BERNIE UN-APPEALING (had multiple overseas assets and businesses of unparalleled complexity)

The trustee id'ing Madoff's assets "unearthed a labyrinth of interrelated international funds, institutions and entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth" and assets and businesses "of interest" in 11 places overseas.

ANALYSIS No question-----tax evasion and money laundering was the name of the game for the wealthiest Madoffians-----businessmen who were funneling income to Madoff to avoid US taxes, acting as "philanthropists." The tax-exempt dimension to Madoff's fraud is very fishy. Madoff was connected to numerous so-called tax-exempt " charities, and family foundations." The Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, Steven Spielberg's tax-exempt Wunderkind Foundation, tax-exempt schools and synagogues---and more---all invested with Madoff.

The IRS has asserted that tax-exempt "foundations and charities" are the locus classicus for tax evasion money laundering., and IRS fraud.

NOW UNDER INVESTIGATION---The Chais Family Foundation; The Picower Foundation, (pulled out $5 BILLION just BEFORE the Madoff collapse). Investigators may be looking at the legal parameters of prosecutable crimes including making false statements to state and federal officials, filing falsified documents, obstruction of proceedings before state and federal agencies, fiduciary negligence, and obstruction of US justice.

The N/P's might have facilitated IRS fraud by integrating:

1. Secret control over N/P fund-raising committees.

2. Requiring only one signature on tax-exempt N/P bank checks.

3. Utilizing pre-signed tax-exempt bank checks.

4. Using secret bank accounts to keep secret the actual financial position of tax-exempt N/P's.

5. Assigning bank deposit and account reconciliation functions of tax-exempts to one person.

6. Conspiring to hide oversight of expenses and supporting vouchers from public view.

7. Having no outside auditor to review tax-exempt N/P's statements.

8. Cashing unusually large amounts of tax-exempt checks.

9. Having no official tax-exempt deposit and withdrawal control system.

Authorities should investigate the Madoff-invested tax-exempts' US Postal Service mailings, wire transfers, computer transfers, electronic submissions, and unregulated money transfers, and all bank transfers connected to secret tax-exempt non-profits’ bank accounts.

Fraudulent tax-exempt non-profit activities might have involved using checks passed from one account to another in multiple conspiracies to launder monies.

The stratagem could have been international in its scope due to Madoff's worldwide bank connections. Authorities need to determine the extent to which donors to Madoff-invested N/P's colluded in schemes that may have included misusing reserve bank accounts, concealing transfers, inflating asset values and improperly accounting for transactions.

A formal inquiry should be conducted into the Madoff-invested tax-exempts and their financial activities with officers of publicly-held companies) including (1) Enron-style accounting frauds by manipulating N/P records, (2) bundling contributions into the pockets of politicians, (3) the extent to which networks of companies are financing political candidates in the names of business partners without their knowledge or consent, (4) the extent to which officers of publicly-held companies used accounting fraud to hide illegal campaign contributions, and, (5) the extent to which campaign donations exceeded campaign-finance limits.

Charges might include Madoff-invested tax-exempt charities' accounting managers misappropriating funds to cover personal expenses, fraudulently overcharging for management services, diverting non-profit funds, then converting them to campaign accounts, or in the style of WorldCom greed spending thousands of non-profit dollars on organization credit cards for personal expenses.

A formal inquiry should be undertaken with respect to the Madoff-invested N/P's relatives, associates, co-conspirators or subsets of them, and donors (particularly officers of publicly-held companies), the business dealings between recipients, employees and elected and appointed officials and the extent to which influence-peddling is taking place, and more specifically the extent to which relatives, associates, and principles of the Madoff-invested foundations and charities and their co-conspirators or subsets of them, directed political activities from tax-free non-profit organizations in illegal arrangements.

The BIGGEST FRAUDS are between foundation and foundation .....writing checks to each other (which is the MO for laundering tax-exempt monies). Authorities need to determine the extent to which the Madoff-invested charities manipulated philanthropic transactions, such as:

(1) loans, the (2) sale, (3) exchange or (4) leasing of property to related organizations, and donors, and the extent to which organizations reported (5) "excess benefit transactions" on Form 990, and, (6) the extent to which executive pay properly accounted for with the IRS.

