Securities Law

Madoff ‘Trying to Cut a Deal’

Prosecutors acknowledged in a court order released Monday that the lawyer for accused financier Bernard Madoff is in talks about “a possible disposition of this case.” Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, didn’t comment about the order delaying a hearing in the case that had been scheduled for Monday, the New…

Jan 13, 2009 11:58 AM CST

David Stockman Charges Dropped; Defense Hits US Reliance on Davis Polk Probe

David Stockman’s lead defense lawyer claims the government made a mistake by relying on an internal corporate investigation by Davis Polk & Wardwell to bring criminal charges against his client. Federal prosecutors announced Friday that they were dropping charges against Stockman, who served as budget director under Ronald Reagan, report…

Jan 12, 2009 3:41 PM CST

As Feds Seek to Lock Up Madoff & His Money, Jailed Dreier Asks to Pay Lawyer

As federal prosecutors and a growing number of once-wealthy investors with Bernard Madoff urge that the alleged architect of a $50 billion hedge fund Ponzi scheme be imprisoned so that he can’t dissipate any more money, another defendant in a federal financial fraud case of somewhat less stunning scope is…

Jan 9, 2009 6:33 PM CST

Madoff Was About to Send $173M to Friends & Family, Prosecutors Contend

Upping the ante in an ongoing argument about whether bail should be revoked for Bernard Madoff, a prosecutor contends in a letter sent to federal court today that investigators found $173 million in checks in his desk that he was about to send to friends, family and employees. The accused…

Jan 8, 2009 6:56 PM CST

Latest Madoff Issues: Jewelry ‘Gifts’ Rile Feds, Judge OKs 3rd-Party Asset Freeze

At the request of New York University, a New York judge has extended a previous order preventing a $1.5 billion hedge fund and a limited investment partnership, as well as the man who operates them, from liquidating assets after losses they reportedly suffered by investing money with Bernard Madoff. NYU…

Jan 6, 2009 5:57 PM CST

Why Madoff Warnings Were Ignored: Regulators Had Wrong Incentives

For nine years, Harry Markopolos tried to persuade the SEC that Bernard Madoff must be running an investment scam, contending that the strategy he claimed to be using didn’t match up with known facts such as the volume of trading on the options market. But, despite numerous investigations by the…

Jan 5, 2009 9:53 PM CST

Madoff Trustee Provides Claim Info

Lawyers representing clients who lost money investing in Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme may wish to take a close look at the newspaper. A court-appointed trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities has mailed off claim forms to more than 8,000 investors, but claim information is printed as…

Jan 5, 2009 8:33 PM CST

How Former Dreier Client Became a Co-Defendant in Claimed $200M Scheme

In 2006, Kosta Kovachev consented, without admitting wrongdoing, to a $358,146 judgment in a civil Securities and Exchange Commission case. It concerned an alleged timeshare-sales Ponzi scheme involving 10 defendants and claimed profits of $28 million. His attorney at the time was Marc Dreier. By 2008, Kovachev, a 57-year-old Harvard…

Jan 5, 2009 6:10 PM CST

‘Chaotic’ Lehman Bankruptcy Cost up to $75B in Value

An internal analysis concludes that Lehman Brothers lost up to $75 billion in value because of the hurried nature of its bankruptcy filing. The “unplanned and chaotic” filing led to cancellation of 900,000 separate derivatives contracts under provisions that called for contract terminations under an “event of default,” the Wall…

Jan 5, 2009 2:47 PM CST

How Lawyers Enabled The Meltdown

And how they might have prevented it

Jan 1, 2009 10:30 AM CST

Double-Edged Rules

Proposed accounting changes alarm corporate counsel

Jan 1, 2009 6:50 AM CST

Where Was Compliance, as Madoff Allegedly Lost $50B?

Compliance is suddenly a hot topic, in the wake of the Bernard Madoff scandal. Specifically, how is it possible that his investment firm allegedly could have lost $50 billion in a claimed Ponzi scheme without anyone else at the firm figuring out that something was wrong? (Of course, the SEC…

Dec 23, 2008 8:32 PM CST

Another Person is Charged in Alleged $100M Dreier Fraud

A former broker who reportedly also may have been a former client of the Dreier law firm has been criminally charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and allegedly helped Dreier’s founding partner swindle more than $100 million from two unidentified hedge funds. Kosta Kovachev, 57, is accused of pretending…

Dec 23, 2008 5:57 PM CST

Fairfield Hedge Fund Sued Over $7.5B Madoff Investment

Add another lawsuit to the growing list of litigation concerning the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme claimed to have been run by Bernard Madoff under the guise of a hedge fund. A complaint filed Friday in state court in New York alleges breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and unjust enrichment…

Dec 23, 2008 1:25 AM CST

Bad Year Gets Worse for Eliot Spitzer: His Real Estate Firm Invested With Madoff

Surely 2008 must already have been a year that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer won’t remember as a particularly good one, after resigning from office over a prostitution scandal. But it’s just gotten even worse for Spitzer, who is also a former state attorney general known for his crusades…

Dec 19, 2008 11:23 PM CST