Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Search
Search:
Madoff due in court for Wall Street fraud
AFP - Thursday, December 18
NEW YORK (AFP) - - US investment baron Bernard Madoff was Wednesday due in court for the first time since being accused of a 50-billion dollar scam as the US finance watchdog admitted it had long ignored warnings.
The initial findings by the Securities and Exchange Commission probing the affair were "deeply troubling," admitted SEC chairman Christopher Cox.
"I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them," he said in a statement late Tuesday.
He said the watchdog would investigate why almost a decade of warnings -- including an examination of staff contact with Madoff's family -- did not uncover the Wall Street investment fraud sooner.
US authorities allege Madoff used money from new investors to pay interest to other investors, in a fraud scheme known as a Ponzi pyramid.
Madoff, 70, has allegedly confessed to the scam, which collapsed after clients demanded their money back as the global financial crisis hit.
The former head of the Nasdaq index was due to appear in a Manhattan court at 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) to establish whether he has met his bail conditions, after he was released on a 10-million dollar bond following his arrest on Thursday.
Madoff has been required to surrender his passport, and the bond, secured by his seven-million-dollar Manhattan apartment, must also be signed by three more guarantors as well as his wife.
If unable to secure guarantors by Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors may seek to have him jailed, pending trial.
The SEC chairman announced a probe late Tuesday into how the financial regulatory body failed to detect the scheme, which duped large European banks as well as millionaire investors, for almost a decade.
Cox said the SEC "has learned that credible and specific allegations regarding Mr. Madoff's financial wrongdoing, going back to at least 1999, were repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, but were never recommended to the commission for action."
The SEC probe is also investigating the relationship between Madoff's niece, Shana Madoff and a former SEC attorney Eric Swanson. The couple were married in 2007.
The probe will "include all staff contact and relationships with the Madoff family and firm, and their impact, if any, on decisions by staff regarding the firm," Cox said.
Before leaving the commission in 2006, Swanson worked for 10 years as a senior inspections and examination official. Swanson dated Shana Madoff for a year before marrying, his spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.
The SEC's failure to halt the fraud has been sharply criticized as banks and funds around the world, already licking wounds from the financial crisis, have reported huge losses from exposure to Madoff Investment Securities.
Spain's biggest bank Santander announced potential losses of more than three billion dollars (2.19 billion euros).
Private Austrian bank Medici said it had exposure of 2.1 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros) via two of its investment funds, but insisted the bank would pull through.
Dutch bank Fortis announced exposure of at least 1.2 billion dollars and Britain's HSBC at 1.0 billion dollars.
Italian bank UBI Banca estimated its exposure totalled slightly more than 84 million dollars (60 million euros). Other European banks have announced exposure of hundreds of millions of dollars.
In Japan, Aozora Bank said its exposure might amount to 12.4 billion yen (137 million dollars).
Even the charitable Wunderkinder Foundation of Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg fell victim to the mammoth fraud, with about 70 percent of the dividend income and interest for the foundation handled by Madoff's securities firm, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (2 votes)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Enlarge Photo
A copy of the London Evening Standard front page is pictured outside the entrance to the London office of Madoff Securities International. US investment baron Bernard Madoff is due in court for the first time since being accused of a 50-billion dollar scam as the US finance watchdog admitted it had long ignored warnings.
Most Popular – Top Stories
Viewed
'Dark energy' expands, contracts universe: researchers
Bush laughs off Iraq flying shoes drama
Actress Jennifer Aniston appears naked in GQ magazine
Fed cuts rate to virtually zero, will expand stimulus moves
OPEC agrees to record cut in oil output: Saudi minister
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular