Tentacles From Madoff Scam Are Far Reaching

The talk on Wall Street today continued to center around Bernard Madoff, who last week was arrested after he confessed to running a "giant Ponzi scheme". The losses from Madoff's scam is estimated to be at least $50 billion. Today, report after report discussed how far the tentacles from Madoff's scam reached. It has had effects on retirees to sophosticated hedge funds.

It is hard for most of us to wrap our heads around the enormous $50 billion figure, but it is HUGE. To put this into prospective, Warren Buffett's stock portfolio is about $52 billion. It is hard to believe this guy accumulated some $50 billion in assets, but as more and more reports surface the figure may prove correct.

The Madoff scam is another blow to the already fragile U.S. financial system. It should be noted that many of Madoff's clients were international. Foreign investors were already hit hard with the U.S. subprime debacle, now this. It is hard enough as a U.S. citizen to keep faith in the system. If you were a foreign investor how could you even put another penny here? It is a crying shame. The U.S. needs to do some major damage control here. The first thing that should happen is SEC Chairman Cox should go.

Here is a list of some victims from the Madoff scam:

$7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Fund invested solely with Madoff
Banco Santander said its clients invested 2.33B euros with Madoff
Access Intl Advisors has around $1.4 billion exposure to Madoff
Fortis Bank may lose as much as 1B euros
HSBC Holdings has around $1 billion exposure to Madoff
Benbassat & Cie has around $935M exposure to Madoff
Natixis may loss as much as 450M euros
Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation has about $145 million
RBS said its clients have less than $40 million invested with Madoff
BHP Paribas may lose as much as 350M euros
Mort Zuckerman's Charitable Trust lost $30 million
UniCredit said it has 75M euros of exposure
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya said may have loss of a much as 300M euros
Bramdean Alternatives had 9.5% of assets with Madoff
EIM Group had exposure of $230 million
Fix Asset Management had exposure of $400 million
GMAC Financial Chairman Ezra Merkin's Ascot Partners had most of its $1.8B with Madoff
Harel Insurance has exposure of $14.2 million
Julian Levitt foundation has exposure of $6 million
Kingate Management has exposure of $3.5 billion
Korea Life has exposure of $50 million
Korea Teachers Pension has exposure of $9.1 million
Man Group PLC has exposure of $360 million
Maxam Capital has exposure of $280 million
M&B Capital has exposure of 137.4M euros
Mirabaud & Cie has exposure of a few million
Neu Privat Bank has exposure of $5 million
Normal Holdings has exposure of $302 million
Nordea Bank has exposure of 48M euros
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System has exposure of $5 million
Pioneer Alternative Investments had almost all of its $280 million in assets
Robert I Lappin Charitable Foundations has exposure of $8 million
Reichmuth & Co has exposure of $330 million
Societe General has exposure of less than 10M euros
Union Bancaire Privee less than 1.26 billion Swiss francs

Other victims includes:
New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon
Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman
JEHT Foundations will close due to losses from Madoff
Tremont Holdings
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg's Charitable Foundations
FIM Ltd
Union Bancaire Privee
Chais Family Foundation will close due to losses from Madoff
Eli Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
SAR Academy
Steven's Spielberg Wunderkinder Foundation
JEHT Foundation will forced to close due to losses
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
Yeshiva University

You May Also Be Interested In