GENEVA - A private Swiss bank says it has 56 million Swiss francs ($47.5 million) of client assets invested under the management of U.S. financier Bernard L. Madoff, who has been accused of securities fraud.
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Banque Benedict Hentsch Fairfield Partners SA said in a statement on its Web site Saturday that it is taking "all necessary measures to protect the interests of its clientele and its own interests."
Madoff, a former Nasdaq stock market chairman, was arrested Thursday in New York hours after the collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. He has been accused by U.S. authorities of running a phony investment business that lost at least $50 billion.
The Geneva bank said the amount of its exposure is less than 5 percent of the wealth it is managing.
The bank merged in September with a New York-based Fairfield Greenwich Group, one of the major investment funds that announced they had placed money with Madoff. Fairfield Greenwich describes itself as a leading alternative asset investment specialist offering "best of breed" hedge funds and related products.
Fairfield said it had $7.5 billion in investments linked to Madoff, about half its total $14.1 billion under management.
The Geneva daily Le Temps reported Saturday that financial institutions based in the Swiss city had invested at least 5 billion francs ($4.2 billion) in Madoff funds.
The Swiss Federal Banking Commission, the country's banking regulator, doesn't yet know the full impact of the Madoff case on Switzerland, said spokesman Alain Bichsel.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
inilah kesan Piramid skim
NEW YORK (AFP) - - Some of the world's most powerful and wealthy investors were taken in by New York broker Bernard Madoff's alleged giant pyramid scheme, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
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The Journal reported that victims of Madoff's alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud stretched from Tokyo to Europe and top investors in the United States.
Madoff was arrested Thursday after allegedly confessing to employees that he had been running a so-called Ponzi scheme, or pyramid fraud, which had collapsed with losses exceeding 50 billion dollars.
For decades Madoff was a pillar of Wall Street, cultivating an exclusive list of investment clients including big banks, hedge funds and individuals.
These clients are all now scrambling to discover the extent of their losses, while the authorities are trying to determine why the alleged scam was not uncovered earlier.
The Journal quoted unnamed sources saying that French bank BNP Paribas, Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings and Zurich's Neue Privat Bank were exposed.
Among the long list of top-drawer investors taken in by the scam were the owner of the New York Mets baseball team Fred Wilpon and the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles American football team Norman Braman, according to the Journal.
Spanish newspapers reported Saturday that a fund run by leading bank Santander was also heavily exposed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that several funds of hedge funds -- which raise investments for hedge funds -- have taken huge losses.
"I'm wiped out," the Journal quoted Sandra Manzke, chairman of one such company, Maxam Capital Management, as saying.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Journal reported that victims of Madoff's alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud stretched from Tokyo to Europe and top investors in the United States.
Madoff was arrested Thursday after allegedly confessing to employees that he had been running a so-called Ponzi scheme, or pyramid fraud, which had collapsed with losses exceeding 50 billion dollars.
For decades Madoff was a pillar of Wall Street, cultivating an exclusive list of investment clients including big banks, hedge funds and individuals.
These clients are all now scrambling to discover the extent of their losses, while the authorities are trying to determine why the alleged scam was not uncovered earlier.
The Journal quoted unnamed sources saying that French bank BNP Paribas, Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings and Zurich's Neue Privat Bank were exposed.
Among the long list of top-drawer investors taken in by the scam were the owner of the New York Mets baseball team Fred Wilpon and the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles American football team Norman Braman, according to the Journal.
Spanish newspapers reported Saturday that a fund run by leading bank Santander was also heavily exposed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that several funds of hedge funds -- which raise investments for hedge funds -- have taken huge losses.
"I'm wiped out," the Journal quoted Sandra Manzke, chairman of one such company, Maxam Capital Management, as saying.
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