Bill helps Madoff's victims (SIPC)

The bill could render clawback laws illegal, neuter SIPC, lead to higher premiums for investment banks and investors, and might protect some early participants in Ponzi schemes. Our government at work...

No way— I will not pay for another’s lack of due diligence.Take your loss and leave me alone!!!I would never have invested with that snake oil salesman. Wake up.

SEC knew of Stanford in '97 - NYP, 2010 April 17

The Securities and Exchange Commission knew since 1997 that R. Allen Stanford likely was operating a Ponzi scheme and an agency enforcement official who helped quash investigations of his business later represented the billionaire, according to a new report.
The SEC didn't bring charges against Stanford until February 2009, when it alleged a $7 billion fraud.
SEC Inspector General David Kotz's report also said "institutional influence" in the enforcement division was a factor in the agency's repeated decisions not to conduct a full investigation.
Last June, Stanford was jailed on Justice Department charges that his international banking empire was really a pyramid scheme.

welfare for (foolish) millionaires.

i don’t think anyone was complaining when madoff was lining their pockets ... they shouldn’t complain now.

"Bill helps Madoff's victims (SIPC)"

Much of Madoff’s “victims” were libs and it exposed how libs set up “foundations” to dodge taxes.

This SIPC coverage is BS because Madoff was a private investment fund as far as I know and they were not brokerage accounts.

A creepy and arrogant CPA I vaguely know invested with Madoff and lost. I went through the Adobe Pdf that the NY Post listed all the victims. I was curious to see if anyone I knew was on the list.

These people were not covered by SIPC, yet they are getting payment. What about all those ripped off by other scam artists over the years? I think they are getting compensation because Madoff was in NY. This is also why 911 families got a govt settlement, but OKC victim’s families did not. More selective justice for citizens instead of equal treatment for all.

What's the difference between these two men?"

The scale (size) and The Scales (legality) of the schemes.

Unless an investment house was paying premiums to SIDC, they should not be receiving benefits.
I knew that these wealthy liberal investors would be bailed out by Congress if they got the chance, but this is outrageous. People need to take care with who they invest with and hedge funds like these are known to be risky.

Our gangster government at work....wants new laws to render clawback laws illegal, neuter SIPC, lead to higher premiums for investment banks and investors, and might protect some early participants in Ponzi schemes.

Gangster government wants new laws to render clawback laws illegal----b/c under the existing law of "fraudulent conveyance"---no one can profit from a fraud.

So I guess the tax-exempt Picower Foundation can keep its astounding 950% profit. Picower deposited $1.6 billion with Madoff, and withdrew more than $6.7 billion, for a net profit of $5.1 billion. Picower had arranged the rate of return beforehand.

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REFERENCE Jeffry Picower was a seldom-seen self-styled "philanthropist," investor and confidant of Madoff. One lawyer representing 100 Madoff victims suggests it was no accident that Picower was one of the few Madoff customers who made a substantial profit.

While coverage of Picower has been scant, on various occasions, The St. Petersburg Times, Forbes, and, most recently, Pro Publica, have raised the question of whether Picower used his tax-exempt "charities" to mine information—especially about the medical developments-----that he then used in chasing deals. For example, Picower was the biggest shareholder in Alaris Medical Systems and collected more than $1 billion when it was bought by Cardinal Health in 2004. (snip) http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-25/did-bernie-madoff-get-a-billion-dollar-kickback/full/

Authorities should go after The Florida-based Picower Foundation, worth $1 billion AND a major backer of the abortion industry.

Barbara and Jeffrey Picower
The Picower Foundation
1410 South Ocean Blvd
Palm Beach, Fla 33480
Tele 561-835-1332
Geographic Focus: Florida; New York;
SOURCE http://www.tgci.com/funding/fdnresultnew.asp?thisID=19499

NOTE: After the scandal broke, Mr Picower was found dead, floating in his swimming pool. Mrs Picower had just had her hair and nails done….....so you could not expect her to jump in and save the guy.

