U.S. In For More Global Anger Over $50 Billion Fraud

Big and small, he “took” them all. Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is another blow to America’s reputation, integrity….

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The list of investors who say they were duped in one of Wall Street‘s biggest Ponzi schemes is growing, snaring some of the world’s biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.

The alleged victims who sunk cash into veteran Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff’s investment pool include real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, the foundation of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, and a charity of movie director Steven Spielberg, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Above: Steven Spielberg

By JOE BEL BRUNO and JANE WARDELL, AP Business Writers

Among the world’s biggest banking institutions, Britain’s HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Man Group PLC, Spain’s Grupo Santander SA, France‘s BNP Paribas and Japan’s Nomura Holdings all reported that they had fallen victim to Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The 70-year-old Madoff (MAY-doff), well respected in the investment community after serving as chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, was arrested Thursday in what prosecutors say was a $50 billion scheme to defraud investors. Some investors claim they’ve been wiped out, while others are still likely to come forward.

“There were a lot of very sophisticated people who were duped, and that happens a great deal when you’ve had somebody decide to be unscrupulous,” said Harvey Pitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulator in charge of monitoring investment funds like the one Madoff operated.

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/
ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_arrest

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Some of the world’s biggest banks have revealed that they are victims of a fraud which has lost $50bn (£33bn).

Bernard Madoff has been charged with fraud in what is being described as one of the biggest-ever such cases.

Above: Mr Madoff is the former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange

Among the banks which have been affected are Britain’s RBS, Spain’s Santander and France’s BNP Paribas.

One of the City’s best-known fund managers has criticised US financial regulators for failing to detect the alleged fraud.
Nicola Horlick, boss of Bramdean investments, said US regulators had “fallen down on the job”.

Mrs Horlick told the BBC: “I think now it is very difficult for people to invest in things that are meant to be regulated in America, because they haven fallen down in the job.”

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME

“This is the biggest financial scandal, probably in the history of the markets – $50bn is a huge amount of money,” she said.

Banks and financial institutions across the world had investments with Bernard Madoff:

Read the rest from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7783236.stm