Fairfield Greenwich Group (investment management firm) $7.5 billion
Tremont Group (hedge fund) $3.3 billion
Banco Santander (Spanish bank) $2.87 billion
Bank Medici (Austrian bank) $2.1 billion
Ascot Partners (hedge fund founded by J. Ezra Merkin) $1.8 billion
Access International Advisors (New York investment advisers) $1.4 billion
Fortis Bank Nederland (Dutch bank) $1.35 billion
Union Bancaire Privée (Swiss bank) $1 billion
HSBC (British bank) $1 billion
RBS (British bank) $599 million
Natixis (French investment bank) $554 million
Carl Shapiro (founder of Kay Windsor) $545 million
BNP Paribas (French bank) $431 million
BBVA (Spanish bank) $369 million
Man Group (British hedge fund) $360 million
Reichmuth & Co (Swiss private bank) $327 million
Nomura (Japanese broker) $304 million
Maxam Capital Management (fund of funds based in Connecticut) $280 million
EIM (European investment firm) $230 million
Aozora Bank (Japanese bank) $137 million
AXA (French insurer) $123 million
Yeshiva University (private, New York) $110 million
UniCredit (Italian bank) $92 million
UBI Banca (Italian bank) $86 million
Swiss Life Holding (Swiss insurer) $78.9 million
Great Eastern Holdings (Singapore insurer) $64 million
Nordea Bank (Swedish bank) $59 million
M&B Capital Advisers (Spanish broker) $52.8 million
Hyposwiss (Swiss private bank) $50 million
Banque Bénédict Hentsch & Cie (Swiss private bank) $48.8 million
Fairfield, Connecticut (town pension fund for firefighters, policemen and teachers) $42 million
I am talking of the Madoff scam, of course. Why did HSBC invest with Bernie? Isnt it the world largest bank or something like that? Dont they have their own brilliant money managers? Did they had more confidence in Bernie than in their own money managers? Why should anybody buy a HSBC fund and pay 5% upfront management fee when they are not even managing the money?
Another observation. Bernie destroyed Jewish charities and his Jewish friends, but he was not antisemitic, he left a wide bombed out neighborhood all over the goyishe word too. Apparently he did not put aside much money for himself, he used the money for maintaining the Ponzi wheel spinning.
17 comments:
Hi, J.
I am a recent graduate of environmental (water) engineering in the United States. I have been working for six months in the mechanical systems department for nuclear power plant projects.
I would really like to spend some extended time in Israel. Do you think these desalination projects are a good opportunity for me to do so? I am thinking about asking General Electric for a field engineering position on the Ashdod project, if available. This is just one idea, so if you have others, I would greatly appreciate it.
Hi Rashkov,
There are currently 3 large desalination plants in Israel (Ashkelon, Palmachim and Sabcha in Eilat) and about 5 more in different stages of contracting and permitting. I would say this is a good opportunity for a young engineer to get engaged in a new, expanding field. I would think General Electric is not the way to work in Israel. There are few permits for foreign workers in Israel, and they are given mostly to Thai agricultural laborers, and highly paid specialists, mostly British in my experience. You can stay in Israel on a tourist visa and later you can regularize your situation. If you are Jewish (according the Law of Return, that specifies one Jewish grandparent at least) you could come on a temporary immigrant visa, which allows you to work here. I think the best is to ask the Israeli consulate near your home, they are organized to facilitate immigration to Israel. Immigration is a big word but you can go back anytime you wish. Dont forget that after three or four years in Israel you will be called for military service.
I am Jewish, so a temporary work visa would suffice. I don't know Hebrew yet, so working as a junior engineer for an American company would allow me to rely on English at work.
I would rather not leave my current job to run off to Israel (which would be difficult enough to convince my folks), and then only to spend months in Ulpan before I can begin to look for work.
My goal is simply to have an extended stay in Israel without jeopardizing my career, or scaring my folks with talk of emigration!
This may actually be unrealistic, so please let me know.
Thinking on it, maybe I just need to suck it up and learn some Hebrew first. Let me know.
It is hard to believe Madoff did it just for the sake of "keeping the wheel spinning".
This is like digging holes just to fill them in again, although he did seem to have "made" a fairly comfortable living.
Maybe the whole truth will emerge, but more likely we will just be left to imagine what really went on.
One issue that is not being discussed-are the early investors, who must have profited richly, entitled to keep this money? Surely it is the proceeds of crime, although these investors may not have committed the crime themselves.