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REFERENCE The number of tax-exempt "foundations and charities" attached to Madoff's scam is VERY fishy. NOTE: the IRS has targeted tax-exempt "foundations and charities" as the locus classicus for money laundering and tax evasion. The BIGGEST fraud is one charity writing checks to another charity---the way these "altruistic philanthropists" siphon off funds for themselves--all tax-free.

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 court appointed trustee 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.

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3/07/05
REFERENCE Israel takes action; Bank Hapoalim and its Trust helped others evade Israeli laws

Israeli police investigating a money-laundering scheme have arrested 22 employees of the country's largest bank, Bank Hapoalim. Authorities say the employees of Bank Hapoalim helped customers transfer hundreds of millions of dollars without filing the reports required by Israeli law. Police say the arrested employees all worked at the same branch in Tel Aviv.

While no customers have yet been arrested, they say the case involves many individuals and companies overseas.

In a news conference Sunday, France was the only foreign country named by police as working with investigators. Authorities say their year-long investigation involves 80 bank accounts and 170 customers, informs VOA News.

According to FT News, Israeli police said they had made a number of arrests in connection with a year-long money laundering investigation at Bank Hapoalim, Israeli’s largest bank.

Twenty-two people from the Tel Aviv branch and Bank Hapoalim Trust were arrested or detained for questioning, said Gil Kleiman, police spokesman. He said funds from different countries, including France, passed through the branch for money laundering.

Israel was only removed from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's money laundering blacklist in 2002. Police are checking more than 80 Hapoalim accounts linked to 170 customers including individuals and companies. http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:R98LKOVxtfYJ:newsfromrussia.com/accidents/2005/03/07/58565.html

So I guess the tax-exempt Picower Foundation can keep its astounding 950% profit.

I think that's the gist of this legislation - it's practically a Ponzi Schemers Protection Act (Ponzi Spa, for short)...

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.

So do Obama and Dems in government, but they have the legal protection for their racket. To mix Willie Sutton and Gordon Gekko metaphors, Big Government is good because that's where the big money is.

Additional info on SEC and R. Allen Stanford:
Report Says SEC Missed Many Shots at Stanford - WSJ (sub), 2010 April 17, by Michael R. Crittenden and Kara Scannell

The Securities and Exchange Commission suspected Texas financier R. Allen Stanford of running a Ponzi scheme as early as 1997 but took more than a decade to pursue him seriously, according to a report further tarring the agency that missed Bernard Madoff's huge fraud.
The report by the SEC's inspector general says SEC examiners concluded four times between 1997 and 2004 that Mr. Stanford's businesses were fraudulent, but each time decided not to go further. It singles out the former head of the SEC's enforcement office in Fort Worth, Texas, accusing him of repeatedly quashing Stanford probes and then trying to represent Mr. Stanford in private practice.
The former SEC official, Spenser Barasch, is now a partner at law firm Andrews Kurth LLP. He couldn't be reached for comment. ... The inspector heneral referred Mr. Barasch for possible disbarment from practicing law. .....
SEC Inspector General David Kotz's report suggests the agency's mistakes in the Stanford case were in part the result of a culture that favored easily resolved cases over messier ones.
Cases such as the alleged Stanford fraud were not considered "quick hit" or "slam dunk," and examiners were discouraged from pursuing them, Mr. Kotz found.
Unlike the Madoff case, in which Mr. Madoff's highly technical descriptions of his supposed trading misled the SEC's examiners, the agency quickly recognized signs of an apparent Ponzi scheme at Mr. Stanford's operation.
Examiners noted that Mr. Stanford was promising to pay investors a return well above the market, without any apparent way of delivering on that promise.
In 1997, just two years after Mr. Stanford's businesses registered with the agency, a Fort Worth examination official told her branch chief to "keep your eye on these people" — a reference to Mr. Stanford — "because this looks like a Ponzi scheme to me and some day it's going to blow up."
That was among the first such findings, and it was followed by similar conclusions in 1998, 2002 and 2004, according to the inspector general. .....
SEC enforcement officials also appear to have ignored warnings from insiders at Stanford's operations. The report said a letter was forwarded to the SEC in October 2003 by the National Association of Securities Dealers. Using all capital letters, it warned that the Stanford businesses "will destroy the life savings of many." .....

