So now Ponzi Scheme fraudster Bernie Madoff is whining that he is stuck at home, albeit worth $7 million, and can’t even go outside to grab a bite to eat. This guy is out of control. He should be in a 3×3 cell, eating prison food and instead he is living in his lavish home and he has the gaul to complain?
According to the NY Post:” I’m a prisoner in my own house!” Madoff fumed. “I can’t go anywhere! I’m stuck here all day!” Madoff, who effectively is under house arrest as part of his $10 million bail, has been especially agitated that “he can’t even go outside just to go to the corner, or get something to eat,” the source said. The source added that it is clear that the disgraced 70-year-old financial maven is feeling sorry for himself while hanging out in his $7 million pad - even as thousands of his victims scramble to avoid bankruptcy, loss of their own homes or worse.”
I guess you can’t get more self-centered than he is. Anyway, the one thing I don’t understand is what was his endgame? Why not stop and run away years and years ago?
There is no question that the world of Jewish philanthropy has taken a huge hit. From the stock market crash, to a real estate washout to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme, Jewish organizations are scrambling to find new donors. It appears that a name to watch for is Guma Aguiar. Aguiar, a philanthropist and founder of Leor Energy, gave $8 million to Nefesh B’Nefesh.
NBN has created a new approach to Aliyah and streamlined the entire process since it was founded six years ago to assist Western Jews who choose to move to Israel. The success of the organization has been phenomenal, facilitating Aliyah out of choice. Instead of Jews turning to Israel as a sanctuary from persecution, NBN has created a BUZZ for people to come to Israel because they want to. That’s huge! The Aguiar funds are being used to help meet the needs of thousands of recent newcomers.
According to the press release: “This substantial donation demonstrates how the remarkable commitment of Jews who choose to make Israel their home even in these challenging times, is echoed and fortified by the support of generous individuals like Guma,” said Tony Gelbart, Co-Founder and Chairman of Nefesh B’Nefesh, “these vital funds strengthen Israel’s human resources and ensure its future. The gift has already played a major role in helping Nefesh B’Nefesh bring a record number of newcomers to Israel in 2008.”
With so many worthy charities to pick from, the fact that Aguiar picked Aliyah is noteworthy. People have spoken about brining 100,000 western olim, and until now, it’s been a pipe dream. Now, due to the generosity of Aguiar, it may turn into a reality.
Kudos to Guma Aguiar on stepping in to fill the Jewish philanthropic void.
Remember December 31st? That was the date that disgraced Ponzi Scheme star Bernie Madoff was to turn over a list of his assets. We as we know that list was turned over to prosecutors but has yet to be made public. Why?
According to a report on Yahoo: ” The SEC confirmed Wednesday evening that it had received the filing, but it declined to reveal details or make the documents available to journalists. The list was not filed publicly in any of the courts handling the Madoff case, and SEC spokesmen said no decision had been made as to whether part or all of the asset disclosure would ultimately be made public.”
Why has this list been buried by regulators and why isn’t the financial press on the case? We all need to call for regulators to reveal this list. I know that everyone has been pre-occupied with Pres. Obama but c’mon. Why can’t we see the list?
Bernie Madoff has more money than he will ever need. Yeshiva University has an endowment fund of over $1 billion. The list goes on and on. Victims of the Madoff ponzi scheme tell us that we shouldn’t worry because, though they lost money with Madoff, it was just a fraction of their war-chest.
Humm. I guess the basic question is why do they need such a big war chest? What are they saving the money for?
In the Jpost Rabbi Emanuel Feldman basically asks this very question. He says, ” AN IMPERTINENT question keeps popping up: If these and other Jewish institutions can afford to lose hundreds of millions of dollars without any affect on their programs, this means that each of their endowment funds runs into the billions. Why, then, are these and the others who lost so much constantly asking for funds? Why are they in a perpetual fund-raising feeding frenzy? Instead of raising
money constantly, perhaps they should be giving some of it away.” He goes on, “If Technion would distribute $10m. a year to the science programs of Jewish schools everywhere; if Bar-Ilan and Hebrew University would allocate $10m. a year to fund Jewish studies departments in Jewish high schools around the world; if Yeshiva University would allocate only 1% - something over $10m. a year - to struggling small yeshivot and day schools that cannot pay their teachers on time, that are housed in meager facilities and have inadequate equipment, that are living a hand-to-mouth existence, that are valiantly trying to keep their heads above water - if all this were done, it could make a major difference to the future of Jewish life. If institutions like these can survive losses of more than 8% of their endowments, certainly a gift of 1% should be easy to manage. After all, none of them would be giving away any real
money.”
Having money for money’s sake is pointless. Then point of money is to do good work with it.
Kudos to Rabbi Feldman for pointing out this important issue, and i would love to hear a response from one of these organizations to his proposals.
