The Madoff case has not finished to make waves

The "Madoff case" has not finished to make waves. In the aftermath of the tragic disappearance of French Thierry the Villehuchet, co-founder of Access International Advisors, one of the major foster funds of the society of Bernard Madoff, judicial remedies multiply from the preferred "partners" of the rogue broker. After the introduction of a "class action" against Fairfield Greenwich ("Les Echos" from December 24), it is the turn of the New York University (NYU), the largest University private from the United States by the number of students, to attack the funds Gabriel Capital LP and Ariel Fund Ltd. Ezra Merkin and his partner Fortis Bank, for breach of trust. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was the subject of a first official complaint, emanating from a retired, for "negligence".

"It is impossible to imagine that one man could conceive this fraud alone," told Bloomberg TV former Republican Senator Alfonse D'Amato, former President of the Banking Committee of the Senate. For others, the failure of vigilance of the partners in Madoff funds enrolled only in a climate of "general release" illustrated by the drift of Wall Street. "There was a deficit of analysis." "Everyone has fallen guard, even the rating agencies," argues a banker, however, noting that no American institution has seen fit to invest in Madoff.

Fund of funds negligent

The suicide of Thierry the Villehuchet, was found with the tailladées veins in his Madison Avenue Office, December 23 at dawn, relaunching the question of the negligence of the Fund of funds which have massively postponed their investments in the company of Bernard Madoff, despite the multiple alarm. This is not the first suicide linked to the case, the British press already having a link with that of a banker from HSBC, Christen Schnor, forty-nine years, was found hanged in his hotel in London, on 17 December.

The founder of Access International Advisors have not supported the idea of having lost $ 1.4 billion on behalf of his wealthy clients, among which the heir of l ' Oréal, Liliane Bettencourt, fashion designer Daniel Hechter or Nicolas Rachline, grandson of the founder of Publicis... Former leader of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA from 1987 to 1993, when the Executive Life case, Thierry the Villehuchet had started its own operations in New York by creating, in 1983, a brokerage firm specializing in the sale of the French, Belgian and Italian shares, called-cross-subsidizes. In 1994, he founded with Patrick Littaye (another former of Paribas) Access International Advisors specializing in wealth management of rich European investors. The partners of the company include also Philippe Junot, the former husband of Caroline of Monaco, and prince Michel of Yugoslavia.

Institutions deceived

The hypothesis of a shared responsibility or faulty negligence of the foster Fund is clearly advanced by many investors in Madoff Nebula. For the NYU, who lost "only" $ 24 million in the case so far, the Ariel of Ezra Merkin Fund (also Chairman of GMAC, GM financial services branch) is guilty of having "simply transferred a substantial share of its funds in Madoff without reference to its investors in quarterly reports and ignoring an extraordinary number of red flags." The most important Jewish New York University, Yeshiva University, which Bernard Madoff was elected Treasurer in 2002, has implicated an another fund of Ezra Merkin, Ascot Partners, after losing $ 110 million in investment related to Madoff. The judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Herman Cahn, ordered the suspension of the liquidation of the Fund Ariel until 6 January.

The Advocate General of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, the gigantic Madoff fraud, the cost is estimated to date to $ 36 billion, which is largely related to the "culture of permissiveness" maintained by the SEC and financial regulators.