April 15, 2010
Department of Justice Press Release
For Immediate Release
United States Attorney’s Office
District of New Jersey
Contact: (973) 645-2700

Third Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Transmitting Cash to Rabbi and Cooperating Witness

TRENTON, NJ—A Brooklyn, New York man pleaded guilty today to operating an illegal money transmitting business that transferred large amounts of cash to a cooperating witness and to Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, the then-principal rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, New Jersey, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Akiva Aryeh Weiss (a/k/a “Arye Weiss”), 54, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Joel A. Pisano to a one-count Information that charged him with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, or “cash house,” out of a location in Brooklyn.

At his plea hearing, Weiss admitted that, from June 2007 to July 2009, he operated an unlicensed money transmitting business with individuals residing in Israel, and that in conducting his business from a location in Brooklyn, he transferred thousands of dollars in cash to Ben Haim and a cooperating witness who was acting for Ben Haim. Weiss admitted that, during the relevant period, he transferred between $200,000 and $400,000 in cash to Ben Haim and the cooperating witness.

Today’s guilty plea stems from a two-track undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) investigation into public corruption and international money laundering which resulted in the charging of 44 individuals via criminal Complaints on July 23, 2009. At that time, Weiss was charged with conspiring with Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, 59, of Elberon, New Jersey, to launder money and operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Other “cash house” operators, Yeshaye Ehrental (a/k/a “Yeshayahu Ehrental”) and Schmuel Cohen (a/k/a “Schmulik Cohen”), also were charged on that same date with conspiring with Ben Haim. On April 14, 2010, Ehrental and Cohen pleaded guilty before Judge Pisano to operating illegal money transmitting businesses.

The charge to which Weiss pleaded guilty carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Pisano continued Weiss’ release on a $300,000 bond and home detention with electronic monitoring pending sentencing.

In addition, at the plea hearing, Weiss agreed not to contest the forfeiture of $157,757 in U.S. currency that was seized from his business by the FBI on July 23, 2009. Weiss, Ehrental, and Cohen are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Pisano on July 26, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. The case against Ben Haim is pending.

In determining an actual sentence, Judge Pisano will consult the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which recommend sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offenses, the defendant’s criminal history, if any, and other factors, including acceptance of responsibility.

The judge, however, has discretion and is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all of that time.

Fishman credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, and Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge William P. Offord, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The case involving Weiss is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Nakly of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark. The charges and allegations contained in the Complaint against Ben Haim are merely accusations, and Ben Haim is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. 10-106 ### Defense Counsel: Gino Josh Singer, Esq., New York, NY

http://newark.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nk041510b.htm

one burned up $50 billion or so

the other is burning up trillions that we don’t have

I like this part:

If the bill is passed, it would work retroactively,

It figures that this Bill would come from two NY Pols. Who naturally are utterly ignorant of what is contained in that Constitution thingy of ours. And as such what Congress CAN'T DO:

Article I, Section 9,
No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

For the benefit of Reps Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) and Peter King (R-Long Island) I'll explain in plain ENGLISH what ex post facto means: No Retroactive Laws! And it comes from Latin for; "from after the action"

It *may* have good intentions. But good intentions and a dime will get you NOTHING. They should step across the hall and ask Sen Di-Fi about 'Laws of Good Intentions', then duck real fast.

.....figures that this Bill would come from two NY Pols. Who naturally are utterly ignorant of what is contained in that Constitution thingy of ours. And, as such, what Congress CAN'T DO......

Heavens to Betsy, it's almost as if the two pols got paid off to do S-o-m-e-thing......anything (/snix).

Heavens to Betsy, it's almost as if the two pols got paid off to do S-o-m-e-thing......anything (/snix).

There's *something* about that Peter King guy that gives me pause. I see him all over FoxNews talking 'conservative' then doing 180's on something. And that Ackerman is a barking moonbat.

