Practicing.
“Bob, please take your hand off my a**.”
Posted on 05/19/2009 7:08:46 AM PDT by ninonitti
Top Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro is reportedly facing a criminal probe into his ties to Bernard Madoff, although experts say it’s not clear the 96-year-old Hub man will ever face charges.
“When you hit 96, I think you get some immunity,” said Willis Riccio, former New England chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Shapiro is one of at least eight Madoff associates targeted by a probe into Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Others include Shapiro’s son-in-law Robert Jaffe - a part-time Weston resident who allegedly served as Madoff’s Hub salesman - and accountant Frank Avellino, who maintains a Nantucket home.
Citing unnamed sources, the Journal said the New York U.S. Attorney’s office has uncovered documents suggesting Shapiro and other big Madoff investors knew their returns were fraudulent.
The paper said authorities believe some players got specific percentage returns that were agreed to in advance. That would suggest investors realized Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March and faces sentencing next month, was running a scam.
Shapiro and Jaffe have long denied any involvement in Madoff’s scheme. “Carl and Bob were victims and had no knowledge of any fraud,” family spokesman Elliot Sloane told the Herald yesterday.
Shapiro, a long-time Madoff friend, faces scrutiny even though he and his family’s foundation are said to have lost some $550 million to the scam. That reportedly includes $250 million Madoff tricked Shapiro into investing just days before the Ponzi scheme collapsed.
Shapiro, a retired clothing magnate, is one of Boston’s biggest philanthropists. He and his wife’s foundation have donated millions over the years to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brandeis University, the Museum of Fine Arts and dozens of other Hub nonprofits.
Jaffe, who splits his time between Weston and Palm Beach, Fla., worked for Cohmad Securities, a Madoff “feeder firm” that connected investors with the now-disgraced financier.
Experts say investigators have probably found paperwork that authorities believe points to wrongdoing by Shapiro and the others. But former prosecutors say actually getting convictions could prove difficult.
“It’s a big step to say someone was aware of criminal activity just because they wanted bigger returns,” Riccio said. “Most of us would want bigger returns if we could get them.”
Another former white-collar-crime prosecutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the government must prove “willful blindness” to convict Shapiro and the others.
“That means you knew - or should have known - that something was wrong, but you turned a blind eye to it,” the lawyer said.
While Riccio believes advanced age and major charity work will prevent authorities from charging Shapiro, the other former prosecutor interviewed by the Herald isn’t so sure.
“My experience in cases where victims have lost a lot of money is that they’ll put the screws on prosecutors,” the lawyer said. “Victims who’ve suffered a lot consider everybody fair game. If a guy has four years to live, they want him to go to (jail) for two.”
Also yesterday, the trustee liquidating Madoff’s defunct money-management firm filed a so-called clawback lawsuit against three Fairfield Greenwich Group hedge funds, seeking the return of $3.54 billion withdrawn before Madoff’s massive fraud unraveled.
Practicing.
“Bob, please take your hand off my a**.”
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