12/17/08 In Massive Madoff Fraud Case, Greenwich Middleman Walter Noel Is Now In The Spotlight

Where's Waldo And What Did Waldo Know?????

Will Madoff Middleman And Greenwich Resident

Walter Noel End Up Behind Bars?

Connecticut investment firm stung by Madoff ties

News Times

The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 12/17/2008 07:45:18 AM EST

One of the biggest losers in Bernard Madoff's alleged ponzi scheme is a Connecticut-based investment firm started in the early 1980s by a well-connected Greenwich banker.

Fairfield Greenwich Group says it invested $7.5 billion with Madoff, who prosecutors say concocted a $50 billion scheme to defraud investors, including the world's big banks and the rich and the famous. Madoff worked with Walter Noel Jr., who heads Fairfield Greenwich and invested his own money with Madoff.

"He believed he was a very bright, very talented investor," said George L. Ball, a family friend of Noel. "He may very well have been almost the original victim."

Fairfield Greenwich Group was founded in 1983 and now has more than 140 employees and offices around the world. But Noel's connection with Madoff has immersed him in a global financial scandal.....

.....Critics say Fairfield Greenwich and other so-called feeder funds who invested their clients' money in Madoff's firm failed to make sure the investments were proper. ......

.....Suzanne Murphy, managing director of hedge fund consultant Tri-Artisan, said her firm looked into Madoff's operation six years ago and concluded it was fraud. She said Madoff was so well-regarded many did not want to hear her findings.

"It was such a cult thing," Murphy said. "People would literally yell at me at the dinner table."

Madoff would often tell investors his fund was closed, but feeder funds like Fairfield Greenwich would provide access to the fund, Murphy said.

The real victims are the clients of the feeder funds, Murphy said. She said investigators should look at the feeder funds, which made lucrative fees for funneling money to Madoff.

"Whether or not they knew what was going on, they certainly never asked the right questions," Murphy said......

.....Ball, chairman of an investment banking firm in Houston, called Noel "very professional, very thorough," and saw the firm do due diligence on one hedge fund. He said that despite Noel's wealth and prominence, he and his wife are dedicated parents.

"They were less concerned about where people were on the social ladder than were they good company and good people," Ball said.

PLEASE SEE:

12/16/08 Mandoff Family Values

THE WIFE of Bernard Madoff, the man at the centre of the $50billion Ponzi investment fraud, is coming under scrutiny from investigators as to how much she knew about his business and whether she helped him to raise money from their social network of wealthy individuals.

Ruth Madoff was regularly seen with her husband, entertaining at their three multi-million-dollar homes and the six golf clubs of which they were members.

She accompanied him to charity dinners, often among the elite Jewish fraternity in New York, and is a co-trustee of the $19million Madoff Family Foundation.

She has not been charged and her lawyer Ike Sorkin said: "We are in no position to tell the investigators what to look at.".......

......Compounding matters was the fact Madoff's chief compliance officer was his son, which isn't inherently a problem but can be dicey. "Normally a chief compliance officer would look very closely at the returns and where they were coming from," says Heim. The ponzi scheme alleged here is a fairly basic fraud and would have been detected."Whether or not the Madoff sons who worked in the firm had any knowledge of the ponzi scheme, some experts speculate that they turned their father in when the jig was clearly up in a family bid for them to save themselves.......

AND:

12/16/08 Greenwich Time News Links For Tuesday

Madoff's scam victims reel

The recently uncovered Ponzi scheme by prominent Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff will not affect municipal investments in Stamford, Norwalk and Greenwich, officials said, but a hedge fund in Greenwich may become its worst victim.

COMMENT:

ONCE AGAIN THE GREENWICH TIME
IS BEHIND THE TIMES:

For The Record This Is The "First And Only" Madoff Ponzi Scheme Story That The Greenwich Time Has Put On The Web.

Meanwhile, All Last Week Greenwich Roundup And Other Local Bloggers Were Bring Town Residents The Local Angle To The National Story.

Let's Take A Look At The Score Card:

4 Greenwich Citizen Jounalists And Bloggers:
33 Madoff News Links From 12/12 - 12/16/08

The Greenwich Time Editors And Reporters:
1 Madoff News Link From 12/12 - 12/16/08

The Ex-Greenwich Time Editor Joe Pisani And His Gal Pal Reporters
Who Are Going To Destroy The Greenwich Time Over At "Our Greenwich":
0 Madoff News Links From 12/12 -12/16/08

Hearst Newspapers Greenwich Citizen And Hersam Acorn's Greenwich Post:
0 Madoff News Links From 12/12 -12/16/08

=======================================================

Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com