Granted the Reps from the city of Chicago are NO BETTER. 'Heck' some are convicted Felons. (Why they should be allowed IN Congress beats me? But there they sit.)

KEEP IN MIND The court-appointed trustee looking into Bernie Madoff's scheme unearthed a labyrinth of interrelated international funds, institutions and entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth...... and assets and businesses in 11 places overseas. Madoff had numerous connections to tax-exempt religious affinity charities. No question, tax evasion and money laundering was the name of the game for the wealthy Madoffians-----businessmen who were funneling income to Madoff to avoid US taxes, who were posing as "philanthropists" and religious leaders.

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NOTE: Deal is a posh seaside community of luxury homes. Solomon Dwek became a govt witness in order to stay out of jail---Dwek and his wife ran an Orthodox religious school founded by his father, a Rabbi………and was running a money laundering real estate scheme for the wealthy Deal community of Syrian Sephardic Jews. Dwek famously bounced $50 million checks at a drive-up bank window.

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Thursday, 23 July 2009
US Attorney: The money laundering investigation

Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim of the Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal is a key figure in the investigation The money laundering conspiracy involved high-ranking religious figures and their associates in Brooklyn and Deal. Among them was Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, of Long Branch, the principal rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal.

Typically, according to the criminal complaints, Haim received bank checks in amounts ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to $160,000 at a time made payable to a charitable, tax exempt organization associated with Haim and his synagogue. To complete the money laundering cycle, Haim would return the amount of the check in cash to the cooperating witness, less a cut for Haim, typically 10 percent.

Haim's source of cash for funding the money laundering was, according to the complaints, an Israeli in Israel who, Haim said, he had worked with for years. For a fee, that source would make cash available through other individuals charged Thursday who ran cash houses in Brooklyn. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were regularly available from the cash houses for Haim to return to his money laundering clients, including the government's cooperating witness.

Similar circles of money launderers in Brooklyn and Deal operated separately but occasionally co-mingled activities and participants. In most cases, the rings were led by rabbis who used charitable, non-profit entities connected to their synagogues to "wash" money that they understood came from criminal activity like bank fraud, counterfeit goods and other illegal sources, according to the criminal complaints.

Since such large amounts of cash were being transacted — tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per transaction, often multiple times in a week — the rabbis made significant sums in fees, which typically ran between five and ten percent per transaction.

One of the other money laundering operations was allegedly led by Rabbi Saul Kassin, a leading Brooklyn rabbi, and another by Rabbi Edmund Nahum, the leader of a synagogue in Deal. In one secretly recorded conversation, Nahum tells the cooperating witness that he should launder his money through a number of rabbis. "The more it's spread the better," Nahum said, according to his criminal complaint.

In another conversation, Kassin allegedly asked the cooperating witness — who at the moment was conducting a $25,000 transaction with Kassin — why he didn't do all his business with Haim. The cooperating witness replied that he had by that time already conducted between $600,000 and $700,000 in money laundering transactions with Haim. Another group of alleged money launderers was led by Rabbi Mordchai Fish, a rabbi at a Brooklyn synagogue. Fish's brother, Rabbi Lavel Schwartz, a rabbi, was also charged with money laundering.

Also arrested was Levi Deutsch, an Israeli living in Israel who, according to the complaints, was a high-level source of cash from overseas for funding the bank checks that passed through charitable entities. Deutsch, who traveled frequently between Israel and New York, explained to the cooperating witness that the source of his cash was the "diamond business (and) other, other things," according to the complaints.

He further explained that he was associated with a Swiss banker who charged "two, three points" per $1 million laundered through him. (Deutsch is a different person than the Israeli working with Haim.)

Finally, another alleged money launderer was Moshe "Michael" Altman, a Hudson County real estate developer who, according to the criminal complaints, "washed" more than $600,000 in dirty checks to cash for the cooperating witness through charitable, non-profit entities.

Altman is also the intermediary who introduced the cooperating witness to Jersey City building inspector John Guarini, who allegedly took $20,000 from the cooperating witness in July 2007, and $40,000 in total over time.

