We need to support the "prosecutor" if we want a similar result.

Bernard Madoff, shown here in his mug shot

At the MCC, Bernard Madoff is getting a taste of life behind bars.

Madoff sentenced to 150 years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A federal judge sentenced Bernard Madoff, the convicted mastermind of the largest and most sweeping Ponzi scheme ever, to the maximum sentence of 150 years in federal court Monday.

Judge Denny Chin of U.S. District Court in New York announced the sentence just moments after Madoff apologized to his victims.

Chin, who called Madoff's crimes "extraordinarily evil," said the maximum sentence was important for deterrence, and also for the victims, many of whom erupted into applause after the judge announced the sentence. Many hugged and some of them broke down in tears.

"The sentence imposed today recognizes the significance of Bernard Madoff's crimes," Lev Dassin, acting U.S. attorney, said in a written statement.

The 150-year sentence is the maximum that federal prosecutors in New York requested, based on the number of Madoff's victims, the amount of money he stole and the extent of the damage he caused. Judge Chin said that the Federal Department of Probation had recommended a 50-year sentence.

Victims had urged the judge to dole out the stiffest punishment possible. "We implore you to give the maximum sentence at a maximum prison for this deplorable low life," said one of the victims in court before Madoff spoke. "This is a violent crime without a tangible weapon."

"We are committed to bringing additional charges against anyone else who bears criminal responsibility," said Dassin, in a written statement. "At the same time, we are focused on tracing, restraining and liquidating assets to maximize recoveries for the victims."

Is BOA next?

Madoff victims offered settlement
Santander Spanish branch in Madrid
Many financial institutions have been hit by Mr Madoff's alleged fraud

Spanish bank Santander says it will compensate private clients who suffered
losses from the alleged fraud run by US businessman Bernard Madoff.

The bank said it will offer clients a 1.38bn euro ($1.8bn;£1.3bn) settlement.

Santander is being sued over claims it did not do enough to prevent losses in
funds that invested with Mr Madoff.

He is accused of perpetrating one of the largest-ever Wall Street frauds,
through a $50bn (£33.2bn) scheme that wiped out many investors.

Santander is the largest bank in the eurozone and owns Abbey and Alliance &
Leicester in the UK.

'Exceptional circumstances'

Santander has said its customers have exposure of 2.3bn euros to Mr Madoff
through its private banking business, Optimal.

The bank will issue 1.38bn euros worth of preferred shares to compensate
individual customers. The move will cost the bank 500m euros.

It said that it had decided to offer compensation because of the "exceptional
circumstances" and to maintain its business relationships with clients affected
by the alleged fraud.

Spanish law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo said that it had filed a class action
suit in Florida with its US partner firm Labaton Sucharow.

The lawsuit claims that Santander was negligent in allowing its Optimal
Strategic US equity fund to invest with Mr Madoff.

Santander said in a statement that it acted in accordance with all applicable
laws and sound banking practices and procedures.

"Grupo Santander has acted at all times with the due diligence in the management
of its clients' investments," it said in a statement.

The Madoff scandal has hurt a number of high-profile banks and financial
institutions.

Austria has taken control of Bank Medici, a small, private bank, because of the
losses it sustained.

In the UK, the Serious Fraud Office has said it would investigate Mr Madoff's
business operations.

Marc Gross, of the US law firm Pomerantz, which represents some of Mr Madoff's
clients, told the BBC that the compensation was "very significant".

"I think it's taking ownership of the problem, taking accountability and
standing up and saying we are going to reimburse... those who've been defrauded

Madoff accountant on fraud charge, how about cosmo's

Madoff accountant on fraud charge
David Friehling
David Friehling is charged with deceiving investors

US prosecutors have charged the long-term accountant of disgraced US financier
Bernard Madoff with fraud.

David Friehling, 49, has also been charged with aiding and abetting fraud, and
four counts of filing false audit reports. He has been released on bail.

Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 charges against him when he appeared in a New
York court last week.

He has always insisted he acted alone in masterminding an estimated $50bn
(£35bn) investment fraud.

Madoff, 70, has now been remanded behind bars ahead of his sentencing in June.
He could receive a sentence of up to 150 years.

He ran a Ponzi scheme, whereby early investors were paid off with the money
injected by new clients.

