When all is said and done, Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff will have looted more than $50 billion dollars from many, many people. From what I understand, Madoff orchestrated one of the largest Ponzi schemes in the history of frauds. A Ponzi scheme is a lot like robbing Peter to pay Paul, only you’re robbing Paul too. Only with $50 billion dollars at stake. And Paul is “everybody”.
One of the people Madoff ripped off is Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg’s private philanthropy group, The Wunderkinder Foundation, is said to have lost their entire multi-million dollar investment.
Damage continued to ripple from the massive fraud allegedly engineered by storied Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff on Monday, even as investigators worked to unravel the scheme’s working and its reach.
While details remained sketchy, the sudden collapse of Madoff’s firm began revealing an impact far beyond the world of the ultra-wealthy and well-connected who were the mainstay of his client base. And the firm’s extensive dealings with charitable foundations and other groups suggest the fraud may take a toll in unexpected places….
The alleged victims who sunk cash into the veteran money manager’s investment pool include real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, and a charity of movie director Steven Spielberg. Irwin Kellner, a well-known economist for MarketWatch.com, filed a lawsuit Friday against Madoff in U.S. District Court in Long Island, seeking repayment of more than $2.2 million he invested with the money manager.
[From AP via Google]
A website called activistcash.com monitored the financial dealing of the The Wunderkinder Foundation, and apparently it’s Spielberg’s “private” foundation, also going by The Max Charitable Foundation (Max is his son). It seems like a foundation that writes checks to charities doing good work, targeting environmental concerns. There are listed donations to Natural Resources Defense Council, Green Guide Institute and Children’s Health Environmental Coalition.
This Bernard Madoff is a douchebag and I really hope he gets sent to jail for the rest of his life.
Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw are shown at Cannes on 5/18/08. Credit: PRPhotos
How much do you want to bet that the old fart is sick and is stashing bonds, hard cash, gold & property for his sons.
These high yield, high risk investments are just that: HIGH RISK. The fraud is sickening but these crimes are fed by greed, even if some funds are for charitable causes. There are big time tax benefits for the investors. I do hate it for everyone involved!
Wifey looks like she swallowed a bird- and it tasted really bad.
What a sucker!! I would love to see all those kind of managers who made this financial crises what it is today, including this f*ck up, to rott in prison hell for the rest of their lives. They don’t have integrity and moral standards. All they are interested is getting their own asses as rich as possible, whatever it costs others, even though you can blame quite some bunch of ppl of being plain naive buying all those sales lies from their money “managers”. I list this douchebag in the same category as all those GoldmanSachsMerrilLynchLehmanBrothersAIGFannyMaeWhoeverElse-Execs!! All moneygrubbing bitches!!!
*vents*
Sorry for the rant, but seriously, what do those ppl think??? Do they think at all? CAN they think? Obvioulsy just about their very own balance check!!! A**holes!!
What I find most horrible is the non-profits that suffered. Especially the Innocence Project. They did not invest out of greed, they did it because they were told it was a good place to put their money so that they could make more to help those who have nothing, and no way to convice others that their cause is just. Not everyone who was hurt here is wealthy or greedy.
Holy poop, Kate Capshaw is looking hellish. I thought she was Ellen Barkin.
Mavis, you’re right, holy crap! Lookin’ a bit rough there Kate.