Here are the individuals charged in the money laundering investigation and summaries of their alleged conduct as described in the criminal complaints:

Rabbi Saul Kassin, the chief rabbi of Sharee Zion in Brooklyn, who laundered more than $200,000 with the cooperating witness between June 2007 and last December by accepting "dirty" bank checks from the cooperating witness and exchanging them for clean checks from Kassin's charitable organization, after taking a fee of 10 percent for each transaction.

Rabbi Edmund Nahum, principal rabbi at Deal Synagogue in Deal, who laundered money both acting alone and with Kassin. Nahum laundered $185,000 between June 2007 and last December by accepting dirty checks from the cooperating witness and exchanging them for clean checks from his own and Kassin's charitable organizations, after taking a fee of 10 percent for each transaction.

Both Kassin and Nahum also laundered money to create fictitious tax deductions by accepting checks made payable to their charitable organizations, which created the appearance of charitable donations. They then deducted their 10 percent fee for laundering the checks through their charitable organization accounts and returned to the originators checks drawn on one of their accounts for 90 percent of the value of the original checks. These return checks would be payable to a name designated by the originators.

Rabbi Eli Ben Haim, principal rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, laundered $1.5 million with the cooperating witness between June 2007 and last February by accepting dirty checks from the cooperating witness and exchanging them for cash, after taking a fee of approximately 10 percent for each transaction. His source for the cash was an Israeli who, for a fee of 1.5 percent, supplied the cash through intermediary cash houses run by defendants Weiss, Ehrental, and Cohen, who are described below. Ben Haim remarked that at one time he had laundered between $7 million and $8 million in one year, and earned $1 million laundering money in that year.

Cash House Operators for Haim transactions:

Arye Weiss operated cash house from his residence in Brooklyn for Haim money laundering transactions; charged with supplying $300,000 in cash.

Yeshayahu Ehrental operated cash house from his office in Brooklyn for Haim money laundering transactions; charged with supplying $300,000 in cash.

Schmulik Cohen operated cash house from his residence in Brooklyn for Haim money laundering transactions; charged with supplying $850,000 in cash.

Rabbi Mordchai Fish, head of Congregation Sheves Achim in Brooklyn. Working with his brother Rabbi Lavel Schwartz of Brooklyn, Fish laundered approximately $585,000 with the cooperating witness by accepting dirt y checks and exchanging them for cash, after taking a fee of 15 percent for each transaction. His source for the cash for some of the transactions was Levi Deutsch, who supplied the cash through an intermediary cash house run by Spira; for other transactions his source for the cash is unidentified but the cash was provided by cash couriers Gertner and Goldhirsh and cash houses run by Pollack and Weber. On two occasions over the course of his dealings with the Cooperating witness, Fish gave the Cooperating witness new chips for his cell phone to thwart any law enforcement attempt to wiretap their telephone calls.

Levi Deutsch, the Israeli supplier of cash for a number of Fish money laundering transactions. For a fee of two or three percent, he supplied cash for the transactions through intermediary Spira's cash house and is charged with supplying $200,000 in cash.

Cash House Operators and Cash Couriers for Fish transactions:

Binyomin Spira operated a cash house from a bakery in Brooklyn in which he received cash from Levi Deutsch and supplied cash for Fish money laundering transactions, charged with supplying $200, 000 in cash.

Yolie Gertner acted as a cash courier for Fish money laundering transactions, charged with moving $185,000 in cash.

David Goldhirsh acted as a cash courier for Fish money laundering transactions, charged with moving $100,000 in cash.

Abe Pollack operated cash house from his office in Brooklyn (which he shared with Naftoly Weber) for Fish money laundering transactions, charged with supplying $125,000 in cash.

Naftoly Weber operated cash house from his office in Brooklyn (which he shared with Abe Pollack) for Fish money laundering transactions, charged with supplying $125,000 in cash.

Additionally, money laundering charges were filed against Shimon Haber and Itzak Friedlander, associates of Michael Altman.