• 23 Feb 2011 at 1:47 PM

Blind Item: Which Well-Known Dictator’s Regime Passed Up An Opportunity To Invest With Bernie Madoff?

By Bess Levin

Hint: he calls Libya home and recently vowed to “fight to the death” anyone questioning his leadership skills.

Moammar Gadhafi’s regime controls $32 billion in liquid assets around the world, including hundreds of millions of dollars invested in U.S. banks, according to a confidential cable written by the U.S. ambassador to Libya last year. The leaked diplomatic message was distributed through WikiLeaks.

The same cable reported that Libya had been approached by two men accused of running huge Ponzi schemes, Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford, but had resisted offers from them to invest Libyan funds with them…The cable is entitled “Technology of Tourism: Head of Libyan Investment Authority Discusses Opportunities for US Business in Libya,” and was written Jan. 28, 2010, by Ambassador Gene A. Cretz, after a meeting with Mohamed Layas, the head of the LIA, Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. Sovereign wealth funds are the vehicles used by Middle East and other governments to invest oil wealth. The LIA, according to U.S. intelligence, is controlled by Gadhafi’s regime.

“Stanford had approached the LIA in the middle of his crisis, offering a 7-8% share in his investment scheme, but Layas had refused,” Cretz wrote. “Layas also mentioned having been previously approached by Bernard Madoff about an investment opportunity, ‘but we did not accept’.”

Gadhafi controls $32 billion, turned down Madoff, diplomat wrote [MSNBC]

Comments (16)

  1. 1
    Posted by Guest | February 23, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    Bill Gross… oh wait, did you mean dictator of a country?

  2. 2
    Posted by Anonymous | February 23, 2011 at 6:59 PM

    LIA > SEC

  3. 3
    Posted by Pfluger the Barbarian | February 23, 2011 at 7:01 PM

    It has to be DF. I didn’t know about his ties to Libya though.

  4. 4
    Posted by Homosaurus | February 23, 2011 at 7:02 PM

    Well they were both enemies of the Jewish people…

  5. 5
    Posted by Guest | February 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM

    Come on people. The guy is crazy, not stupid.

  6. 6
    Posted by Chuddy | February 23, 2011 at 7:16 PM

    Why settle for 7-8% returns from Madoff when you can just steal/take money from your citizens for a 100% return?

    These guys certainly know their risk/reward scatter plots……

  7. 7
    Posted by Guest | February 23, 2011 at 7:24 PM

    Gadhafi’s female bodyguards, being superior traders rescued the dictator again. Also, they are not allowed to watch shemale porn (may have something to do with it)

  8. 8
    Posted by ManBearPig Trader | February 23, 2011 at 7:29 PM

    Sandy Weill

    /True story

  9. 9
    Posted by Autocrat Capital Partners | February 23, 2011 at 7:37 PM

    Show the LIA some respect and do appropriate math: billions in income / zero capital upfront = infinite return…..suck it Renaissance Tech!

  10. 10
    Posted by TexTex | February 23, 2011 at 7:42 PM

    Here’s someone worse than Madoff: http://texsquixtarblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-is-worse-bernie-madoff-or-rich.html

  11. 11
    Posted by Charles Gasparino | February 23, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Omar Gadhafi is a friend of mine.

  12. 12
    Posted by Obvious | February 23, 2011 at 7:56 PM

    Ben Bernanke

  13. 13
    Posted by Obvious | February 23, 2011 at 7:56 PM

    Ben Bernanke

  14. 14
    Posted by KahDaffey Duck | February 23, 2011 at 9:08 PM

    Is it Rham Emanuel?

  15. 15
    Posted by KahDaffey Duck | February 23, 2011 at 9:08 PM

    Is it Rham Emanuel?

  16. 16
    Posted by The Last Bastion | February 23, 2011 at 10:02 PM

    If by dictator you mean, baseball dynasty, and by well-known you mean not-well-liked, its not the Mets…

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