SDNY Criminal Chief’s Father Had Close Ties to Madoff Investor

[emad]

Source: Main Justice

By Mary Jacoby | October 26, 2009

Two weeks ago Richard Zabel, the new criminal chief of the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s office, recused himself from the Bernard Madoff investigation because his father represented an investor accused of being the biggest beneficiary of the $65 billion fraud.

On Sunday, William D. Zabel’s client was found dead at the bottom of his pool at his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. The Palm Beach Police Department said it was conducting an investigation of the death of investor Jeffry Picower, who was 67, as is “standard operating procedure in any drowning.”

The sudden death of this alleged key figure in the Madoff scheme underscores some potentially thorny management issues for the new U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara. Bharara named Zabel his criminal chief on Oct. 6, calling the former Akin Gump criminal defense attorney a “legal All-Star.” Zabel also served eight years as an SDNY prosecutor in the 1990s.

Although Bharara’s pick for criminal chief quickly recused himself from all Madoff-related matters, line prosecutors now may have little choice but to attempt to seek information from his father, insofar as attorney-client privilege allows.

Read more: http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/10/26/sdny-criminal-chi... /

---

The murky Madoff business rears its ugly head again.

[truthisfreedom]

1. Not unexpected.

That much money... craziness is obviously going to be the theme for years to come.

[emad]

2. Picower, Sued by Madoff Trustee, Died of Heart Attack (Update1)

By David Voreacos, Jeran Wittenstein, and Cordell Eddings

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Jeffry Picower, the philanthropist alleged to have withdrawn more than $7.2 billion from Bernard Madoff’s investment company, suffered a fatal heart attack while swimming in his pool, according to police. He was 67.
---------------------------------------

Picower benefited more from Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme than any other investor, according to Irving Picard, the lawyer liquidating Madoff’s investment business. Picard sued Picower, his foundation and related entities, saying they withdrew more than $7.2 billion over 20 years, including upward of $5 billion in fake profits.

Picower, the Palm Beach-based foundation and related defendants should have known that the annual returns they were getting from Madoff -- including some allegedly as high as 950 percent -- were the result of fraud, according to Picard’s complaint. Picower said those figures are wrong.

Picard said that Picower received more than $2.4 billion from the fraud during the past six years alone, and that his accounts “were riddled with blatant and obvious fraud.”

Suit ‘Will Continue’

“The lawsuit will continue against the Picower estate and other defendants,” Picard said today in an e-mail message. He declined to speculate on the Picowers’ worth or on how much the suit might garner for Madoff’s victims.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=ayo...