Over the past year, the liquidator American, Irving Picard, chasing all the supposed beneficiaries of the scam ridden by Bernard Madoff. The latter is currently serving a sentence of 150 years in prison for organized fraud that has cost 65 billion dollars to about three million savers. Among the victims, celebrities, like Liliane Bettencourt who lost 22 million euros.
The liquidator has until Saturday to file complaints against alleged accomplices and ask for funds for victims. Under U.S. law, plaintiffs have two years to initiate legal action from the day they discovered the fraud. Several major banks are in the eye of the cyclone. The most recent: Natixis, Fortis, Citigroup or Merrill Lynch.
But charities that had benefited from income or donations from fraudulent and individuals are also pursued by the liquidator. This is particularly true of family members of Bernard Madoff. He has launched legal action against London including his brother Peter and her children Mark and Andrew. He said some hope to get $ 80 million of these lawsuits against the family Madoff.
$ 9.1 billion claimed to Austrian banker
But of all the complaints filed by Irving Picard, one he hopes to recover the most money is an action against the founding president and principal shareholder of the Austrian bank Medici, Sonja Kohn.Described as "soul mate criminal" by Bernard Madoff, the latter is accused of having created the Medici bank only to convey funds to the tune of 9.1 billion dollars to "Bernie Madoff. Today is the amount that the liquidator is claiming. For the latter, Sonja Kohn acted "under various names and disguises." "For over 20 years, Kohn has organized a vast assembly illegal to exploit its relationship with Madoff to drain more than $ 9.1 billion of money from others in its mounting Ponzi," according to the terms of the complaint filed Friday.
He added: "The unlawful assembly Kohn has enriched his family and dozens of other individuals and entities, including the largest banks in Austria and Italy, the costs of goods and BLMIS on the backs of victims of Madoff "reads yet.The liquidators expect to recover from it, six members of his family, the Italian bank Unicredit, its subsidiary Bank Austria and 53 other individuals and entities, a total of 19.6 billion.
In Vienna, a spokesman for Bank Austria, Martin Halama, responded Saturday by saying that this institution was "otherwise vehemently to this complaint. The latter we have not yet been released, and therefore we can not comment in detail, "he told the Austrian news agency APA, while reiterating that the Bank Austria sees itself in this case" as a victim and not an accomplice "by Bernard Madoff.
HSBC
Nine billion. It is the largest amount claimed by Irving Picard to a company in Madoff.And this company is HSBC, which the liquidator has "created, promoted and supported an international network of a dozen feeder funds domiciled in Europe, the Caribbean and Central America." British bank denies everything. "HSBC will vigorously defend against the prosecution of the case Madoff who are in various jurisdictions worldwide, including lawsuits in partnership with the United States," argued the bank in a statement.
JP Morgan
Main bank fund Madoff, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, JP Morgan is also accused of complicity by the liquidator bad credit pay day loans. The liquidator claimed $ 6.4 billion. He said the U.S. financial institution would be encouraged and assisted the fraud set up by Madoff."JP Morgan has voluntarily closed its eyes to this fraud, even after being aware of the many warnings against Madoff," wrote one of the boards of Irving Picard in a statement. JP Morgan said the accusation was "irresponsible and exaggerated."
UBS
Irving Picard calls for an additional $ 555 million in Swiss bank. This brings the total amount requested from 2.5 billion dollars.UBS is accused of complicity in the scam. Specifically, he alleged that UBS had recovered the money stolen by Madoff investors in its two funds, mutual funds and Luxalpha Financial Group Limited. UBS, which has denounced the accusations "false", said he was not "liable to those investors unfortunate consequences of the scandal Madoff.
Natixis / Citigroup
And the list goes on.The administrator responsible for the liquidation of the company from American financier Bernard Madoff has filed a new action against seven banks, including Citigroup and Natixis which Irving Picard calls respectively 400 million and $ 425 million. The other five are the Belgian Fortis (BNP Paribas), the Dutch ABN Amro, the Spanish Banco Bilbao Argentaria Vzcaya, Japan's Nomura and Merrill Lynch groin Americas, owned by Bank of America. Natixis dispute a charge, saying "have always acted in good faith and has neither received nor participated or had knowledge of the fraud committed by Bernard Madoff.
BNP Paribas
The liquidator has also filed a complaint against Legacy Capital BNP Paribas and he accuses of having profited from the scam. According to Irving Picard, Legacy Capital has received at least $ 255.8 million (191.3 million euros) by Bernard L.Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS) between 2000 and December 11, 2008, when the fraud was revealed. Of this total, some 89.3 million represented payments fraud. However, according to the administrator, BNP Paribas took control of the accounts of Legacy Capital in 2004 while being aware of suspicions of fraud at the time already weighing on Bernard Madoff.
The Wall Street Journal, Irving Picard hopes to recover more than $ 30 billion, while losses of victims is estimated at $ 21.2 billion.
European initiatives undertaken
The shareholder advisory firm, Deminor, while welcoming these actions, consider that they ignore the indirect victims. "These actions aim to raise as much money for the benefit of" liquidation Madoff, "to be redistributed to the" clients "Madoff.However, the vast majority of European investors defended by Deminor indirect exposure Madoff through funds or banks, "says the firm. Deminor and advises investors not to "rest on the actions of the liquidator and European initiatives to undertake in order to obtain full compensation."
Good news came to the ears of victims: Tuesday, the Geneva bank, UBP has paid by cash almost half a billion dollars to the "Trustee" American authority administering the bankruptcy funds formerly controlled by Bernard Madoff. An agreement between the bank and the liquidator that the Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan must approve. This is the first international agreement on such a scale. Victims will cross our fingers that this is not the only one.