Hi Rashkov,
ברוך הבא that is, welcome. A temporary visa is the best option. Hebrew is no problem, as everybody speaks English and most meeting in the desalination consortia (which are multinational, see the note below) are in bad English. On the contrary, people will seek you out to practice their English on you.
Regarding the Ulpan, you have the wrong idea. When I arrived to Israel also started in an ulpan on a temporary visa, but started to look for a job immediately and had the good luck of being accepted in TAHAL water planning almost immediately, and started to work (and earn good money) the first month in Israel. But I kept living in the ulpan till the end of the Hebrew course (six months) because it was free and was chock full of crazy American girls. What I mean is that the ulpan is no jail, you may use it as a hotel for the first months. They will be only too happy to see that you found your way in Israel without relying on the absorption people. The standard of living in Israel is similar to Europe.
Learning Hebrew is always good. If you change your mind, it will be always useful to work in Dubai or Kuwait (Arabic is very similar, once you now some Hebrew, you also understand some Arabic). :-)
Hi Anonymous,
I cant imagine how early investors can be located and made to give up their profits. If the stock exchange is a precedent, it was never done and in practice, it cant be done.
The standard of living in Israel is similar to Europe.
How would you compare the standard of living in Israel to America?
I hate to put this onus on you, but do you believe there is a substantial difference?
Recently I had a conversation with an Israeli Arab. He said that Israel is paradise, why should they move to the USA when here they have free medical care and extensive social security network? And most products are of better quality than elsewhere, fruits are fresher, and so on. And for one who is used to here, any change is for worse.
Regarding the USA, cars and gas are much more expensive, but distances are shorter. The real advantage of the USA is it size, you can find many specialized areas that do not exist in Israel or are extremely limited. For example, if you are specialized in wastewater reuse, the market in Israel is very small and limited, in the USA is just enormous. On the other hand, education in most parts of the USA is a joke. There are islands of excelence, but people cannot live on islands. Europe is nice but is fractioned by the language barrier and rigid class structure and xenophobia. All in all, I think Israel is the best for me and my family, it is good to submit onself to the discipline of reality (lack of water, endless wars, etc.). I can die assured that my children will not become lazy because reality prohibits it here. On the other hand, I see the children of my American friends, and they are funloving, unfocused and eternally adolescent.
Recently I had a conversation with an Israeli Arab. He said that Israel is paradise, why should they move to the USA when here they have free medical care and extensive social security network? And most products are of better quality than elsewhere, fruits are fresher, and so on. And for one who is used to here, any change is for worse.
Regarding the USA, cars and gas are much more expensive, but distances are shorter. The real advantage of the USA is it size, you can find many specialized areas that do not exist in Israel or are extremely limited. For example, if you are specialized in wastewater reuse, the market in Israel is very small and limited, in the USA is just enormous. On the other hand, education in most parts of the USA is a joke. There are islands of excelence, but people cannot live on islands. Europe is nice but is fractioned by the language barrier and rigid class structure and xenophobia. All in all, I think Israel is the best for me and my family, it is good to submit onself to the discipline of reality (lack of water, endless wars, etc.). I can die assured that my children will not become lazy because reality prohibits it here. On the other hand, I see the children of my American friends, and they are funloving, unfocused and eternally adolescent.
I think you've outlined many of the ideas that attract me to Israel. In addition, I find that the society is clos knit, and maybe not as lonely.
The size of the United States can be a disadvantage. My engineering group is comprised of people who have been here for many years, while only going home (half-way across the country) on three day weekends once or twice a month. They have spouses and other family, but the availability of work and money is here.
This past Friday, an engineer retired back to Florida (from here in Michigan) after 17 years of this. ...Then again, I haven't met his wife! Anyway, the closeness of Israel society can be a distinct benefit.
Those situations as you describe are unthinkable here. We still have families here and people get together. Religious people live in compact neighborhoods, as during Shabbath they have to walk to the synagogue. The younger people tend to congregate in Tel Aviv proper, where the fun is. There is much forced communal life, like the Army, where you are forced to live with a group and later to meet them for reserve service till age 40. You make friends, even if you are an antisocial type of person. In the University, teachers love to give group projects, to teach people to work together. If you are single, society will press you into marrying and have children. No escape here.
Thanks.
You make a perceptive comment about kids in the rich west. Many are unfocused and lack direction, especially if their parents are well off. They would benefit from a stark dose of unpleasant reality. I think many people are hard-wired to only make an effort when they are really scared, in an immediate sort of way. This is always a problem in bringing up children in the midst of affluence.
...many people are hard-wired to only make an effort when they are really scared, in an immediate sort of way.
Have we met?
I do not believe so
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