• Nicolas Cage may have found a buyer for his 48th-floor apartment at the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue. Cage has reportedly received two offers on the 3,550-square-feet pad, which was most recently listed for $9.75 million. [NYP, BHS]
• Investment banker Tom Whalen and his wife Dana English have closed on the sale…
Last week, Ezra Merkin, the disgraced financier who funneled a couple of billion to Bernie Madoff and has since been slapped with civil fraud charges, agreed to give up his prized collection of art as part of a deal with the attorney general's office. Like you, we found the news deeply troubling. Can you imagine what…
Ruth Madoff can breathe a little bit easier today. According to the Post, Bernie Madoff's wife will not be prosecuted for having any role in her husband's Ponzi scheme, since federal prosecutors "lack evidence that she was either aware of or involved in Bernard Madoff's scam." And here we were thinking that the…
A "person familiar with the investigation" into Bernie Madoff has tells the AP that the government is pursuing charges against 10 more people who allegedly played a role in carrying out the biggest Ponzi scheme ever. Who are they? No names were mentioned, unfortunately. But if one of the people on the list is hedge…
Ezra Merkin, the money manager who invested more than $2.4 billion in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme and has since been sued by both Andrew Cuomo and his disgruntled investors, is not having a good week. His hedge fund was turned over to liquidators the other day. Now he's caved to pressure and stepped aside as…
Ezra Merkin, the money manager who plowed more than $2.4 billion of his clients' cash into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, will now need to find a new occupation to keep him busy. He's agreed to turn over his three hedge funds to a liquidator at the "request" of Andrew Cuomo. As you may recall, the attorney general …
When Mort Zuckerman first revealed that he'd lost a bundle to Bernie Madoff via money manager Ezra Merkin, he seemed to brush it off, suggesting he'd only entrusted a small part of his charitable trust to Merkin. A few days ago, he revealed that it wasn't just his charitable foundation that fell victim; he lost $15…
J. Ezra Merkin, the financier who handed more than $2 billion of his clients' money over to Bernie Madoff, has been sued by the New York attorney general. The New York Times employs Merkin's sister...
It's shaping up to be a particularly bad day for Ezra Merkin. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued the money manager this morning for steering more than $2 billion to Bernie Madoff. Now real estate mogul/Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman is suing for fraud, too, over the $25 million he handed to Merkin as part of his…
Andrew Cuomo just filed a civil lawsuit against Ezra Merkin for fraud and deception, alleging that Merkin "betrayed hundreds of investors who entrusted him with their savings by recklessly feeding their funds into the largest Ponzi scheme in history." [WSJ, NYT]
Last Saturday, the NYT ran a breezy op-ed by Daphne Merkin, blaming widespread willful delusion for the Bernie Madoff debacle. No wonder. Her brother is the scam's biggest sucker.
Remember how author Daphne Merkin downplayed her brother's connection to Bernie Madoff in the Times this past weekend, describing Ezra Merkin as "a sibling who did business with him," and then suggesting that Madoff's victims weren't really victims, since no one held a gun to their heads and demanded their cash? We…
If you're outraged about the current state of the economy and you need an outlet for your anger, you may want to catch a bus to Boston instead of taking one to visit the homes of AIG executives. Just a few of the names in the press these days who happen to be graduates of Harvard Business School: Former Merrill Lynch…
Author Daphne Merkin penned an op-ed piece for the Times yesterday and once again offered up a few thoughts on the scandal concerning her brother, disgraced money manager Ezra Merkin, who steered more than $1.5 billion to Bernie Madoff and who has since been forced to shut down his funds amid half a dozen lawsuits.…
J. Ezra Merkin, the disgraced money manager who steered more than $2 billion to Bernie Madoff, has a new lawsuit to contend with. NYU filed suit against Merkin last month, accusing him of losing $24 million of the unversity's endowment due to his "deliberate ignorance." Now a pension plan, which says it lost $4…
Mort Zuckerman's foundation lost $30 million when he handed over funds to money manager Ezra Merkin, who in turn invested the money with Bernie Madoff. So has Mort had any words with Merkin, who he's publicly promised to bury in a legal avalanche? Indeed he has! "I had one brief conversation," he tells the Financial…
• Why didn't Anderson Cooper and the "attractive Hispanic man" he flew to DC with sit next to each other on the flight? [Page Six, previously]
• Paul McCartney and girlfriend Nancy Shevell may be getting ready to marry now that Nancy's divorce has been finalized and Paul has gotten approval from daughter Stella. [NYP
Who stands to make a fortune from the Bernie Madoff mess? The lawyers, of course. Just a few of the firms currently involved in one way or another: Proskauer Rose, which is advising dozens of former Madoff clients; Paul, Weiss which was retained by Madoff's sons, Mark and Andrew; Dechert, the firm defending Madoff pal…
• Bernie Madoff's brokerage firm, which is now up for sale, probably won't fetch more than $10 million, according to a report drafted by Lazard. The investment bank goes on to point out that Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities is now a "tarnished" brand. Really, you think? [Bloomberg]
• A report by the Financial…
Thousands of attorneys have lost their jobs as the economy has spiraled downward in recent months. One group who won't be unemployed in the near future (and probably won't be seeing their husbands and wives much either): The ones who have been retained to defend Bernie Madoff and the men who showered him with cash,…
