Madoff to be charged this week

Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday unsealed a document that charged Bernard Madoff with 11 felony counts including securities fraud, money laundering, perjury and making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The charges against Mr. Madoff underscore that much of the money stolen from investors ended up paying other investors. The revelations in the document likely will dash the hopes of Mr. Madoff’s burned investors that he stocked away a large cache of money that could be retrieved and returned to them.  Mr. Madoff is expected to plead guilty to the charges on Thursday. If found guilty of all counts, Mr. Madoff, who has been free on bail since his arrest on Dec. 11, faces a maximum of 150 years in prison. Legal experts expect the actual sentence to be much lower but would still be an effective life sentence for the 70-year-old.  The charges were filed in what is called a criminal information, a document that details the crimes prosecutors say he committed. The document was filed by prosecutors in lieu of a grand jury indictment, which Mr. Madoff waived        Breaking news

Spitzer is back: in realestate

Eliot Spitzer is buying 1615 L St. NW in Washington, above.

Eliot Spitzer is returning to Washington, D.C., but this time as an investor in the commercial real-estate market.

The former New York governor, who resigned in disgrace a year ago after getting caught patronizing a prostitute in a Washington hotel, has purchased a prominent office building blocks from the White House through his father’s real-estate company.

The Spitzers are paying $180 million to buy 1615 L St. NW, a 13-story dark-glass building whose tenants include the public-relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, the Washington outpost of the Nixon Presidential Library and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

The move is part of the ex-governor’s re-emergence into public life and a renewed interest in the successful real-estate business founded by his father, Bernard Spitzer. In an interview, Mr. Spitzer spoke about the investment, the economy and about his new life in business after “a detour along the way” as New York’s attorney general and governor.

“Obviously it brought great joy for a great period of time,” Mr. Spitzer said about his years in government. Mr. Spitzer declined to discuss the scandal that led to his resignation.        Breaking News

Worst year ever for Berkshire Hathaway

Insurance, Stock Holdings Are Hit; Buffett Warns of Bubble in Treasurys

The man considered by many to be the greatest investor of all time just had his worst year ever.  Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the large holding company steered by Warren Buffett, reported Saturday that its far-flung empire, ranging from insurance to ice cream to underwear, took some big hits from the sharp economic downturn in 2008.

A common metric Berkshire uses to track performance, book value per share, fell 9.6% in 2008, its biggest decline since Mr. Buffett took over the company in 1965 when it was a family-run East Coast textile maker.  Berkshire’s report was yet another stark sign of the severity of the financial crisis that continues to roil stock markets and businesses around the world. It was only the second year in more than 40 years that Berkshire’s book value per share fell; it was down 6.2% in 2001.         Breaking News

Caribbean regulators seize stanford bank in antigua

Caribbean regulators have taken over the Bank of Antigua, owned by the Stanford group, amid fraud accusations.

Fraud charges have been filed against the US businessman

The move comes after governments elsewhere, including in Peru, Venezuela, and Ecuador, suspended operations at banks owned by the group.

Sir Allen Stanford stands accused by US financial authorities of involvement in an $8bn (£5.6bn) investment fraud. He was served civil papers on Thursday.

The billionaire had been the single biggest private investor in Antigua.   The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Sir Allen of an alleged fraud “of shocking magnitude”.

However, he is not in custody and has not been charged with any criminal violations.  Authorities in the US claim that Sir Allen attracted clients by promising unrealistic returns on investments.        Breaking News

Investors vent on Madoff

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Investors allegedly swindled in the largest Ponzi scheme in history reacted furiously when they learned Friday that Bernard Madoff didn’t put any of their money into securities for at least 13 years.

Several hundred of the 2,350 Madoff creditors gathered at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to learn about the status of their claims and to revile the man accused of stealing their life savings.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the liquidation of Madoff’s assets, told the crowd of angry investors that investigators, in their search of at least 7,000 boxes of financial documents, “found no evidence to suggest that securities were purchased for customer accounts.”        Breaking News

Beating up bernie takes on a new meaning

An Australian toy designer has created a surprise hit with a doll of the US financier, Bernard Madoff, who is accused of a $50bn (£35bn) fraud.

The Smash-Me Bernie figurine wears a devil’s red suit, carries a pitchfork and comes with a golden hammer for smashing the doll into pieces.

Creator Graeme Warring said he came up with the idea after a friend of his lost money in the scandal.        Breaking News

Stanford probe widens

R. Allan Stanford

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford was operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors around the globe, people familiar with the matter said.

These people said the Justice Department is investigating Mr. Stanford, who was hit with civil charges Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an alleged $8 billion investment fraud.

On Thursday, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents served Mr. Stanford with the SEC civil lawsuit in Fredericksburg, Va., the FBI and SEC said.

SEC officials had said this week that Mr. Stanford’s whereabouts were unknown.         Breaking News

Stanford found in Virginia

(CNN) — Federal agents have located financier Robert Allen Stanford and served him with papers accusing him and three of his companies of orchestrating a $9.2 billion investment fraud scheme, the FBI said Thursday.

Stanford, who was located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has no criminal charges pending against him and was not taken into custody, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said. But the Securities and Exchange Commission says Stanford was behind “a fraud of shocking magnitude,” and the FBI served him a copy of the SEC complaint, Kolko said.

Efforts to reach Stanford or company representatives have been unsuccessful. In September, Forbes magazine named the billionaire No. 205 in its “400 Richest Americans” article.        Breaking News

Stanford fears hit banks in Antigua and Caracas

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Hundreds of people lined up to withdraw money from banks in Antigua and Caracas affiliated with Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, a day after the tycoon was charged with an $8 billion fraud.

Meanwhile, the brash, 58-year-old financier sought to get a one-way flight out of the U.S. to Antigua, CNBC reported Wednesday. Citing an unnamed source in the private jet industry, CNBC said Stanford contacted a private jet owner Tuesday and attempted to pay for the flight with a credit card, but was refused because the company would only accept a wire transfer.        Breaking News

R. Allen Stanford charged in $8 Billion Fraud

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday filed civil charges against financier R. Allen Stanford, alleging he orchestrated a multibillion dollar scheme centering on an $8 billion certificate of deposit program.

Meanwhile, U.S. marshals and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, arriving in a fleet of Chevy Suburbans and GMC pickup trucks with tinted windows, swarmed Stanford’s Houston headquarters as early as 9 a.m. Central time, according to witnesses who saw them.  Stanford International Bank Ltd. and related firms controlled by Mr. Stanford have fallen under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the SEC and other regulatory bodies.

The bank has said it has more than 30,000 investors and $8.5 billion in assets. It says the larger group of which it is a part manages over $51 billion in assets.        Breaking News