Vicky Ward's article on the Noel family from the April issue of Vanity Fair is now online. Don't expect the piece to change your impressions of disgraced hedge fund manager Walter, his wife Monica, or his five daughters and sons-in-law. (Former friends and neighbors describe the family as "irritating," "shameless,"…
• It isn't easy being a disposable reality TV star. At the Jill Stuart show on Monday, a publicist barked "Show your fucking ring!" to Bethenny Frankel as The Real Housewives of New York star was getting her photo taken. She's probably used to the abuse, though. Frankel later told a reporter that she used to babysit…
Looks like times are getting tough for Walter Noel and Jeffrey Tucker, the founders of Fairfield Greenwich Group, the hedge fund that allegedly lost $7.5 billion to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The Post reports that the pair has put its share in a private jet up for sale, the Tuckers are now selling off their horse…
• Bank of America went ahead with the purchase of Merrill Lynch—even after having last-minute doubts—because Washington pushed it to do so. [WSJ]
• Yesterday's testimony by Harry Markopolos before a House subcommittee looking into the Madoff affair was eye-opening, to say the least. [NYT, Reuters]
• One damning…
Here's a way to help out a victim of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme and amuse elderly Jewish men on the golf course in Palm Beach at the same time. You can now pick up golf balls with Madoff's mug on them. They're named "Sleezeballs," of course and, yes, we're totally buying a box to send to Walter Noel when his…
Marisa Noel Brown has been keeping busy. Despite the fact her father and husband have seen their reputations go up in smoke the last few weeks, face a slew of lawsuits, and will probably never live down the shame of having enabled Bernie Madoff for so long, the society fixture has made it to two events over the past…
Marisa Noel Brown, the daughter of disgraced hedge funder Walter Noel, and her husband, Matt, may be looking to extricate themselves from their lavish Upper East Side townhouse. Marisa and Matt (who worked for his father-in-law's Fairfield Greenwich Group before Bernie Madoff came along) purchased the home at 12…
Just because Marisa Noel Brown's father and husband have been thoroughly disgraced in recent weeks doesn't mean she has any intention of stepping away from the social circuit. Brown is co-hosting Junior Collector's Night at Doubles this Thursday and tickets are still available. Just be prepared to run for the exit if…
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…
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,…
If you've been waiting for video of Walter and Monica Noel in all their glory, Business Sheet has a clip of the Madoff enablers from a 2000 British documentary called The Man Who Bought Mustique. Bonus: Wait until the end of the clip and you'll hear the subject of the film describe the couple as "worms" and…
• Madonna's interest in Alex Rodriguez appears may have waned (she's been spotted with a young Brazilian model in recent weeks), but there's another rich, older, equally Kaballah-obsessed woman happy to take her place. At a New Year's party in Parrot Cay last week, Donna Karan seemed smitten with the slugger,…
• Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson got into yet another public spat while heading home to LA after spending New Year's in Miami. Lindsay eventually got so upset a flight attendant suggested LiLo disembark. [TMZ]
• George Soros reportedly spent New Year's partying with "two young brunettes" on Paul Allen's yacht,…
A Very Noel Christmas [NYM/Daily Intel]
The Business Sheet was kind enough to dig up (and scan in) the 2002 Vanity Fair article on the "fabulous Noel sisters," the daughters of disgraced hedge fund manager Walter Noel, the man who handed over $7.5 billion to Bernie Madoff. The article concludes by pointing out that none of the five Noel girls have never…
It seems we weren't the only ones to call Monica Noel! When the Times of London dialed her up, she mistakenly thought she was talking to a friend and described her plans to attend a wedding in Mexico. Nice to hear the implosion of her husband's business, class-action lawsuits, and tawdry rumors about her daughters…
We didn't have much success last week getting one of our operatives past Bernie Madoff's doorman, and we really didn't have any interest in trekking to Greenwich to pay a visit to our second favorite villain in the saga, Walter Noel. But could we at least get Walter or his wife Monica on the phone? Ask and ye shall…
Haven't figured out where to spend the holidays? How does a five-bedroom villa in Mustique next door to Tommy Hilfiger's home sound? Walter and Monica Noel's Caribbean retreat is available for rent for $55,000 a week. With the Noels now thinking about canceling their holiday vacation plans, you might be able to take…
Monica Noel, the wife of disgraced hedge fund manager, protested this week to the Post that she and her husband aren't really all that rich, notwithstanding the $500 million her husband's firm is estimated to have collected just by steering clients to invest with Bernie Madoff: "You write [that] our five daughters…
What happens when you run a hedge fund and you lose $7.5 billion as part of one of the biggest scams in Wall Street history? Your plans to jet off to Mustique for Christmas might go awry, for one. The Times UK reports that members of the Noel family may not be heading down to their lavish Caribbean retreat after all.…
