HOUSTON, Texas – infamous swindler and accused Ponzi scheme architect Allen Stanford, 61, allegedly suffers from memory loss so significant that he may be found unfit to stand for trial.

To bring everyone up to speed, Allen Stanford, formerly of Stanford Financial Group, was arrested in June 2009 for allegedly running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Stanford himself claims that he suffers from retrograde amnesia from a prison fight in 2009. This condition prevents him from recalling specific events from his life prior to his injury (how convenient) and though the fight occurred in 2009, the symptoms of his condition have only recently developed.

Professional opinions are divided. Prison psychologist Robert Cochrane who evaluated Stanford on Tuesday called such delayed memory loss “incredibly rare”, also adding that “You have amnesia right after an injury, you don’t have a delay”.

Prosecutors balk at Stanford’s claims, saying that there is no evidence to support his memory loss, pushing for the trial to go on as scheduled on January 23. U.S. District Judge David Hittner, the man overseeing the competency trial, says that he will only allow medical and mental health professionals to testify at the hearing, and Stanford’s defense apparently has several lined up.

Witnesses are split as well. One is skeptical of the claims while another holds that Stanford’s symptoms are consistent with retrograde amnesia.

Allen Stanford has been held without bail as a flight risk since his June 18, 2009 arrest. The case is U.S. v. Stanford, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas. No. 09-00342.

What’s that old saying? “Ignorantia juris non excusat”? Or rather, “ignorance of the law does not excuse”? Now you have a good Latin phrase to impress your friends. You are welcome.

What say you? Skeptical of these claims?

Allen Stanford Unfit for Trial? Witnesses Skeptical of Amnesia Claims is a post from: The Inquisitr

Victims of fraudster Bernard Madoff may soon be in line for some compensation.

Irving Picard (above), the trustee seeking money for Madoff’s former customers, has reached an agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to recover $326 million – that’s the sum that was previously transferred to the agency by Madoff’s firm, supposedly on behalf of foreign account holders.

Once the settlement money is recovered, some of Madoff’s victims with valid claims will be compensated. Says Picard:

“I believe that the payments made to the IRS falsely identified the funds as income tax withholding in order to give the investment advisory arm of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) an air of legitimacy and to avoid inquiries.”

A court filing uncovered by Picard and his team show payments were made by Madoff’s firm on behalf of 145 foreign account holders. These totaled about $330 million, but the IRS has erroneously refunded about $4.2 million to two of the foreign account holders.

Of course, this still leaves one hell of a shortfall when it comes to recovering all of the money lost in Madoff’s outrageous financial fraud. Picard said he has so far retrieved $8.7 billion – roughly half of the $17.3 billion worth of valid customer claims.

Madoff, meanwhile, continues to serve a 150-year prison sentence for his role in perpetrating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The former financier is serving time at FCI Butner Medium, while his wife Ruth Madoff has had to give up the couple’s $7 million New York duplex.

Bernard Madoff Trustee Settlement To Recover $326 million From IRS is a post from: The Inquisitr

David L. Kugel, a former trader for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities will plead guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Monday for his part in conspiring to defraud customers starting in the early 1970s.

The guilty plead comes after a letter was sent to lawyers in which Kugel announced his plea while stating that fraud at the firm started two full decades before Bernie Madoff said it began.

If he goes through with his guilty plea Kugel will be the fifth former Madoff executive to plea guilty in the fraud case.

Kugel’s very early involvement in the firms fraud could help prosecutors who are currently investigating Madoff’s younger brother Peter B. Madoff who started with the firm in the 1970s. According to Peter Madoff lawyer John R. Wing he was unaware of Kugel’s “apparent cooperation” with the government and says his client still knew nothing of the Madoff fraud.

Madoff who is serving a 150-year prison sentence has repeatedly said his ponzi scheme did not begin until 1992, a fact that could be shown false if Kugel’s story checks out.

