Posted on 12/23/2008 11:13:09 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
ASPEN, Colo. (Fortune) -- Palm Beach and New York may have been hardest hit by the Bernard Madoff scandal, but residents in Aspen, Colo., are quietly tallying up massive losses.
The upscale resort community has a population base of under 6,000, but reports over the past week reveal that dozens of residents have been undone by the $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly perpetrated by Madoff.
According to local asset managers and lawyers, these families have lost upwards of $1 billion. Some have seen up to 95% of their life savings disappear in the past few days -- both long-time locals and part-timers are affected.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
But make no mistake, they’ll be pushing for a bailout too.
Not a single person is named as an Aspen investor in these articles, but everybody knows somebody.
It does beg the question, how did people this stupid (and I do have sympathy, but still) amass all this wealth and NOT KNOW something this obvious?
Mort Zuckerman got swindled, yet Mort Zuckerman is one of the guys who's always put up as an "expert" on the economy. I just don't get it.
Apparently, a lot of people voted for change...and all they’re left with is change.
They got what they wanted, and they need to stop the whining.
They knew. They had to know that there is no "safe" investment that generates high returns over the long term - yet Madoff's did. Most investors apparently thought it was due to insider trading, not outright fraud by Madoff, so they turned a blind eye to it as long as their lifestyles weren't affected.
Weinglass...hmmmm...back in the 90’s I was a young fund manager fresh from the Ivy League and adopted by the Jewish Mafia on Park Avenue. My sponsor took me to all of the people Bernie knows and they all put money with me because of my godfather. I made one deal with them. I said our program was low volatility and that if it ever went down below -15%, then that would tell us that the fund provisions could not withstand the market forces and we would close it out and give the money back.
When the tech wreck hit, that very thing happened and when I tried to give the money back, the investors didn’t want it back and my godfather told me I was an “ethical idiot”. But I insisted and since the day the last dollar was given back...Jewish Wall Street has not taken my call. I wonder how much of those millions ended up with Uncle Bernie Madoff.
Some people never learn...
They're are no losers.
Unfortunately I believe that the American People's "takeaway" on the Madoff scandal will be that since even the wisest and most well-connected investors can lose millions that noone is qualified to invest his/her own money.
Therefore Social Security money will continue to be "invested" by the government, and over time self-directed 401K's and IRA's will be replaced by defined contribution plans managed by our employers.
Though no one was willing to divulge their name due to upcoming legal suits and the fear of being forced to return assets made through Madoff in earlier years, some did share their stories.
So let me get this straight: these chumps want us to bail them out for their losses from the scam, but they want to keep their gains from the scam?
To hell with these freeloaders. 95% loss was not enough.
Fortunately, the lawyers are involved now. That will suck up the remaining 5%.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
They of course all donated to the Zero so by this time next month they should have all of their money back plus interest.
If you have property the taxes will eat a good deal of that up all by itself.
Before the 95% loss the same people would have had at least $500,000 a year in expendable income.
So yes, that is going from wealth to a pretty modest way of life.
I'm assuming most of these people are elderly.
We know warped libs will put on their “victim” act, and will accept no responsibly for their actions.
LEGAL PRINCIPLE There’s the compelling legal principle of condonation operating here---implied forgiveness for certain behavior-----meaning investors implicitly “condoned” Madoff’s actions over a period of decades. They willingly acquiesced to Madoff's activities in several ways :
(1) Sending Madoff enormous sums of money, sums that were spread out over time (some families invested for generations), even AFTER they had the opportunity to assess their investments;
(2) Referring other investors to Madoff (if the investment was so bad, why did they bring in other investors?);
(3) Taking profits out of the investment, rolling it over, or putting more money in;
(4) Writing PERSONAL checks to Madoff's subrosa spinoff vehicle that was not listed on the Securities Exchange (tax evasion modus);
(5) Accepting, without question, Madoff’s obviously flawed monthly statements.
Keep in mind, most of the Madoffians were savvy, successful business people who were accustomed to compiling, reading, and picking-apart financial statements. At least one Madoffian who spoke to reporters was a stockbroker; she and her family invested w/ Madoff for generations.
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THE SALIENT POINTS: Can you say colluding in tax evasion?
The info emerging is that Madoff had 1-2 (or more)investment vehicles that were not SEC-registered. Even more shocking.....Madoffians wrote PERSONAL CHECKS to Madoff that were placed in these unregistered sidelines.
That would make Madoff's operation both a Ponzi scheme and a confidence game. The con game depends on the crooked nature of the marks......such as (1) Madoff investors taking huge amounts out of publicly-traded companies without stockholders' knowlede, and/or (2) hiding their profits on investments in Madoff sidelines.
The IRS might also consider that Madoff provided falsified "loss statements" so that the Madoffians could reduce their tax exposure.
NEED TO KNOW What goodies would be unearthed if Madoff's investors had their past tax filings audited?
DO THIS NOW: As a public service (to us), let’s all ask the IRS to help out by auditing the Madoffians' tax returns.
IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433----you may remain anonymous.
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START NOW----spread the word.
To report misuse of tax-exempt monies and tax fraud
TELE IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433----you may remain anonymous.
Fiduciary negligence---signing off on falsified documents is reported here:
EMAIL askDOJ@usdoj.gov
FBI TIP PAGE http://tips.fbi.gov/ (you may remain anonymous)
Parents of a friend of mine had most of their money in the now-worthless stock of a midwestern bank. No Christmas for them.
A local investment advisor, a friend of two friends of mine, lost a lot of people's money, and killed himself.
My parents are down 50% on their retirement savings.
A lot of sad stories will be shared in family gatherings this Christmas.
“Many of the uber wealthy investors are demanding “The Government” (guess who that is?) bail them out and return their money. “
That would be truly gross. Now the poor taxpayers (I’m poor, and pay taxes) are bailing out the largest corporations in America. It wouldn’t surprise me if the government forced me to make millionaires into billionaires.
It’s not fair that billionaires lost money and now have to live with just millions, but I have nothing compared to them. Why not just give me a few million?
It’s the new America...
It is called greed.
Before this is over, we will probably see or hear about many couples in exclusive locked gate communities with multi million $ huge McMansions suddenly announcing that they are broke.
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