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List of potential victims grows in NY fraud case
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-14 12:22

NEW YORK -- Investors who put their fortunes in the hands of arrested New York money manager Bernard Madoff are waiting to hear how much of their stake is left.


Attorneys Stephen Weiss, left, of Seeger Weiss LLP and Brad Friedman of Milberg LLP each representing dozens of clients of Bernard L. Madoff arrive at Manhattan federal court Friday, Dec.12, 2008, in New York. [Agencies] 

The roster of potential victims in what prosecutors said was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme has grown exponentially longer in the past few days.

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Madoff arrested over $50 billion fraud

Madoff, 70, said in regulatory filings that he only had around 25 clients, but it has become apparent that the list of people who lost money may number in the hundreds or even thousands.

Among those who have acknowledged potential losses so far: Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services.

A charity in Massachusetts that supports Jewish programs, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, said it had invested its entire $8 million endowment with Madoff. The organization's executive director said she doesn't expect it to survive.

Other institutions that believed they had lost millions included The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and the Texas-based Julian J. Levitt Foundation.

Hedge funds and other investment groups looked like big losers too. The Fairfield Greenwich Group said it had some $7.5 billion in investments linked to Madoff. A private Swiss bank, Banque Benedict Hentsch Fairfield Partners SA, said it had $47.5 million worth of client assets at risk.

The losses may have extended far beyond the coffers of the wealthy and powerful.

The town of Fairfield, Conn., said it placed nearly 15 percent of its retiree pension fund with Madoff. Officials were scrambling to determine how much of the $42 million remained.

Harry Susman, an attorney in Houston, said he represents a group of clients who had unknowingly become entangled in the scandal by investing in a hedge fund managed by Merkin, which then put almost all of its $1.8 billion in capital in Madoff's hands.

"They had no idea they had exposure," Susman said. He said his clients were now dumbfounded as to how the fund came to invest all of its holdings with just one man, especially since concerns had been circulating for years about Madoff's operations.

For decades, Madoff had dual reputations among investors. Many wealthy New Yorkers and Floridians considered him a reliable investment whiz. Others, more skeptical, had questioned whether his returns were real, pointing to the firm's secrecy and lack of a big-name auditor.

But when he met privately with a family member at his firm earlier this month, something clearly was amiss.

First, federal authorities say the 70-year-old Madoff surprised the unidentified family member by saying he wanted to pass out hefty annual bonuses two months earlier than usual, court papers said. Then, when challenged on the idea, he said he "wasn't sure he would be able to hold it together" if they continued the discussion at the office, and invited him to his apartment.

It was the beginning of a stunning meltdown for the former Nasdaq stock market chairman.

Madoff himself described his investment business as an unsophisticated "Ponzi scheme," according to investigators who interviewed him.

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