This court case is not the first for Mr. Kugel, last year he was sued for $22 million for playing a “significant role” in the fraudulent scheme including the creation of fake trade tickets to show a steady level of profits for select customers.

Under his role at Madoff Investment Securities Mr. Kugel earned more than $8 million.

Bernie Madoff Trader To Plead Guilty For Ponzi Scheme Role is a post from: The Inquisitr

Former customers of Ponzi scheme kingpin Bernie Maddoff has filed a class action lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. hoping to recover $19 billion. The Maddoff victims claimed that the bank concealed and willfully ignored signs of fraud.

The lawsuit reads:

“JPMC chose to enable Madoff’s fraud, not just through the various ways it participated in his activity, but by helping to cover Madoff’s naked theft with the imprimatur of a globally recognized financial institution.”

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon threw out a similar lawsuit from Irving Picard, the trustee seeking money in behalf of the Madoff victims. The bank then argued that Picard failed to prove that anyone at the bank has knowledge of Madoff’s scheme or has worked directly with him to earn fees. According the the ruling, Picard does not have standing to seek money from the bank and stressing that only victims can pursue claims.

It has been a long battle for the victims. Do you think there is even a chance for them to recover all their investments?

Madoff Victims File $19 Billion Lawsuit Versus JPMorgan Chase is a post from: The Inquisitr

Victims of Bernie Madoff have filed a $19 billion class action lawsuit against JPMorgan & Chase claiming that the bank ignored various signs of fraud.

Filed in federal court in Manhattan the lawsuit asserts that even a basic cursory examination of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC would have revealed improper money flow issues that did not rely on any type of investment strategy.

According to the lawsuit:

“JPMC chose to enable Madoff’s fraud, not just through the various ways it participated in his activity, but by helping to cover Madoff’s naked theft with the imprimatur of a globally recognized financial institution.”

This newest lawsuit filed against JPMorgan & Chase comes just one week after a $19 billion claim was dismissed by a federal judge, that case was filed by the trustee liquidating Madoff’s former firm. Last weeks case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon who said trustee Irving Picard didn’t have the legally appropriate power to demand common-law damages on behalf of defrauded investors.

Picard has filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against former Madoff clients since the firm collapsed in December 2008. Most lawsuits filed against the trustee are known as “clawback” lawsuits which were filed after Madoff customers withdrew too much money from the firm just before it collapsed.

Do you think JPMorgan & Chase should be sued for overlooking such a massive financial fraud?

[Image via Nicholas Piccillo / Shutterstock.com]

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sued By Madoff Investors is a post from: The Inquisitr

In addition to acting, the NY Times report that De Niro, 68, is also producing the movie, which is based on the book of the same name – written by Laurie Sandell (with the help of Bernie’s son, Andrew, and Andrew’s mother, Ruth) – and describes the aftermath of Madoff’s arrest and the effect it had on his family.

Sandell’s Truth and Consequences was also the basis for the Madoff family’s recent 60 Minute interviews, part of which can be seen below:

Madoff, a former Wall Street financial expert who swindled more than 16,000 investors out of an estimated $50 billion with a Ponzi scheme, was jailed for 150 years and has since been disowned by his family following the suicide of his eldest son Mark in December 2010, who could not live with the shame brought upon by the scam.

Following Mark’s death, his wife, Stephanie Madoff Mack, published her own memoir, a biography titled The End Of Normal: A Wife’s Anguish, A Widow’s New Life which details her ordeals in the fallout of the Madoff trial.

In addition to the Madoff Biopic, De Niro is also attached to star in the upcoming project The Irishman, that will be directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starred by Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.

via Chicago Tribune

Robert De Niro to Play Bernie Madoff in HBO Biopic is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ruth Madoff, the wife of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, revealed to CBS News that she and her husband were so deeply upset by the multi-million fraud that they planned to commit suicide on Christmas Eve in 2008.

Ruth said that she and her husband took Ambien and Klonopin, not mixing it with alcohol because they were afraid to vomit the pills.

