More on Madoff
Dec 12, 2010
Posted by Jody Eisenman | Filed under Uncategorized
It has now been two years since Bernie Madoff admitted to the greatest financial fraud in history. Although Bernie is now serving a life sentence, the case continues to go on. There are still many unanswered questions, not the least of which is how some people managed to earn billions while others lost everything. As such, Irving Picard, the trustee for the victims, is suing Sonja Kohn, a rather mysterious Austrian banker. It seems that Ms. Kohn had a network of funds that funneled money to Madoff. She started a bank called Medici, which is named after the famous Italian banking firm, but had no relation to it. She was also a consultant to the Vienna Stock Exchange, and was known as “Austria’s woman on Wall Street”. According to the complaint, Kohn solicited billions for Madoff, and earned $62 million in kickbacks. She insisted that her fees be paid in cash. As the scheme was collapsing, Kohn allegedly began withdrawing hundreds of millions. Picard is seeking $19.6 billion back. Good luck. According to rumor, much of the money she sent to Madoff was from the Russian mob. Apparently, Kohn now lives in an undisclosed location.
The second development is the apparent suicide of Mark Madoff, Bernie’s eldest son. Although he had not been criminally charged, he and his immediate family were being sued for millions. As the director of trading for the firm, Mark earned about $100 million between 2001 and 2008. That’s a heck of a lot of money for that type of job, especially when you consider that there wasn’t all that much to trade. My own personal take is this: As a father, I believe that it is virtually inconceivable that Mark worked side by side with his father for years and did not know of the fraud. So, this fraud has now claimed another life. Will the rest of the missing money ever be recovered?
