The Last Detective - Nardizzi Inc.

Lawyer liable for Ponzi scheme of client?

A MA Superior Court judge has ruled that the law firm Holland & Knight could not be sued by investors for failing to ensure that one of their clients followed their legal advice (the client ignored his lawyers and proceeded to defraud the investors in a Ponzi scheme--not exactly in keeping with counsel’s advice).

Holding here in essence: lawyers are not mothers and will not be held liable for failing to scold and nag until the job is done well.

Did JPMorgan Chase know Madoff ran Ponzi scheme?


A lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan last week on behalf of shareholders alleges Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and 12 other current / former executives and directors were aware of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme:

“The lawsuit said JPMorgan examined reports that Madoff was required to produce on the late Norman Levy, a former client of JPMorgan and Madoff, and that the reports gave the impression that Madoff was not investing Levy's money or lending him money on margin. Shipley and Lipp would meet Madoff for lunch from the 1990s through the 2000s, frequently along with Levy, and raise their concerns, the complaint said. But in the end, the bank was "petrified" of losing business from Levy, "an extremely important, preferred top-tier client" of its private banking unit, the complaint added.”

Great assets of Bernie Madoff

Rumblings of massive asset searches underway worldwide (investors are not waiting for the feds to conclude work) for accounts linked to the businesses run by Bernie Madoff.

One question bantered about recently by veteran researchers: does
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act cover business accounts? More specifically, are businesses considered "customers" under the act and thus protected by the sort of tactics once used to find assets hidden by scam artists like Madoff? General counsel for one large firm advised me the act does cover business accounts, but others disagree--off the record. No one wants to be the test case.