In an interview with Morley Safer of CBS News, she said:

“I don’t know whose idea it was, but we decided to kill ourselves because it was so horrendous what was happening. We had terrible phone calls. Hate mail, just beyond anything and I said ‘…I just can’t go on anymore. We took pills and woke up the next day… It was very impulsive and I am glad we woke up.”

Bernie, 73, is currently serving a 150-year sentence for fraud in a federal prison in North Carolina.

Just recently, their daughter-in-law Stephanie released a book showing how angry she is with the Madoffs.

Do you believe this story that the couple attempted suicide together?

Bernie and Ruth Madoff Attempted Suicide Together (Woke Up Alive the Following Day) is a post from: The Inquisitr

As Bernie Madoff brags of a safe and almost pleasant prison experience, people outside continue to suffer from his lengthy con- including the widow of Madoff’s son, Mark.

After the scandal, Mark Madoff was unable to make peace with his father’s crimes. Two years after Madoff’s massive fraud was revealed, Mark died by his own hand in his SoHo apartment as his young son slept nearby. That was last December, and Mark’s widow Stephanie Madoff Mack has released a book detailing her pain after the loss of her husband and the disgrace the family had experienced following the scandal.

“The End Of Normal: A Wife’s Anguish, A Widow’s New Life,” out this week, reveals salacious details about both Bernie Madoff and wife Ruth, including the former’s poor boundaries with both family and employees and the latter’s strange eating habits and sordid family history. Madoff Mack says Bernie reached out to her after Mark’s death- adding she’d “spit in his face” if she met him again- and defended himself in the wake of the tragedy, saying:

“I realize that my pain will never take away the loss and suffering that you and the children feel… Stephanie, I can understand your hatred and anger towards me. Nothing I can say will probably change this.

“However I feel I must say some things to you. It is clear that you have bought into the media’s characterization of me. I know that you can’t believe it was ever my intention to hurt my family.”

In an ABC interview ahead of her book launch, Madoff Mack recounts how her calculating father-in-law “stood there in the corner at [her] wedding watching everyone dance, and he knew that everyone in that room was going to get screwed.” Stephanie also says she holds the elder Madoff “fully responsible” for Mark’s death. 

Bernie Madoff’s Son’s Widow Would ‘Spit in His Face’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Because online poker websites were never really “legal” in the United States they went largely unchecked for years, allowing popular website Full Tilt Poker to generate a massive ponzi scheme to the tune of $390 million says federal investigators.

According to the Justice Department the site cheated players out of $300 million while their executives paid themselves with money that didn’t necessarily exist.

Full Tilt Poker executives Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson are said to have earned $42 and $25 million from the site however when it was shut down by the U.S. Government in April.

According to the US Attorney’s office:

“Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme,” while adding that the site “cheated and abused its own players to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars,” and “insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike.”

At this time officials are attempting to figure out how best to recoup money for players, a sum equal to $390 million at a time when the company has just $60 million in the bank.

Did you lose any money in the Full Tilt Poker crackdown? How much are you out?

Full Tilt Poker Website Was Nothing But A Ponzi Scheme Says Federal Investigators is a post from: The Inquisitr

As we reported back in 2008, actor Kevin Bacon and his actress-wife Kyra Sedgwick were the victims of Bernie Madoff’s massive $50 billion Ponzi scheme that, according to rumor, left them with “very little”. According to a recent interview, however, it seems that Kevin Bacon and his family are recovering from the ordeal quite nicely.

“I’m not going to say it didn’t have its emotional downsides,” Bacon told Details magazine regarding the scheme. “”But we’re both young, and we both had the ability to work and roll up our sleeves and start putting the pieces back together. The truth is that we went through it together.”

The couple never made it public just how much of their money was lost in the scheme, but he did reveal to Howard Stern on his Sirius XM show recently that a “lot of money” was lost — precisely how much he didn’t say.

