|
Jewish groups reel from losses to Madoff scheme
2008-12-24
WASHINGTON (AFP) - American Jewish groups were reeling Wednesday from multi-million dollar losses due to investments in the alleged fraud scheme run by Wall Street baron Bernard Madoff. Among them, the philanthropic foundation run by Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel announced that it had lost nearly all its assets, worth 15 million dollars, due to the Madoff funds' collapse earlier this month. Madoff, a mainstay of the powerful American Jewish community who easily gained the trust of the elite in his community, has confessed to losing 50 billion dollars over years of running a pyramid scheme, where new investors were secretly fleeced to pay returns to earlier investors. "We are writing to inform you that the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity had 15.2 million dollars under management with Bernard Madoff Investment Securities," said the foundation, which aims to combat anti-Semitism, on its website. "This represented substantially all of the foundation's assets," it said. "We are deeply saddened and distressed that we, along with many others, have been the victims of what may be one of the largest investment frauds in history." The statement added that the foundation "remains committed to carrying on the lifelong work of our founder, Elie Wiesel. We shall not be deterred from our mission to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice around the world." Wiesel, 80, a prolific author, created the foundation some 20 years ago to foster international dialogue and youth programs to teach tolerance. He is among dozens of wealthy Jews to have lost substantial amounts of money to Madoff, the 70-year-old former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market who is currently free on bail of 10 million dollars as police continue their probe. On Tuesday, representatives of around 30 Jewish foundations met in New York to discuss potential actions in the wake of the alleged fraud. "The purpose was to look at the effect of the Madoff scandal and try to determine what the impact has been and try to determine whether there was any possibilities for action," Mark Charendoff of the Jewish Funders Network told AFP. He declined to say which groups attended the meeting, but said that those in attendance were determined to "try to reverse some of the harm and try to repair some of the damage." Adding a tragic twist to the scandal, a French investment banker who lost nearly 1.5 billion dollars in the alleged pyramid scheme was found dead of an apparent suicide in his Manhattan office Tuesday.
Some Jews fear Madoff case stokes anti-Semitism (2008-12-25)Investor's death probed in widening Madoff scandal (2008-12-24)Jewish groups reel from losses to Madoff scheme (2008-12-24)Fund manager in scandal once boasted about profits (2008-12-16)Alleged Madoff fraud has worldwide exposure (2008-12-15)
| 
