In July of 2001, Tremont announced it had agreed to be acquired by Oppenheimer. This followed, of course, diligence by Oppenheimer pursuant to pursuing a transaction. A little bird tells us that Oppenheimer, represented by Goldman and Weil Gotschal, spent three days at Made-off’s office running through the books before, it would seem, signing off. The announcement contained one of those platitudes straight out of the Corporate Communications 202 textbook that you grow used to reading:
“We are pleased to be joining forces with a leader in the alternative investment
business,” said John V. Murphy, Chairman and CEO of OppenheimerFunds. “We
believe Tremont’s multi-manager, funds-of-funds approach to hedge fund investing
will appeal to many of our high-net-worth shareholders. Tremont’s unique product
offerings in combination with our distribution network will open up the world of
alternative investing to a new segment of investors.”
It sure did that.
Did they just miss the issues? Or was Bernie still straight back then?
Tremont Reaches Agreement To Be Purchased [secinfo.com]
He was a crook from the start, please at least check Bloomberg before posting.
Oppenheimer doesn’t want any lawsuits? Too late.
BTW, the name is pronounced MAH-duf.
http://clusterstock.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/madoff-scam-dates-back-to-70s-4000-clients
Clusterstock had the story before lunch, and were still embarrassingly late.
You don’t custody stuff in your own B/D, swear investors to secrecy, charge no fee and hope to “make it up on volume” etc if you are running a legitimate operation.
All of the above characterize Madoff Securities from the get-go.
QED
Straight as Barney Frank.
@2
Made-Off reflects his unique abilities. Nothing to do with actual pronunciation.
@3
Those issues were mentioned days ago on DB
@2 BTW, Duuuuuuuuuuuh.
@6- you’re exactly right. So why even discuss the possibility that Made Off was on the straight and level?
Gotshal
1962.
diablo-tard@2- wrong:
“According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Madoff (pronounced MADE-off) told his sons there was approximately $200 million to $300 million left in his business as of last week and that he wanted to distribute to employees before turning himself in to authorities. The sons told the FBI that they had previously understood that the investment-advisory arm of the firm had between $8 billion and $15 billion in assets.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122953110854314501.html
NEEL KASHKARI IS A DIRTY LITTLE WALLAH
Yeah, correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t that same dynamic duo miss the grade school accounting games during DD at Refco? Loser eats the chunky…
Oppenheimer Funds is owned by Allianz (who also owns PIMCO, I might add), and is not the same as Oppenheimer & Co, in case anyone gives a shit
Just to clarify @14 – OppenheimerFunds is owned by MassMutual. Oppenheimer Capital was acquired by PIMCO/Allianz, and Oppenheimer & Co. is the broker dealer.
Just to clarify @14 – OppenheimerFunds is owned by MassMutual. Oppenheimer Capital was acquired by PIMCO/Allianz, and Oppenheimer & Co. is the broker dealer.
Maybe he was crook going back 20 years, but frontrunning your customer order flow is a very different fraud than running a ponzi scheme. Posters and commentators seem to be equating them. Could have been frontrunning from the beginning, and only only fairly recently engaged in Ponzi.
I wonder how much the Madoff Scheme hurt Mass Mutual’s General Assets. Since they offer a Guaranteed Interest Account as a stable investment option in all of it’s 401(k) platforms, which is only guaranteed by the general assets of Mass?
Not likely… the third founding partner of Fairfield Greenwich was Fred Kolber, who is now in business with convicted White Collar criminal Eddie Gilbert:
From Forbes:
“Convicted embezzler and stock manipulator Edward M. Gilbert is back in business. And if you’re sure that you would never pour money into a real estate partnership assembled by a two-time prison resident who once fled from the U.S. to Brazil to escape lenders, then you don’t know Eddie Gilbert. The charismatic 76-year-old is a seductive salesman….”
http://members.forbes.com...
From FGG PPM:
“Jeffrey Tucker entered the securities industry in 1987 as a general partner of Fred Kolber & Co. , a broker dealer. At Kolber, Mr. Tucker was responsible for the development and administration of the firm’s options company.
FGG began its association with Kolber at that time as a marketing agent, and the firms subsequently merged activities. Throughout FGG’s development, Mr. Tucker has been responsible for directing its business and operational development and has been a director or general partner for a variety of its investment funds. In 1989, Mr. Tucker introduced the Madoff Securities relationship to FGG, which became the basis for FGG’s Fairfield Sentry Fund.”
From BGK Properties marketing material:
In 1991, Fred Kolber co-founded BGK Properties with Edward Gilbert and Edward Berman, to invest in real estate limited partnerships.
Not likely… the third founding partner of Fairfield Greenwich was Fred Kolber, who is now in business with convicted White Collar criminal Eddie Gilbert:
From Forbes:
“Convicted embezzler and stock manipulator Edward M. Gilbert is back in business. And if you’re sure that you would never pour money into a real estate partnership assembled by a two-time prison resident who once fled from the U.S. to Brazil to escape lenders, then you don’t know Eddie Gilbert. The charismatic 76-year-old is a seductive salesman….”
http://members.forbes.com/global/1999/0503/0209068a_print.html
From FGG PPM:
“Jeffrey Tucker entered the securities industry in 1987 as a general partner of Fred Kolber & Co. , a broker dealer. At Kolber, Mr. Tucker was responsible for the development and administration of the firm’s options company.
FGG began its association with Kolber at that time as a marketing agent, and the firms subsequently merged activities. Throughout FGG’s development, Mr. Tucker has been responsible for directing its business and operational development and has been a director or general partner for a variety of its investment funds. In 1989, Mr. Tucker introduced the Madoff Securities relationship to FGG, which became the basis for FGG’s Fairfield Sentry Fund.”
From BGK Properties marketing material:
In 1991, Fred Kolber co-founded BGK Properties with Edward Gilbert and Edward Berman, to invest in real estate limited partnerships.
While it’s certainly unfair and anti-semetic to blame Jews, sadly I think people are looking for a scapegoat and the easiest thing to do is point fingers at Jews, because they are so prominent in NYC banking and real estate circles. Bernie Madoff has set Jews back decades in this debacle, not only financially but reputation and credibility-wise. He is the face of what the stereotypical greedy Jewish banker is often portrayed as. This is really tragic.
@21 — very true. It is amazing how quickly and decisively Bernie destroyed his family’s name within the Jewish community. His sons (I pray they didn’t know what was going on downstairs) have now been ostracised from a group that as recently as a month ago held them in the highest esteem. Tragic.
@2 — It is pronounced “made-off” (at least that is how the family pronounced it when I worked there.)
@18—-Mass Mutual releaseed statement end of the week that Madoff exposure is minimal relative to their total assets.
Can’t be real happy with Tremont investment right now, though.
Bank of America and Mr. Higgins missing $millions, It can happen to you, my fellow Americans
More info: http://www.maxhiggins.com/blog
Has there been a statement from any of the parties involved in the acquisition?
Could Goldman have possibly missed fraudulent trade sheets and phantom trades?
What did they look at for three days?
Oppenheimer was acquiring access to Madoff. Didn’t they rip that place apart and examine everything?
See Naked Shorts today, Goldman repped another bidder for Tremont, not Mass Mutual/Oppenheimer.
Look at Madoff’s returns vs. the S&P 500. Before 2000 he actually lagged the S&P but with much less volatility. Which was plausible given the supposed split strike strategy. In 2001 though the S&P was down 11%, which made it impossible for him to generate positive returns using such the strategy. I’m thinking thats when the ponzi began. Then in 2002 the S&P was down 22%, making it that much harder to recover, even though the market turned positive in 2003.