That's RIGHT!
Many of Bernie's buddies walked away with a nice chunk of change.
However, they'llstay free as a bird. The SEC won't do a thing for two reasons.
(1) Believe it or not but I personally know a very, VERY, rich person (borderline Billionaire). And what Dubya and his SEC did to him was borderline illegal. This man was 'Nifonged'.
Many of Bernie's buddies walked away with a nice chunk of change.
The numbers of non-profits and foundations attached to Bernie is very fishy. These groups could collect donations then "invest" it w/ Bernie (after taking a cut). Bernie would then transfer the tax-free monies offshore.
Court appointed trustee Irving Picard, looking into Madoff's assets, unearthed a labyrinth of interrelated international funds, institutions and entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth...... and assets and businesses in 11 places overseas.
You have to take into consideration that Madoff was running several simultaneous scams-----(1) a Ponzi fraud; (2) laundering tax-free money, (3) IRS fraud facilitation; (4) a protection racket (shielding certain investors from scrutiny); (5) Dem campaign fraud.
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 Picower Foundation, The Chais Family Foundation, Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, Steven Spielberg's tax-exempt Wunderkind Foundation, tax-exempt Yeshiva University, the Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue, the Maimonides, Ramaz and SAR day schools---and more---all invested with Madoff.
The IRS has asserted that tax-exempt "foundations and charities" are the locus classicus for tax evasion and IRS fraud. The landscape is littered with these "foundations and charities." Brooklyn, NY residents registered some 800 tax-exempts in Lakewood-----a small flea-bitten central New Jersey town.
Hadassah is one charity that should undergo scrutiny---Hadassah withdrew MORE money from Madoff than it originally put in------it "says" it funds health care initiatives, Zionist education and the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem. Hadassah now says it plans to finish construction of a new medical tower in Jerusalem and that it has added 8,000 new members in recent months (man, that was one great outreach (/snic). The American Jewish Congress "says" it lost $21 million in the fraud.