeshiva president Richard Joel said in a statement the school, where Madoff himself held positions, would examine its conflict-of-interest policies and governance structures.
The Wiesel and Lappin organizations didn't respond to questions. In a statement, the Shapiro foundation said, "The foundation's investments are quite carefully considered, and based on Mr. Madoff's consistent rate of return over the long term, we believed that the investments the foundation made with him were an important part of a larger strategy to achieve the foundation's goals."
Sarna estimated that the Jewish community lost between $600 million and $1 billion from the Madoff meltdown, but some of its significant institutions escaped unscathed. The largest Jewish philanthropic organization in Boston, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, said its $437 million Jewish Community Endowment Pool had no exposure to Madoff's problems. On its website, the organization acknowledged that "many pillars of the Jewish philanthropic community locally and nationally were victims of this outrageous fraud."
So HOW DOES IT FEEL to TAKE SOME OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE, you bunch of lying looters? I'm sorry, but it is the truth, you bunch of shysters!
Not a hint of a wet eye around here; I'll save that for the MUSLIM WOMEN and CHILDREN USrael slaughters!!!!!!!
But according to charity president Barry Shrage, the group would not have seriously considered hiring Madoff because his methods didn't fit their criteria, which emphasize that investments be transparent - that detailed information be available about exactly where the money is and how it is handled.
Harvey Lowell, executive director of pool member organization Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston, indicated even if it had done business with Madoff, the charity's losses would have been contained, because it restricts the amount of investments placed with any one manager to no more than 5 percent of the total portfolio. "They were lucky that no one saw Madoff as a good investment," he said. "This was so far out of the normal course of doing business."
How come the Globe is only talking to Jewish charities? The Zionists aren't discriminatory on where they put their money, are they? Aren't they for human rights, tolerance, understanding, ya-da-da-da!!! Pfffft!!!
.... Among Madoff's clients were hedge funds, which use sophisticated financial techniques to manage risk and earn profits. Hedge funds usually minimize their fiduciary obligations when they contract with clients, said Boston University financial law professor Tamar Frankel. That can make it hard for investors to sue for damages.
New York securities lawyer Scott Berman, citing conversations with investors in several hedge funds that lost money to Madoff, said he plans to explore whether the funds themselves breached their duties by failing to sufficiently review those holdings or diversify their assets so only a small portion of their money was with Madoff. "There could be not enough due diligence or over-concentration, or maybe some of both," he said.
Okay, so WHAT FUNDS ARE THEY? WHO WORKED THERE? TF? How come there are NO ITEMS on WHO and WHAT those firms are?!!!
I SMELL A COVER-UP!!!!
NEXT!!!
"Did Madoff investors overlook the obvious?; Signs point to safeguards being ignored - and safeguards prevent pyramid schemes, advisers say" by Lynn Asinof, Globe Correspondent | December 21, 2008
Oh, I see, now it is THEIR OWN FAULT!! Well, I won't shed a tear for the poor Zionist thug, I mean, thief and his victims!
The list of victims who lost money in Bernard L. Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme reads like a who's who of the financially savvy. As people study the names, however, many are asking a basic question: If all those supposedly sophisticated investors got so badly fleeced, how can I possibly protect myself against such scams?
All Jewish, too!
"Some people got fooled who shouldn't have gotten fooled," says fee-only investment adviser Rick Miller of Sensible Financial Planning in Cambridge. Given a list of victims that includes banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and investment firms, there's a strong indication that many investors weren't doing enough due diligence, he says.
WTF?
"Lawrence R. Velvel said his monthly financial statements from Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities were indecipherable. They detailed dozens of complex, six-figure trades he couldn't understand"
C'mon, MSM puke!
The full details of Madoff's operations aren't yet known. By his own admission, Madoff produced his consistently good returns by paying existing clients with money deposited by newer investors. He allegedly kept multiple sets of books, generated his own statements, and hid his activities from regulators for decades.
All by himself? He's an "energetic" 70, right?
So how can investors avoid being conned? In vestment advisers say it's all about following the basic rules of investing.
Yeah, it is YOUR FAULT if you get RIPPED OFF!! Why should we have to worry about it? WHAT SYSTEM is based on LOOTING and THIEVERY, not TRUST? Oh, yeah, ours!
"There should be no secrets to this business," says Michael Kozak, director of wealth management at Cabot Money Management Inc., in Salem. "It should all be very transparent."
In government, too.
Financial advisers say that if you can't figure out how your money is invested or why your investments are producing the returns they're getting, it's time to ask questions. Remember, it's important to build safeguards into any investing relationship. Investors, however, must be willing to do their homework and take responsibility for monitoring their portfolios. Those who take the time to get answers to the following questions will be less likely to get taken.
You know what, I don't think I'll put my money there. I don't like gambling it away so looters can steal it.
