Nice pool to die in, when you think about it.
Posted on 10/25/2009 2:28:00 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Jeffry Picower, a Florida philanthropist alleged to have extracted billions from Bernard Madoff's investment scheme, drowned in his pool Sunday, police said. He was 67.
The former New York lawyer and accountant had been a friend of Madoff for decades.
A statement from Palm Beach police said Picower's wife and a maid found the body at the bottom of the pool Sunday afternoon and rescue workers could not revive him. Picower was transported to Good Samaritan Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at about 1:30 p.m.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Nice pool to die in, when you think about it.
Mr. Picower and a foundation run by his wife, Barbara, made $7.2 billion in profits from investing with Mr. Madoff since the 1970s, according to court documents filed by the trustee, Irving Picard.
In addition to his philanthropic work, Mr. Picower was a lawyer, accountant and investor who once led buyouts of health-care and technology companies. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
Former colleagues and friends said years ago Mr. Picower was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which affects the central nervous system and can impair motor skills, but they said he seemed to be in relatively good condition in recent years. His foundation, which closed after Mr. Madoff’s fraud scheme was revealed, funded Parkinson’s research, among many other things
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125650595881806789.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
Marcia Horowitz, a spokeswoman for the Picower family said “the family is obviously devastated by this,” and that Mr. Picower “had been in poor health.” In addition to suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he also had “a number of heart-related medical issues” for which he met regularly with cardiologists, she said. She said “progress was being made toward a settlement with the Madoff trustee.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125650595881806789.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
LOL,the first of many to follow I would bet.
Nice little shack on the beach.
One big investor in Bernard L. Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme was having trouble getting his money back from Mr. Madoff at least as early as September 2003, according to a court filing on Thursday by the trustee liquidating the Madoff estate.
On several occasions, Mr. Madoff was only able to pay “a fraction of the amount” requested by the investor, Jeffry M. Picower, the court document asserts. That failure to pay should have put Mr. Picower on notice that Mr. Madoff’s money-management business was a fraud, it continued.
William Zabel, a lawyer for Mr. Picower and his wife, denied the trustee’s allegations, calling them “false and outrageous” and insisting that his clients — like many other people, including federal regulators — were deceived by Mr. Madoff.
Nevertheless, the Picowers “have initiated discussions with the trustee, Irving H. Picard, to reach a settlement” of the litigation “to avoid years of extensive litigation,” Mr. Zabel said. He added, “We would hope the trustee would devote his energy and resources to those discussions.”
The new filing by the trustee provided other details about Mr. Picower’s dealings with Mr. Madoff.
For example, it reported that one Picower account was overdrawn by $6 billion when Mr. Madoff was arrested in December
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/trustee-cites-2003-problem-in-madoff-investor-account/
Something that nice ought to have some security cameras.
all that money and look at you now.. greed killed him sure as he thought it was what life was all about
I’d rather be poor, happy and my family healthy than a dead rich guy
William D. Zabel, a lawyer for the Picower family, said he understood that Mr. Picower had experienced “cardiac issues” in the past, and had Parkinson’s disease. “This is a personal tragedy, and the family is grieving,” Mr. Zabel said. “It will be making no further statement.”
The police department in Palm Beach said it had opened an investigation into Mr. Picower’s death, a routine step in all drowning cases. As a result, the Picower home in Palm Beach “has been secured and detectives remain on the scene at this time,” the department reported on Sunday evening.
I’m sure he did lots of nice things with some of the money he had, regardless of where it came from. It’s just that not that much of it really belonged to him.
I had no skin in Bernie’s game - hell, the only way I see those people is on Google Earth. I just was an honest accounting of what happened, for the record.
With his death, any potential criminal prosecution is done, but his estate is still subject to civil actions (clawbacks) and you can bet they are loaded up and ready.
Picower and his wife were founders and directors of the Jeffry M. & Barbara Picower Foundation, which reportedly donated millions of dollars to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the New York Public Library.
The foundation was forced to close its doors earlier this year following severe losses from the scheme.
******
Some of the money went to charity: from 1995 to 2008, Picower took out about $291 million for his foundation, which then donated about $207 million, according to tax forms reviewed by journalists at ProPublica.
Beneficiaries included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Human Rights First (blame America First) and the New York Public Library.
But Picower also had private accounts with Madoff that generated such impossibly massive profits that trustee Irving Picard alleges Picower must have known it was a scam.
Picower regularly enjoyed annual returns of 100% on his Madoff investments. Some years it went to 550%. In 1999, one account earned 950%.
ProPublica reported that it was unclear where the alleged $5 billion went.
Picower’s Palm Beach mansion was appraised at $28 million and his 28.4-acre compound in Connecticut is valued at $4.5 million.
Ponzi Loot Puts Madoff Client Among Richest Americans
Jeffry Picower is a secretive guy, which must have made his turn in the spotlight this week all the more uncomfortable. The former lawyer, who was already being sued for $5.1 billion in alleged profits from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, cracked Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans on the same day a federal investigator sued him for another $2.1 billion, ProPublica reports.
Forbes listed Picower’s net worth at $1 billion, good for No. 371 on the list, but noted he was “likely worth billions more.” The source given for his wealth is “Investments, Self-Made.” If you tack the $7.2 billion in alleged Ponzi profits onto his total, he’d be the 32nd-richest person in America. Picower says he’s a Madoff victim, with $500,000 still invested when Madoff got caught. Trustee Irving Picard says Picower knew, or should have known, his profits were fraudulent.
http://www.newser.com/story/70822/ponzi-loot-puts-madoff-client-among-richest-americans.html
Jeffry Picower and his wife also gave ‘their’ money (stolen it seems) to the Center for Reproductive Rights
Very suspicious.
how convenient
And .. heart attack is my best guess. People who are about to lose everything have a tendancy to have heart attacks for fear of what is coming upon them.
Hey,Palm Beach was a good enough place for one of the heroin addict Kennedy kids (can't recall which one) to die so it's a fitting place for a scam artist,billionaire,Bill Richardson For President donor (according to newsmeat.com) to meet his end.
Suicide by crossing the mob!
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