Madoff Wall Street fraud threatens Jewish philanthropy

[FarCenter]

By Gabrielle Birkner and Anthony Weiss, The Forward

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1046187.html

One charity already closed and insiders are worried that the ramifications of Madoff's financial demise may extend to the many organizations he supported and the wealthy Jews he advised.

On Friday, Madoff resigned from Yeshiva University, where he served as the chairman of the Sy Syms School of Business and treasurer of the board of trustees. Madoff and his wife, Ruth, had also endowed a "Presidential Fellowship" at the university.

<SNIP>

In addition, the Madoffs were such significant contributors to UJA-Federation of New York that the charity placed a death notice in the New York Times, extending sympathies to the Madoff family following the death of a family member. The notice mentioned Bernard Madoff, and referred to the family as "cherished friends and leaders whose deep commitment to the New York Jewish community profoundly impacts millions of lives."

The investor was close to a number of prominent Jewish donors, both on Wall Street and elsewhere. The Wall Street Journal reported that members of the Boca Rio Golf Club in Boca Raton and the Palm Beach Country Club in Palm Beach were heavily invested with Madoff's firm. Both clubs are heavily Jewish.

[Hardrada]

1. Hang around with with dogs and ya get fleas. Just sayin'

[JDPriestly]

2. I just cannot believe what happened there.

How could he have done what they say he did?

Between that story and the Blagojevich story, it seems that the emperors' clothes are all coming off at once. The conduct of these people is so obviously out of line that I have great difficulty believing the accusations. But then, criminals are usually incredibly stupid. It's just amazing.

[Hardrada]

3. It's like they are all desperate to make a really big score

before all the opportunities are lost!

[LeftishBrit]

7. Then do you expect charities to survive without connections to big donors or institutions?

Charities generally rely to some extent on rich donors and/or large financial institutions. And this means that they can suffer if the donors/ banks fail, prove unsound, or commit fraud.

Perhaps these charities could have done a better job of vetting; perhaps not. Some of these disasters can't be predicted, at least not by people on the outside. These financial institutions should be better regulated in the first place - it's not mainly the job of the charities.


Some of our charities in the UK have lost a lot of money because they invested in the Bank of Iceland, which failed.

[MadMaddie]

4. Just think if there had been some decent regulation,

monitoring and audits...this could of been caught.

Guess deregulation isn't so great after all!!

[LeftishBrit]

8. Fully agree!

[Behind the Aegis]

5. I am sure this will please a few and come as a great surprise as well.

[annabanana]

6. The whole thing that makes Wall St. run is the concept of "inside info".

When you trust someone to invest your money, you are assuming that they "know more" than you do. You think they are closer to the information.

What information?

...The information that is not general knowledge is "what information".

It is a pyramid scheme from the ground up.