The Madoff-invested charities need to reveal the dimension of contributions these organizations that may have been illegally redirected to political activity and be requested to explain: (1) how the Madoff-invested charities solicit non-profit contributions, (2) how non-profit donations are made, and, (3) the manner in which donors to the Madoff-invested N/P's (particularly officers of publicly-held companies allocated company assets).

The Madoff-invested N/P's should be asked for details about who inside, and outside, these organizations is soliciting contributions, how the various subcommittees are funded, and the extent to which the Madoff-invested N/P's their donors (particularly officers of publicly-held companies) are colluding to perhaps finance political campaigns surreptitiously, and are engaging in other illegal transactions.

The landscape is littered with these "foundations and charities." Investigators need to determine why wealthy Brooklyn, NY residents registered some 800 tax-exempts in Lakewood-----a small flea-bitten central New Jersey town.

Madoff’s investors were generally liberals. I wonder if these liberals, who oppose water-boarding terrorists, would oppose water-boarding Madoff to find out where the hidden cash is?

Madoff will not challenge his 150-year sentence said his lawyer...

Maybe he knows Russians will kill him long before he can die of natural causes - or get out on probation...

Liz, did you write that?

BTW, I walk past the building Ruthie might be living in all the time. Maybe I'll see her when I'm getting a bagel down the street.

The Madoff-invested charities need to reveal the dimension of contributions these organizations that may have been illegally redirected to political activity...

There's no safer place to launder money than a liberal charity - no one looks at them - not the IRS - not the "press" not anyone.

His liberal investors thought Bernie was front running his trades through his market making company to “get an edge.”

These same investors had lots of family foundations which were tax scams including Elie Weisel.

I wonder how many also had rent controlled apartments in NYC/Manhattan. People think rent controlled apts are dumps - usually they are not. Some of them are incredible. Bianca Jagger went to court to try to keep hers though she barely lived there.

His liberal investors thought Bernie was front running his trades through his market making company to “get an edge.”

The sophisticated investors HAD to assume they were providing cheap capital to facilitate Bernie's skimming via his market making operation.

The UNsophisticated folks, who I know a few of, just didn't know anything, and got scammed.

Most excellent Post!

Having investigated Ponzi schemes in my previous career, I always found there were insiders who thought they'd get out 'first and whole'.

It will take years for the dust to settle and find out who is who in the zoo. Hopefully, those legitimate foundations will have 'insurance for the trustees - errors and omissions policies - 'cause the clawbacks are going to hurt.

Madoff will not challenge his sentence ......he knows Russians will kill him long before he can die of natural causes - or get out on probation...

(Shiver) those Ruski boys play rough, alright. I guess Bernie assured them their money was "safe" offshore----could explain why he was allowed to live to be sentenced. With the amount of crime dollars the Ruskie mob had flowing in, it is not surprising that they went to Bernie to launder some of it. Madoff helped the Ruskis steal, and his investors wanted in to get a piece of the action......and all of these crooks wanted to evade the taxman.

How many of Bernie’s “investors” were actually channeling their money offshore? (/snic) Tax evasion and money laundering was surely the name of the game for the wealthiest Madoffians-----businessmen who were funneling income to Madoff to avoid US taxes AND to act as "philanthropists." Bernie needed more money to stay afloat---so he allowed less wealthy investors in later.

The deals outlined here also underline the theory that Bernie was laundering for the Russian mob........billions from drugs, pornography, prostitution, staged accidents, insurance fraud, medicaid fraud, etc, etc, etc.

REFERENCE The FBI has fingered the Russian mob in all kinds of frauds---billion-dollar staged auto accidents, billion-dollar Medicare/Aid fraud, billion-dollar insurance and securities fraud, ID theft, sex crimes, child porn......you name it.

Cable-TV's History Channel did an excellent expose of the depravity of Russian organized crime. The expose asserted that before they land here, Russian criminals stop off in Israel to get all the available freebies (some of the Russian rascals pretend to be Jewish to make Jews look bad, and to fraudulently pocket free Israeli benefits). They come to the US whining about "political asylumm" pleading "religious persecution" and immediately get on the US gravy train, sucking up US tax dollars like it was going out of style. Russian emigres arriving in the US are treated like royalty, with tax-subsidized government grants, tax-subsidized housing, and job set-asides waiting for them......jobs taken from taxpaying born-Americans. Russian TV airs a nightly show outlining the US giveaway programs, how to fill out the forms etc, which US offices to apply to, etc. The sense of entitlement and preying off working class Americans is outrageous.

===========================================

REFERENCE----EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE TRI-STATE JOINT SOVIET-EMIGRE ORGANIZED CRIME PROJECT. RUSSIAN-EMIGRE CRIME IN THE TRI-STATE AREA

Gangsters from the former Soviet Union have established a strong and abiding presence in the New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania region, engaging in a wide array of crimes that range from sophisticated financial frauds to narcotics trafficking to murder.

Evidence also shows that members of disparate Russian-emigre crime groups here have the potential to develop into one of the most formidable organized crime challenges to law enforcement since the advent of La Cosa Nostra.

These are among the key findings of the Tri-State Joint Soviet-Emigre Organized Crime Project, a cooperative research and investigative effort launched four years ago by four agencies in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania - the New York Organized Crime Task Force, the New York State Commission of Investigation, the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation and the Pennsylvania Crime Commission.

Investigative agents and staff from these agencies conducted the project in conjunction with criminal justice experts from Rutgers University. The Project's report presents the first comprehensive public assessment of the threat posed to this region by criminal elements emanating from within the former Soviet Union.

The report catalogues the history and growth of Russian-emigre crime networks, from their core base in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn to their current reach well beyond the New York metropolitan area into the counties of central New Jersey and the suburbs of Philadelphia.

One of the most troubling aspects is evidence of links between individuals here and criminal elements in the former Soviet Union, a phenomenon that lends a disturbing and complex international dimension to this emerging domestic law enforcement problem.The range of criminal and illicit activities linked to these groups is impressive.

The Project report details Russian-emigre involvement in a variety of highly sophisticated frauds and confidence schemes, financial crimes, including money laundering, counterfeiting and securities fraud, narcotics trafficking and an assortment of vice crimes.Russian-emigre criminals are no strangers to violence either.

THE NATURE OF RUSSIAN-EMIGRE CRIME

Crimes of Deception

Motor Fuel Tax Fraud

Insurance and Entitlement Fraud

Confidence Schemes

Counterfeiting

Violent Crimes

Homicide/Attempted Homicide

Extortion and Kidnapping

Drug Trafficking

Money Laundering

Vice Crimes (Regpay, a Florida credit card processing company operated by Byelorussians, was nailed for processing online child porn payments; Minx, Belarus, once a constituent republic of the Soviet Union (independent since 1991) is the country of origin of many of these predators now thieving on US soil.

--SNIP--PDF LONG READ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Ahm0dOHcKHEJ:www.state.nj.us/sci/pdf/russian.pdf

The Russian mob got a foothold in the Brighton Beach area of New York. Then they expanded to New Jersey, and elsewhere. The first big FBI bust was the Motor Fuel tax scam. With the amount of crime dollars the Ruskie mob had flowing in, it is not surprising that they went to Bernie to launder some of it, probably in offshore banks The Russian mob’s viciousness makes the Cosa Nostra pale in comparison.

the unsophisticated thought they were gaining access to an eleite club.

The feeders or middlemen like Merkin, Chasis, Shapiro, and Robert Jaffee son-in-law of Shapiro - they all were getting 20 to 100% returns so they had to know. The guy in Greenwich with the daughters maybe knew.

