Results tagged “billions”

Hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin, who was accused by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of funneling $2.4 billion into Bernard Madoff's Ponzi investment scheme, has agreed to turn over three of his hedge funds into receivership. Merkin, who allegedly made $470 million from the Madoff investments and was warned about Madoff, made the deal with Cuomo's office; David Markowitz, who heads the AG's office's Investor Protection Bureau, told a judge, "The purpose of this is to make sure that the victims of the fraud here have independent trustees and fiduciaries overlooking what’s left of their assets." In other hedge funds-that- invested-with-Madoff news, three hedge funds managed by the Fairfield Greenwich Group were sued by the trustee liquidating Madoff's estate; the NY Times reports, "The civil lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan, seeks the return of $3.2 billion that the three funds took out of their Madoff accounts from 2002 until the scheme’s collapse in December."

Remember how Donald Trump was suing a NY Times business editor Timothy O'Brien and the publishers of his book, TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald, for $5 billion, because The Donald felt it misstated his wealth by billions (Smith's estimate: $150-250 million)? Well, as a hearing is scheduled to take place today, the Wall Street Journal pored over a 2007 deposition that Trump made about his wealth. He said, "My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feeling," and when asked if he's "familiar with the concept of net present value?," Trump replies, "The concept of net present value to me would be the value of the land currently after debt...Well, to me, the word 'net' is an interesting word. It's really — the word 'value' is the important word." Ever the cheerleader, the real estate developer explains, "Would you like me to say, oh, gee, the building is not doing well, blah, blah, blah, come by, the building -- nobody talks that way. Who would ever talk that way?" [via Daily Intel]

The trustee overseeing bankruptcy proceedings for disgraced financier Bernard Madoff has sued one Madoff client for $6.7 billion. Why? Because Jeffrey Picower, his wife, Barbara, and the Picower Foundation "knew or should have known they were benefiting from fraudulent activity or, at a minimum, failed to exercise reasonable due diligence"—they received 950% in returns one year and for a few years, returns ranged from 120% to 550%.

How many billionaires does turn a third party into a contender? At least two, according to the Post, which says that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and upstate businessman Tom Golisano are working to "revamp the state Independence Party as an 'issues oriented' group focusing on government reform."

Bernard Madoff better have enough coin to pay his cable bills, 'cause he'll be at home a lot more: His new bail agreement puts him under 24 hour house arrest, with security guards (that Madoff must pay), in order to "prevent harm or flight." The harm would be reports of death threats; the flight would be, oh, running from investors big and small who are upset he lost, cumulatively, billions.

The $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme Man Bernard Madoff is still out on bail but under home detention, which means he's got one those ankle-monitoring bracelets. Plus he has a curfew—between 7 p.m. to 9 a.m., he has to be in the apartment.

As investigators continue to look into the $50 billion Ponzi scheme that investor Bernard Madoff was running, what's interesting to note that Madoff's dealings affected the super-wealthy to the just plain-old mom-and-pop savers. Madoff (pictured, with his Park Avenue apartment building at right) was arrested after he admitted to employees (including his sons) that his successful investment firm was a "big lie" that he had used investments from clients to pay returns to earlier clients.

What a different five years makes: The NY Times shares some interesting data on how Mayor Bloomberg has convinced low-earning New Yorkers he cares about them.

Yesterday, it was reported that Mayor Michael Bloomberg would buy back 20% of his company, Bloomberg L.P., from Merrill Lynch for $4.5 billion. That figure finally gave the media more of an idea of his wealth.