“It’s fine,” he told Stern. “So you have a moment where you go, ‘Holy (expletive), that was many, many years of work just went away in a poof of smoke.’ And then you go, ‘Hang on, we’re okay. We’re looking at each other, we got a nice apartment, our kids are healthy. There’s other people who had it a lot worse. We can both work.’”

In a twist of irony, Bacon has already requested to play himself in the future Biopic that is due for production with Robert DeNiro signed up to play Madoff.  DeNiro and Bacon first appeared together in the film Sleepers and Kevin told The Sun:

“How great would it be if I could play myself and make an appearance and get a chance to work with Bob again?”

Meanwhile Bacon is moving forward with his latest role  in the upcoming ­X-Men: First Class, a film based on Marvel’s X-Men universe set in the 1960s. Kevin Bacon plays the role of villain Sebastian Shaw in the movie. When asked if he chooses to be cast into the role of the bad guy each time this is what he said.

I never go, “Oh, I want to do it because he’s the bad guy.” I can’t stand badly written bad guys or guys who are just miserable pricks. The character in Super is just such a sociopath, I found it amusing. And Jean-Claude Van Damme had been offered the part. To pick up Jean-Claude Van Damme’s rejects was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Madoff, now 73, has been serving his 150-year prison sentence for the scheme since 2009.

Kevin Bacon, Ponzi Scheme Victim, Talks Moving Forward is a post from: The Inquisitr

Th 46-year-old elder son of fraudster Bernie Madoff was found dead earlier this morning, hanging from a pipe in his Mercer Street apartment in Manhattan.

Mark Madoff, alone in the SoHo home with his two-year-old son, had hanged himself from a pipe on the two-year anniversary of the revelation of his father’s massive fraud. Madoff was discovered just before 7:30 this morning by his father-in-law after his wife, Stephanie, received cryptic e-mails saying he loved her and to send someone to look after their small son. The child was found unharmed in the apartment.

A lawyer for Mark Madoff said his client was another innocent victim of his father’s now infamous investment scheme:

“It’s a terrible and unnecessary tragedy,” said Mark Madoff’s lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum.

“Mark was an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.”

Mark and his brother Andrew were sued again this week in Manhattan by trustees for the victims of Bernie Madoff’s scheme, in an attempt to recover funds thought to have been transferred to Madoff family members.

Mark Madoff, son of ponzi schemer Bernie, dead in suicide is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rumor has it that Bacon and his wife Kyra have lost nearly everything (excluding their land and the contents of their checking accounts), but Eichorn said that we shouldn’t “speculate or rely on hearsay.”

Well, we shouldn’t, but we want to… I’m sure that’s not the last of the damage to be revealed, with Steven Spielberg’s Wunderkinder Foundation already affected and Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks reported to have “lost millions” by the Wall Street Journal.

A federal bankruptcy judge released $28 million of Madoff’s assets today (Tuesday) to cover administrative, case-related costs. $883,00 had already been transferred to cover employees’ salaries and health care, and the trustee has been authorized to sell assets to recoup lost investor funds. 

Richard Bernard, the trustees’ rep, said that “This is the first step of many to recover assets.”

Progress is good, but it’s sad to think about all of Bacon’s hard-earned Footloose cash going down the drain.

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick Duped by Madoff Scheme is a post from: The Inquisitr

Well known Wall Street trader and former chairman on the NASDAQ exchange Bernard Madoff has been arrested and charged with allegedly running a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

US Federal prosecutors accuse Madoff of telling senior employees of his advisory firm that “it’s all just one big lie” and that it was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme,” according to a criminal complaint against him.

“Madoff stated that the business was insolvent, and that it had been for years. Madoff also stated that he estimated the losses from this fraud to be at least approximately $50 billion,” said Lev Dassin, the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Madoff has been charged with a single count of securities fraud and faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges against Madoff.

Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff arrested over Ponzi Scheme is a post from: The Inquisitr