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The Mysterious Madoff Charity
When these family loans were pointed out to one prominent tax consultant, Jerry Curnutt, who previously ran a division of the IRS, he said, "It looks as though Madoff could see the Ponzi scheme running out of steam much earlier than we thought and wanted to move as much money as he could out of his company so he could shield his fraudulent assets.” Another sign that Bernie might have been looking into a crystal ball came in 2000, when he changed his business status from a single proprietorship to a single-member limited liability company, or LLC.
LLC status protected him to some degree from investors who might come after him."This designation also allowed him to file the tax returns for his company on his personal tax returns," Curnutt said. The details of the business' financial transactions, the profit and loss, are supposed to be attached in a "Schedule C." But this mandatory form was not filed with Bernie's personal return in 2007, Curnutt said. So "either he was trying to hide what he was doing, which should have brought the IRS down on him, or it was attached somewhere else, which would be very unusual."
Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
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Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for the New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
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Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for the New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
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Allan Dodds Frank is a business investigative correspondent who specializes in white collar crime. He also is President of the Overseas Press Club of America, one of the many journalism organizations that protests the arrests of journalists abroad and repression of freedom of speech.
Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for the New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
exploora
Great article.
This kills me, in 2007, I had to send a profit and loss statement for 06, which I was thanked for, and then someone like Bernie, who was supposed to send one automatically, and of course if he had someone would have noticed (you would hope), that something wasn't making sense, and then possibly they would have questioned why his accountant was saying he wasn't auditing to avoid the peer review then, if I understand it right, was certifying Bernie's financial documents as being audited implying they represented his true financial situation. Which of course as we know was a fiction, he made no trades at all, and now his accountant is being accused of alledged fraud, which is different than knowing about the Ponzi scheme, he just is being accused of misrepresenting the work which was actually done related to auditing. That is what I don't get. How no one investigated, and how his propriety rights were given more consideration than the public's need to be assured the records of such a huge fund which feeder funds, charities, and all kinds of people were depending upon to reasonably accurate. And the fiction was allowed to continue, so how can a person trust the system again?
EdmondDantes
Good point! (I have no idea what you are talking about btw)
As I wrote in a comment before, Madoff was kept by the financial power holders to 'hold the bag' until something really bad happened in the market. Well, this 'something really bad' has happened to the market and Madoff has served as a wonderful distraction in the Wall Street fiascos. Imagine what Wall Street would have faced without a Madoff as a scapegoat?
exploora
Oops: That is what I don't get. How no one investigated, and how his propriety rights were given more consideration than the public's need to be assured the records of such a huge fund which feeder funds, charities, and all kinds of people were depending upon to BE reasonably accurate.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
lbbetc
who knew racists read the daily beast and didn't hesitate to reveal themselves??
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Southpaw
Keep digging!
Hawnzz
Lock him up and throw away the key... or better yet, let's be cruel. Let's take every dime, make them live in public housing and work at Walmart (as a greeter) for the rest of their lives. (With a sign around their necks that says who they are and what they did... the same goes for the rest of the family.) Sounds cruel to me...
estcruzer
I believe that is demeaning to greeters at Walmart. With the proper attitude it is joyful work and the Madoffs don't deserve it just yet. First they must learn to be honest and authentic human beings. The problem is that they must understand the enormity of the damage they have done - at least one person committed suicide because of their deception. But, once they understand the scope of their crimes even a saint would be overwhelmed - what to do?
christine
So interesting! It makes total sense that he knew the walls were closing in. Madoff is a very bad apple with very strong instincts. I sure hope every miscreant and every penny involved in this scam is uncovered.Thanks for peeling back still more layers of this complicated story, great reporting.
boredwell
If I were Mark, Peter and Stephanie and my rich dad suddenly, without any explanation, started forking over some Big Bucks and/or buying me expensive real estate, I'd ask, "Dad, whuzzup?!" But I never had a rich dad. Maybe rich kids are used to receiving this kinda largess. But still I think they must have decided not to look the gift horse in the mouth.
STepper
exploora - I tried to follow what you were saying, but neither your original submission nor your correction makes much sense. It must have been important. Want to give it a 3rd try, but this time read it a few times before posting?
factcheck
This makes no sense.
1. Franks writes that the Foundation was set up in the last month of 2007 and then suggests it is odd that that the tax return for 2007 was remarkably blank. What does she expect of a foundation that was a couple of weeks old?
2. A quick Internet search pops up several examples of donations from this foundation.
3. The accounting firm, Price Waterhouse, is a 28 billion dollar firm. Why does Franks find this peculiar?
Maybe there's a story here, but this article is simply sensationalist nonsense.
mrspanstreppon
To add fuel to the fire, the Andrew and Deborah Madoff Foundation hasn't filed a 990 since 2006, according to Guidestar and the 990 Finder. The foundation, registered in 2003, was initially funded with $3 million, ostensibly contributed by Andrew and his wife. As in the case of Mark Madoff's foundation, the Pittsburgh office of Pricewaterhousecoopers prepared the 2006 990. However, it appears Andrew himself prepared the 990s in prior years. The foundation had an approx. balance of $5 million at 12/31/06.
mrspanstreppon
I was wrong. The 2007 Andrew and Deborah Madoff Foundation 990 was filed. Andrew an his wife didn't contribut4e to the foundaqtion in 2007 but Walter Zacharias contributed $18k. The return was signed by Priceaterhousecoopers in May 08, by Mark Madoff in June '08 and postmarked 8/13/08. For some reason, the Madoffs wiated until that last minute to file the 990.
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