One That Got Away: Madoff associate Jeffry Picower dies at 67

One That Got Away: Madoff associate Jeffry Picower dies at 67

Unsatisfying news abounds. Defrauded investors are at wits end searching for both satisfaction and lost funds. In this case lost funds were targeted and satisfaction was within reach but Jeffry Picower will not take the stage when this show opens.

Picower and his wife started the Picower Foundation in 1989, which has given millions to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Human Rights First and the New York Public Library. It also funded diabetes research at Harvard Medical School.

The foundation, whose assets were managed by Madoff, said in its 2007 tax return its investment portfolio was valued at nearly $1 billion.

After the Madoff scandal broke in December, the Picower foundation said it would have to cease grant-making and would be forced to close.

But the trustee's lawyer said Picower's claims that he was a victim "ring hollow" because he withdrew more of other investors' money than anyone else during three decades and should have noticed signs of fraud.

According to the lawyers, Picower's accounts were "riddled with blatant and obvious fraud," and he should have recognized that because he was a sophisticated investor. Picower had asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, saying it was unsupported by the facts. - Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer

The entire AP release:

Police: Madoff associate Jeffry Picower dies at 67

Very much like Madoff himself, Picower's public reputation was built being generous with the money invested by others. He was wily enough to withdraw far more than any legitimate investment would have paid and pompous enough to remain in the US a decade later.

In 1999, the Picowers received a 950-percent profit from the Ponzi-scheme investments, according to a $5 billion lawsuit by the trustee overseeing liquidation of Madoff’s companies, Irving Picard. Picard is seeking $6.7 billion back from the Pickowers to help repay Madoff victims. - Julie Kay, New York Post

The Post report:

Madoff pal found dead in pool

This from the New York Times, May 12, 2009:

In 1999, for example, one of Mr. Picower’s accounts posted an annual profit of more than 950 percent, the suit said. That account was one of two that reported annual returns from 1996 to 1999 ranging from 120 percent to more than 550 percent, the suit said. - Diana B. Henriques and Zachery Kouwe, The New York Times

That beats the heck out of what my bank offers on a CD. Returns like that typically come to investors brandishing guns and wearing ski masks. Here's the entire NY Times article:

Billions Withdrawn Before Madoff Arrest

Picower and his wife, Barbara, have been reported to have made more from the Madoff scheme than Madoff himself. And we thought Madoff was the bottom of the barrel! This article by Jake Bernstein, ProPublica - June 23, 2009:

Madoff Client Jeffry Picower Netted $5 Billion—Likely More Than Madoff Himself

Check out the Wikipedia entry for Mr Picower. Apparently anybody can get a Wikipedia entry, why am I not in there? Oh yeah, lack o' funds.

Picower has been listed by Forbes magazine as one of the top 400 richest people in the United States for 2009; it is his first time on the list. - Wikipedia on Jeffry Picower, October 26, 2009

Jeffry Picower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Picower's departure will not be the last we hear of the Madoff mess. Institutions benefited from the charitable donations of the Picowers but we now find it was all a front and not very charitable after all. At 67 Picower was not ancient by any measure but this is surely another example of "only the good die young".

Didn't webbot say that big financial players would start to disappear?

Originally posted by hadriana
Didn't webbot say that big financial players would start to disappear?

That is interesting hadriana. Of course there's also been a number of threads predicting a financial crisis during this October time frame. Was this death linked? Was this guy checking out before the rush? Did he know something was about to happen? The portion of this story that likely makes this seem more coincidence than anything was the reported health of this man.

Picower suffered from Parkinson's disease and had "heart-related issues," said family attorney William D. Zabel. He described Picower's health as "poor." - Brian Skoloff, Associated Press

Keep in mind this was from Picower's attorney not his doctor. I would think the Parkinson's was not faked, just a guess. "Heart-related issues"? What thug under investigation does not suffer from "heart-related issues"? Innocent people suffer "heart-related issues" while being investigated. Would this be the first time an attorney tried to drum up a measure of sympathy for a client? Nah! The police have not yet determined a definitive cause of death. In other words the drowning might be tied to either murder or suicide. Despite that this guy with Parkinson's just might have drowned. I doubt Webbot was in the know on that but this man was a really "big fish" and so he will likely be seen as a data point in various predictions no matter his cause of death.