Bernard Madoff Must Disclose Assets

A federal judge ruled that Bernard Madoff, who admitted to running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme with investor money, must disclose all his assets to regulators. Bloomberg News reports that he "must provide a detailed list of all investments, loans, lines of credit, business interests, brokerage accounts and other holdings" to the SEC by New Year's Eve, as investors hover to recoup some of their money.

The ME's office completed the autopsy for Access International Advisers hedge fund founder Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, who apparently committed suicide because he invested $1.4 billion with Madoff—he felt he let down investors (which includes the world's wealthiest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt).

De la Villehuchet's brother revealed yesterday that de la Villehuchet also invested his own money with Madoff. His brother was "totally ruined," according to Bertrand Magon de la Villehuchet, who added, "At first he thought he'd be able to get the money back. He was very determined. Gradually he realized he wouldn't be able to... He trusted Madoff completely." Bertrand Magon de la Villehuchet said he would join class action lawsuits against Madoff and the SEC.

NYU is filing a lawsuit, claiming it lost $24 million by investing through J. Ezra Merkin's Ariel hedge fund, as is Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), who says his investment manager invested his money to Madoff while collecting "enormous fees."

One people trying to make some money off Madoff's scheming are people with Madoff Investment Securities swag. There's a fleece, tote bag ("Top bid is 50 billion"), tote bag & binoculars & notepad & chair, and an emergency disaster kit (pictured at top).