'Falsely certified'

Mr Friehling, faces up to 105 years if found guilty of the charges he faces.


Although Mr Friehling is not charged with knowledge of the Madoff Ponzi scheme,
he is charged with deceiving investors by falsely certifying that he audited the
financial statements of the Madoff business
Acting US district attorney Lev Dassin

Acting US district attorney Lev Dassin said that Mr Friehling's company,
Friehling & Horowitz, was the accounting firm that "purportedly" audited the
accounts of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities between 1991 and 2008.

"Mr Friehling is charged with crimes that represent a serious breach of the
investing public's trust," said Mr Dassin.

"Although Mr Friehling is not charged with knowledge of the Madoff Ponzi scheme,
he is charged with deceiving investors by falsely certifying that he audited the
financial statements of the Madoff business."

'Lied to investors'

Mr Dassin added that Mr Friehling was paid approximately between $12,000
(£8,600) to $14,500 a month by Madoff between 2004 and 2007.

Madoff arriving for Thursday's court hearing
Madoff has insisted he acted alone

"Simply put, Friehling failed to do his job, and lied to investors and
regulators in saying that he did," he said.

US commentators have said that Mr Friehling ran his accounting business from a
nondescript suburban building north of New York City.

CLASS ACTION UPDATE

Agape suits against BofA consolidated
by Michael H. SamuelsPublished: June 24, 2009Tags: Bank of America, Jacob Zamansky, Nicholas Cosmo
Manhattan attorney Jacob Zamansky confirmed Wednesday that he is combining his lawsuit against Bank of America with two other class action suits also filed in federal court.
Zamansky said the new complaint will be filed within the next 30 days.
“It’s just the way class actions work,” Zamansky said. “The judge and the defendants want one class case to respond to. We agreed to work together.”
Zamansky said he will be the point-person for the new consolidated complaint.
His original suit, on behalf of victims of Nicolas Cosmo’s company Agape World, stated that Bank of America “aided and abetted, encouraged, and rendered substantial assistance” to the alleged $413 million fraud.
The suit also claimed that futures trading companies are at fault because Cosmo had been barred from associating with the securities industry. Zamansky’s suit said that the trading companies should havealso verified the “source and propriety” of the millions that came from a convicted felon.
Cosmo has been held in jail since he was arrested on Jan. 26. On Tuesday, he was denied bail for a third time, but he is expected to be released later this week.

COSMOS RELEASE DELAYED

IT SEEMS HE HASNT MET ALL THE COURTS CONDITIONS, HOWEVER, THEYA RE EXPECTING TO HAVE EVERYTHING LINED UP FOR A FRIDAY MORNING RELEASE DATE.
Its a long boring story and it wont get us a single cent if he walks or stays locked up, so i'm going to work on Friday and leave the media to fend for themselves.
If any of you are interested in attending.... same place as usual.
see link below for story

http://libn.com/blog/2009/06/23/cosmo%e2%80%99s-release-delayed/

NYS TAX BREAK

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzponz0212831021jun01,0,738002.story

Lawyers want books opened at Agape-funded restaurant

by David Winzelberg
Published: June 18, 2009

Bankruptcy attorneys are trying to force a Woodbury restaurant to produce its financial records because alleged swindler Nicholas Cosmo put more than $1 million into the business.

Attorneys from Jericho-based SilvermanAcampora, who are acting as trustees for the liquidation of Cosmo’s firm Agape World, have filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court to get the owners of Speranza Food Studio at 7940 Jericho Turnpike to reveal its financials to help determine the size of Agape’s investment in the eatery.

So far, according to attorney Ken Silverman, Speranza’s owners have not yet complied.

Speranza received its Certificate of Occupancy from the Town of Oyster Bay in February and it opened soon after. The restaurant’s owners had been honoring gift cards given to Agape investors for a month or so, but stopped recently, according to a card holder who tried to use his. Cosmo had issued thousands of dollars in Speranza gift cards.

Sources say the Agape chief had as much as a 33 percent stake in the restaurant.

Records show the owner of Speranza is listed as a corporation called 7940 Jericho Turnpike, the address of which is 135 Crossways Park Drive in Woodbury. That’s the same address as EKN Financial Services owned by Anthony Ottimo, and Jet One Jets, headed by Louis Ottimo.

Another member of the family, Richard Ottimo, told LIBN in February that all gift cards from Agape World would be honored as soon as he figured out how to limit customers from spending them all at once.

One Agape investor said he used the $2,000 gift card he got from Cosmo only twice, before he was told that the card was dead.

Ottimo referred requests for comment to his attorney Stuart Berg, who couldn’t be reached.

Cosmo served 21 months in prison for a 1999 securities swindle and was ordered to undergo therapy for gambling addiction. He is currently being held at the Nassau County jail after being indicted for defrauding investors out of $413 million in an alleged Ponzi-type scheme. Cosmo has yet to make the $1.25 million bond set for him a few weeks ago.

An attorney at SilvermanAcampora said an Agape World bankruptcy hearing scheduled for June 23 has been rescheduled for July 2.

Promac settlement of 2 million...

Bob and I have been waiting for days to talk to the trustees office about our concerns of settling for such a small portion of the debt with promac.
Today, Bob and I finally had the chance to conference with them.
They made a strong argument for settling.
The facts as presented to us were these:
They hired a forensic accountant to go over the promac books (promac was very cooperative).
It seems Agape was the only company "funding" promac loans to vendors.
We were in fact the "promac bank".
Promac took our 5 mil and gave it out as loans to 65 or so vendors (pizza places, etc).
5 of those vendors went belly up. The others are making payments as promised.
If the trustee forced his hand and decided he wanted more than the 2 million, they would have to close up shop and the company would be worth 1.7 mil before liquidation. After liquidating we'd walk away with 1.4 million or so.
So, the trustee decided to allow them to settle at 2 million instead.
I cant say that I completely understand the mechanics behind this strategy, but that is what they told us.
Should we file an objection?
I dont know at this point. But please, please, PLEASE !!! Dont follow me on this one. I'm telling you... I'm not sure!
Every one of you has the right to file an objection if you feel its appropriate. There will be no repercussions.
No one will fault you. You have to follow your heart.
the trustee said they would broadcast a clear explanation of the strategy by outlining the steps they took in making the decision in the next few days for us (all) to review.
I'm going to see what they post and decide at that time how I feel about filing an objection.

Check this out... Its important.

http://www.bankofamericafraud.com/

Updates of agape auction and proposal to settle debts

1. The trustees office offered to settle the 5.2 million dollar debt with promac at 2 million.

2. The sports complex in hauppague was sold for 3.4 million.

My thoughts:
Cosmo having given Promac 5.2 million dollars owned 20% of Promac under the corporate name "esau". So in fact the trustees office and the creditors should have automatically been entitled to 20% of promacs net worth (or gross, - not sure) and/or ownership rights.
Cosmo forced into bankruptcy is now being forced to liquidate all his assets to make creditors whole.
Why liquidate Promac interest? Its not Real Estate that has to be managed, such as the Sports Complex. Its a viable business operated outside of Cosmo, Agape or creditors day to day operations obligations. It runs without any responsiblity on our part.
I'd rather we continue to hold that 20% share as a new "creditors corporation" and be assigned individual shares accordingly.
Once the shares are assigned to us individually, we can chose to hold and receive interest on them or sell them to other parties.

Another upside, we dont loss 3.2 million in a negotiation process and or a percentage to Trustees office as a fee.

Another week gone by.

It would seem that as the weeks go by, a great number of us have come to accept our losses with less anxiety. That is not to say that we have decided to walk away from them, but slightly complacent.
I guess its a good thing to move on with our lives while the government and attorneys work towards some justice and recovery for us.

Personally, I cant help feeling that we should continue to keep the pressure on. My gut tells me that BOA is geared up for a fight. Certainly, it would be cheaper to have a small army of attorneys (already on retainer) keep this thing in court until our children and grandchildren might see some closure, however, If we make enough noise and ask the average American consumer to sanction BOA for aiding a criminal to bilk $400 million from honest hard working fellow Americans... Maybe the potential "bad press" and "lost revenue" might encourage them to play fair.

So the question is... If we organized monthly protest against BOA, How many of us would attend?
If you are interested in responding, please do so in the yahoo group "poll" section.
I hope your day is whatever you want it to be.