AP Source: 10 others to be charged in Madoff probe

It now appears that the biggest winner in Madoff's scheme may not have been Madoff at all, but a secretive businessman named Jeffry Picower.

Between December 1995 and December 2008, Picower and his family withdrew from their various Madoff accounts $5.1 billion more than they invested with the self-confessed swindler, according to a lawsuit filed by the trustee who is trying to recover money for those Madoff defrauded.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510209/ns/business-small_business/

December 20, 2008, 2:36pm

Billion-Dollar Foundation To Shutter Amid Madoff Woes
By Gabrielle Birkner

A billion-dollar foundation that gave to a wide array of Jewish causes is the latest charitable organization to announce that it is closing in the wake of Bernard Madoff’s financial collapse.

The 19-year-old, Palm Beach, Fla.-based Picower Foundation, which distributed more than $23 million in 2007 — including gifts to about two dozen Jewish organizations — announced Friday that it will shutter, the New York Times and other news organizations are reporting.

According to its 2007 tax return, the foundation gave $225,000 to the Limmud NY conference of Jewish learning; $185,000 to the Jewish Outreach Institute, which provides support services to interfaith families; $109,278 to the Foundation for Jewish Camping, and $100,000 to a program that aids children and families living in Sderot, Israel. Picower also made five-figure gifts to such organizations as the Jewish Coalition for Service, AVODAH, Hillel, Jewish Family & Life, the Jewish Television Network, and the JCC in Manhattan.

Medical research institutions, after-school programs, and human rights organizations also benefited from foundation grants. Picower assets are valued at nearly $1 billion.

leveymg (1000+ posts) Wed Jun-03-09 01:32 PM
Response to Original message

1. The Cotai Strip in Macau is the project that broke Sheldon Adelson.
Edited on Wed Jun-03-09 01:38 PM by leveymg

Sheldon Adelson, owner of Sands Corp, lost 95% of his wealth last year, about $30 billion, much of it lost in Macau, according to Forbes. That loss is right up there with Madoff's scheme.

Vegas has been the center of high-risk finance, and when Wall Street melted-down, Vegas burned to the ground. Or, was the "market contagion" the other way around?

There is a major connection between the two biggest American money centers that is not often acknowledged and little studied. GOOGLE "Mafia Wall Street" and "Vegas Wall Street". There's not much recent serious work on the subject.

Adelson was also a primary bankroller for Freedom's Watch, a right-wing propaganda organization. Freedom's Watch funders include: "Anthony Gioia, a Buffalo businessman who was Bush's ambassador to Malta; Kevin Moley, who was Bush's ambassador to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva; Howard Leach, a former Republican National Committee finance chairman who was Bush's ambassador to France; Dr. John Templeton of Pennsylvania, chairman and president of the John Templeton Foundation; Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast Spectacor, the huge Philadelphia sports and entertainment firm; Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and ranked by Forbes magazine as the third-wealthiest American; and Richard Fox, who is chairman of the Jewish Policy Center and was Pennsylvania State Chairman of the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980." Source: Rightwatch

Adelson is, of course, a "beard" for a circle of corrupt, Right-wing Wall St. operators with ties to the intelligence community, a circle that includes Carl Lindner, Charles Keating and Junk Bond King Mike Milken, also long-time McCain backers. When his bankers went belly-up, McCain's chances were finished.

leveymg's Journal - THE CRIMES AND COVERUPS OF JOHN McCAIN, “REFORMER” Jun 3, 2008 ... Like the Bush Family, McCain had his Hand in the BCCI and S&L Scandals McCain claims that his involvement in the Keating S&L scandal wasn’t ...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com /... - 48k

McCain Backer's Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In Colombia ...Jul 2, 2008 ... Late last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25000-per-person fundraiser for McCain and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/02/m ... - 146k -

The public should get a view into the background of Lindner, Keating and McCain, which essentially boils down to big Mafia money that has flowed into the GOP and various extreme Rightist groups around the world since Meyer Lansky made a deal with the Republicans in the mid-1940s.In exchange for their legalized gambling and liquor concessions, Top Bosses Lansky and Giancana straightened up the mob's image in the southwest, in exchange the GOP (along with elements of the CIA) got a piece of the action. See, http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv ....