Posted on 12/29/2008 1:38:30 PM PST by CutePuppy
Clients in Region Invested Millions Through Banco Santander, Fairfield
Wealthy Latin Americans appear to be among the big losers in the $50 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by financier Bernard Madoff, although many in the region are reluctant to step forward due to the private nature of Latin American fortunes, worries about security, and concerns about tipping off local tax authorities.
Some were brought into the Madoff investment fund, which the New York-based financier confessed earlier this month was a Ponzi scheme, through Banco Santander, the Spanish bank, which has major operations through the region.
Other investors appear to have been introduced to the scheme through their friendship with Andrés Piedrahita, a socially prominent, Colombian-born banker living in Madrid and London. Mr. Piedrahita, is a son-in-law of Walter Noel, founder of the Fairfield Greenwich Group, which may have lost $7.5 billion it had invested with Mr. Madoff.
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In Brazil, no investors have yet stepped forward to declare losses, even though local fund managers said some wealthy Brazilians invested alongside Mr. Madoff. Lawyers say the likely reason for investors' silence in Brazil is that they invested overseas without declaring that money to Brazil's tax authorities, a relatively common practice in Brazil due to heavy regulation and high tax rates.
"It was not declared money, and if that is the case, the victims are not going to appear," said Marcelo Trindade, a lawyer and former chief of Brazil's market regulator, the Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios, or CVM.
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Actively marketing an off-shore fund in Brazil is illegal. However, officials with Brazil's regulator said this month they had received no complaints about Fairfield and didn't plan to investigate. "If a billionaire loses money in New York, that is not our affair," said Carlos Alberto Rebello, a CVM official.
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(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Other FR posts on potential laundering / "offshoring" the money through Madoff: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2155402/posts - Madoff's Offshore Cash Stash
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2155181/posts - Madoff probe focuses on tax havens
Links to other threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2155402/posts - Madoff’s Offshore Cash Stash
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2155181/posts - Madoff probe focuses on tax havens
Banco Santander is a SPANISH (Europe - Spain) based, not a latino bank.
Though it is true they have a lot of rep. in south America,
Hey, that's exactly how I look at this, too! :^)
Except that the effects upon confidence and losses to a widening circle of investors may not be so good for the shaky economy.....
lol.
Think about it, you were in the fund in 2002, got paid 15% returns on your money through to end of 2007, took all your interest income out... how much did you lose, really?
You may find this interesting...
Yep, and that’s why I expect to keep my current tagline for quite awhile - Madoff is a piker compared to all the fraud artists in our govt!!!
It was more like 8%-12% net after trading or “management” fees (but “stable” returns), also depends on whether returns were distributed / redeemed or “reinvested” back into the fund (which could have different tax treatment), or went offshore and now could be somewhere in a “black hole” of pooled accounts, that if found will have to be shared with all the latecomers.
Sounds like drug money, Russian Mafia money, no wonder this guys wants to be in taken in by the feds.
Many thanks for the heads up, eureka.
EARLIER STATEMENTS FROM GRUPO SANTANDER DATED 12/15/08
Spanish banking giant Grupo Santander SA, which recently purchased Sovereign, a big US bank, said it placed $3.1 billion of its private banking customers in Madoff's care through its Optimal Strategic. Santander, which has to date emerged unscathed from the global financial crisis.
GRUPO SANTANDER said in a statement on Sunday that its investment fund Optimal had exposure to Madoff Securities of 2.33 billion euros, 2.01 billion of which were funds invested for institutional investors and private banking clients outside Spain. The remaining 320 million euros were part of the investment portfolios of private banking clients in its home country, which are qualifying investors, the bank said in a statement.
"Optimal will undertake legal actions to defend the interests of the shareholders of the subfund," the bank said in a statement on Sunday evening.
Santander said its exposure came from an investment company managed by Optimal called Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland, which was authorized by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority. The Irish-based company had a subfund called Optimal Strategic US Equity which had used Madoff Securities to carry out its investments.
The custodian of Optimal Multiadvisors and Optimal Strategic is HSBC Institutional Trust Services in Ireland, which belongs to HSBC, said Santander.
It said the Santander group also had 17 million euros invested in Madoff-related investments through another fund. In its statement, BNP Paribas said it had no investments of its own in Madoff funds but had risk exposure through its trading business and collateralized lending to funds of hedge funds.
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THE GIULIANI-MADOFF CONNECTION Wonder what Ghouli's holdings look like today?
(September 25, 2006) Ghouliani's Texas law firm "Bracewell & Giuliani" advises Grupo Santander in Acquisition of Leading U.S. Auto Finance Company
NEW YORK Bracewell & Giuliani advised Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. (SAN.MC, STD.N) in its agreement to acquire 90 percent of the U.S. auto financing company, Drive Financial Services, for approximately US $651 million.
(March 1, 2007) Bracewell & Giuliani Firm Advises Cintra in First Privatization of Toll Road in Texas DALLAS---Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Texas-based law firm with global connections) advised Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a Spanish transportation company, in its successful bid to develop State Highway 121 into a toll road through Collin and Denton counties ("trade road" is four football fields wide). The award to Cintra, approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, is the first privatization of a Texas toll road. Bracewell is acting as project counsel to Cintra with respect to the 50-year concession from the Texas Department of Transportation.
Cintra will pay a $2.1 billion upfront and annual lease payments totaling $700 million. "Cintra was awarded this project because of its proven expertise and competitive proposal," said Thomas O. Moore, partner with Bracewell & Giuliani. "This is the largest transportation deal of 2007. This is one of only five deals in the country." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1803916/posts
NOTE: Giuliani and Texas Gov Perry took land from Texans via eminent domain and handed it over to Spaniards.
Earlier this month Banco Santander, which operates in Puerto Rico and eight Latin American countries from Mexico to Argentina, admitted losing more than €2.3 billion ($3.22 billion) it had invested in the Madoff fund.
"Santander clients in Monterrey were invited to invest in that fund," says Ernesto Canales, a top Mexican corporate lawyer in Monterrey, known as Mexico's industrial capital.
i see.
Gosh, I sure would like to hear from some Texans who understand the fine points of this deal.
In more politically correct words, many wealthy people who "value their privacy":
"A lot of wealthy Colombians got burnt," said one leading Bogota businessman. But to date, no Colombian investor has acknowledged losing money in the Madoff affair. Colombia has a history of kidnappings and businessmen are generally wary of talking about their wealth in the media.
According to the article, many in Brazil, including "members of Brazil's large and wealthy Jewish enclave", invested in Madoff funds via private accounts banking services of Safra and UBS.
Madoff has targeted and screwed "his people" all over the world.
Being that many Latin American Jews have second homes in South Florida and/or New York, it should not be a surprise that they got taken in by a certain Landsman who split his time between both areas.
Scamming the drug cartels money?! 5 to 1 says Madoff gets fitted with cement galoshes before Spring arrives.
Thanks, seeing it in the article was a surprise to me. Many Germans and European Jews found their way to Brazil, Argentina and Chile after WWII, for different reasons, obviously.
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