Looks like people who lost money may go after Shapiro’s fortune. Love it.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/06/shapiro_familys_ties_to_madoff_could_spur_effort_to_recover_investment_gains/

Glad you liked the post——there are so many crimes being committed here-—wish I had the time to post the 40-50 single-spaced typed pages listing the crimes (one crime per sentence).

Of course they would. Being anti-water boarding gives them a “moral high ground” they don’t really have to contend with. Mess with their dollars and they’ll stand in line to pull his eyelids off.

Speaking of clawbacks - looks like Shapiro’s fortune has now entered the sights of lawyers of the victims.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/06/shapiro_familys_ties_to_madoff_could_spur_effort_to_recover_investment_gains/

“He is limited to the past six years of gains; the Securities and Exchange Commission has no time limit on how far back it can go to recover what it calls “ill-gotten gains.’’

SEC has no time limit? LOL! Hopefully the SEC will do their job - but i doubt it.

Soros should be sitting in a jail cell too.

The feeders like Merkin, Chasis, Shapiro, and Robert Jaffee son-in-law of Shapiro - were getting 20 to 100% returns--- and hefty commissions for suckering people to put money with Madoff ----- so they had to know the deal was crooked.

Madoff’s pal, J Ezra Merkin----who co-owns an Israeli bank---was using four hedge funds to feed Madoff. Merkin was a "feeder" who introduced wealthy people to Madoff and gave Madoff access to prominent tax-exempt Jewish religious charities and universities.

Merkin was also then-GMAC chair and got a $6B taxpayer bailout. Where is that $6B?

New York University filed a lawsuit claiming J. Ezra Merkin turned over his investment responsibilities to Madoff's funds and lost $24 million of the school's money. The suit names as defendants Merkin's Ariel Fund Ltd.; the fund's investment manager, Gabriel Capital Corp.; and Fortis Bank. NYU had invested $94 million in Ariel, a partnership between Merkin and Fortis, in the mid-1990s. A lawyer for Mr. Merkin said the school only invested $30 million and made $60 million. Ariel plans to liquidate due to Madoff-related losses, but a temporary restraining order prohibits assets from being transferred out of the fund.

At the time of his hedge fund shenanigans, Merkin was GMAC Chair (an auto-and home-financing company that got a $6B US bailout). Many felt Merkin should not be trusted with $6B federal rescue money GMAC received. Merkin resigned as GMAC chair recently.

Bernanke, Paulson, Merkin---salivating to divvy up the taxpayers' billions. Americans have not yet learned the full extent of official corruption, thievery, schemes and scams involving $BILLIONS of tax dollars aided and abetted by the dupes on Capitol Hill.

Martin Mr. Rosenman, managing member of Rosenman Family LLC, NY-based heating oil distributor, wired $10 million to Madoff via a JPMorgan Chase Bank account on Dec. 5, just six days before Madoff's arrest. The funds weren't supposed to be touched until Jan. 1, according to a suit filed in bankruptcy court, but Mr. Rosenman received a statement Dec. 5 explaining the money was used to sell short $10 million in U.S. Treasuries. There is no record that the Treasury short ever occurred.

CHAIS FEEDER FUND Money manager Stanley Chais managed investments he called "the arbitrage partnerships," according to investors and firm correspondence. His California-based charity group Chais Family Foundation invested entirely with Madoff, and was forced to shut down operations after years of "donating" some $12.5 million annually to Jewish causes in Israel and Eastern Europe.

Brighton Co Investments is headed by Stanley Chais, a Beverly Hills, "philanthropist" who served on "charitable" boards with Madoff. Chais (pronounced Chase) told the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles that he personally invested with Madoff but also "facilitated" others who wished to do likewise. However, spokesmen for the SEC and the California Dept of Corporations said they could find no record of Chais registering as an investment advisor or a broker.

Stanley Chais offers remarks at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

STANLEY CHAIS IS PROMINENT WITHIN THE SOCIAL LABYRINTH MADOFF USED TO RAKE IN BILLIONS---

MAP IS INTERACTIVE AT WEB SITE http://news.muckety.com/2008/12/28/madoff-used-social-family-networks-to-rake-in-billions/9031