In financial fraud, being a Madoff victim is better than a High Notes victim
Saw this post on Reuters news feed on 5 ways to avoid financial fraud.
Remembered that not long ago there was news about a son of Bernie Madoff committing suicide because of the pressure that his father’s lawsuit has brought to bear on him.
And the news about a widow of one of the benefactors of Bernie Madoff who invested early with and got out early from his pyramid scheme. She donated back everything that her husband had got from Madoff. How much did she donated back?
Was she legally bound to give back the money? Nope. Her husband when he was alive did not give it back. But she did. Remember her name- Barbara Picower.
If investors have lost $20 billion, $7 billion returned is nearly half of the amount. So in the same news article, it said that half of the Madoff investors can even get back half of their money.
Unlike people who invested in the minibonds, high notes etc who may end up with little for the risk that they have taken with their hard earned monies. Incidentally, 215 victims of the DBS High Notes in Singapore had their case dismissed recently too.
Christmas came early for victims of the Madoff Ponzi scheme.
While those involved in the structured products cases that failed may have to wait a long time to get any justice or compensation.
Source:
1. Madoff investor’s estate to give up $7.2 billion. MSNBC
2. Suit against DBS over High Notes 5 dismissed. ST
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