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Among the 13,567 individuals, trusts and private bank accounts is the name John G Malkovich, although there is no confirmation that this is indeed the famous actor. Photograph: Lori Ann Cook/AP
A list of the many thousands of people who invested with Bernard Madoff has been released, including several prominent British society figures and a number of well-known Americans from politics, sport and Hollywood.
The 162-page roll call of victims of Madoff's alleged $50bn (£34.3bn) fraud was filed with the New York bankruptcy court and made public late on Wednesday night. Among the 13,567 individuals, trusts and private bank accounts is the name John G Malkovich, although there is no confirmation that this is indeed the famous actor.
The highest-profile British name is Lady Victoria de Rothschild. De Rothschild, formerly married to Sir Evelyn, was embroiled last year in a Tory donor row. Also on the list of high society financiers, actors and sports stars is Lady Evelyn Jacobs, wife of the Liberal Democrat-supporting life peer who had an estimated fortune of £128m last year.
Other names include family trusts belonging to the Kissinger family, and the American actor Barbara Bach, the wife of ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr – although again there is no confirmation that this is the former Bond girl.
The list also includes John Denver Concerts and John Denver Enterprises, Sandy Koufax – a former star pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers – and Frank Lautenberg, senator for New Jersey. Fred Wilpon, owner of the New York Mets baseball team, is one of many names to appear several times.
The list is peppered with members of Madoff family. As well as Bernard himself, his brother Peter, sons Andrew and Mark, daughter-in-law Deborah, and the wife of his late nephew, Jennifer, all appear.
Victims of Madoff's bankrupt fund range from Hollywood movie directors to hedge funds, Jewish charities and banks around the world. The film producer Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and a foundation run by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel have all lost money. Austria's Bank Medici, one of the biggest financial losers from the affair, denied a report that its chairman, Sonja Kohn, had gone into hiding to avoid furious Russian clients.
In a reminder of the tragedy that the Madoff case has already generated, the list also includes Access International Advisers. In December, René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the co-founder of AIA, was found dead after it emerged that his company may have lost $1.5bn.
Madoff's own lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, appears on the list, as do several financial firms such as Santander, Bank of New York, Bank of America and Citigroup. Santander has offered to compensate the many small investors who have lost money in the alleged fraud.
The list appeared as fund manager Tremont, which lost $213m, filed a lawsuit against auditors KPMG. The suit alleges that auditors should have spotted something wrong with Madoff's consistent investment returns. His fund reported investment returns of 10-15% every year for about 20 years in diverse market conditions, which is highly unusual.
The Madoff scandal broke in mid-December, when the 70-year-old veteran investor apparently told his family that his empire was "all one big lie".
The case has raised new questions over the regulation of the US financial system. Harry Markopolos, an analyst who raised fears about Madoff in 2000, has heavily criticised the securities and exchange commission for failing to act. He told a House of Representatives committee in Washington that the SEC needed to employ fewer lawyers and more people with understanding of the securities industry.
He said it had taken him five minutes to suspect fraud from Madoff's marketing material and four hours to develop mathematical models to prove it. Regulators ignored his warnings.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Famous names pepper Madoff client list
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