Posted by R.K. Gella
Currently referred to as the infamous Madoff Fraud, the so-called Ponzi scheme perpetuated by investment banker, Bernard Madoff, has allegedly cost its victims a sum totaling around 50 billion dollars. The damage has been catastrophic, forcing the closing of non-profits such as the Fair Food Foundation and attributing to the suicide of foreign fund manager Thierry de la Villehuchet, who last week was reported to taking his life after being “unable to resist the pressures that followed the eruption of the scandal.”
Now reports say the victims of the scheme were global, targeting top investors from the United States, Europe and Tokyo.
The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times also talked to Nancy Silverton this week, the highly regarded chef and baker, and owner of Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles. It turns out that Ms. Silverton was taken for all her investments, which would have included the $5 million she made from the sale of her La Brea Bakery in 2001.
“My father called my cell,” she said. “He said, ‘We’ve lost everything.’ I went into a kind of surreal shock.”
For Silverton, 54, and the many others like her, she’ll have to start over. “My entire retirement, my kids’ college funds, trust funds, were all invested in this. All I have is my restaurant now. We just can’t believe it.”
Bernard Madoff is free on a bail of 10 million dollars while authorities continue to investigate.