And, Merkin says his buddy ‘took’ the money, and it's gone. Sorry.
Oh, by the way, come to my billion dollar palace some time for a cup of coffee.
Right. Sure.
Tax evasion would explain why savvy, astute businessmen were giving this crook huge sums ---$100-500 million--- to “invest.” Apparently Madoff kept a cut of the “investment” and wire-transferred the bulk offshore to friendly money laundering havens. The whole scam crashed b/c Madoff probably wanted a bigger cut but the "investors" refused.
If they were stupid enough to give Madoff $100-500 million, that’s too damn bad. I do not believe the so-called "investors" sob stories for a nanosecond. That guy who showed up on Capitol Hill wiping away his tears was putting on a good act to get a bailout.
Investigators should scruitinize these people----looking for their participation in Madoff's fraud. Can Madoff explain why his wife's name appeared on documents linked to transactions under scrutiny?
Madoff ran his scam through a spinoff----separate from his main firm called Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. The much larger main company operated broker-dealer accounts - trading securities for investors - while the spinoff was a hedge fund.
Madoff was single-handedly managing billions of dollars in offices he kept separate from the rest of his firm........The only oversight was conducted in am upstate Rockland County accounting office only slightly larger than a cubicle (the firm's main office was in NYC). Friehling & Horowitz is a three-person accounting operation based in the northern suburbs of New York City. It is run by one partner, David Friehling, who is in his seventies and is understood to live in Florida, and employs an accountant and a secretary. David Friehling is now under investigation.
FEDS DISCOVER YET ANOTHER MADOFF SIDELINE After he was nailed, federal investigators found evidence Madoff ran an unregistered money-management business alongside his firm's brokerage and the investment-advisory subsidiaries. Clients of Madoff's sideline may have included hedge funds.
Madoff's use of numerous non-profit, tax-exempt "foundations and charities" is a huge red flag---the IRS has stated these entities are the locus classicus for tax evasion. N/P to N/P is the biggest fraud modus---writing checks to each other is a much-used money laundering scheme.