Genevalor Benbassat & Cie

Genevalor Benbassat & Cie
Industryasset management
Founded1983; 42 years ago (1983)
FounderMario Benbassat
Headquarters6 Place Camoletti,
Geneva
,
Switzerland
Websitewww.genevalor.ch

Genevalor Benbassat & Cie is an asset manager located in Geneva, Switzerland.[1][2][3][4][5] The firm set up five European feeder funds that invested almost $2 billion into Bernie Madoff's criminal Ponzi scheme.

History

Genevalor was founded in 1983.[6] In 1992 Sonja Kohn introduced Bernie Madoff to Mario Benbassat, founder of Genevalor Benbassat & Cie, and his two sons in New York, as a possible source of new funds for Madoff.[2][7][8][9] Genevalor set up five European feeder funds, including $1.1bn Irish fund Thema International Fund set up by Thema Asset Management, a British Virgin Islands-based company 55 per cent owned by Genevalor, and invested almost $2 billion with Madoff.[7][8][10] Thema International paid fees of 1.25 per cent ($13.75m a year) to Genevalor Benbasset & Cie. [10] The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2008 that the company was said to be a key player distributing Madoff investments in the Madoff investment scandal.[11]

In December 2010, U.S. court-appointed trustee Irving Picard sued HSBC for $9 billion, accusing it of aiding the Madoff fraud “through the creation, marketing and support of an international network of a dozen feeder funds."[12][13] The feeder funds named included Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie, which said: “it strongly denies any allegation that it had prior knowledge of the fraud committed by Madoff. This unfounded action causes a significant harm to the investors and to itself.”[12]

In February 2014, Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie on behalf of three funds, who invested with a company owned by Madoff, sued five Lloyd's syndicates under an insurance policy.[14]

In September 2017, Thema agreed to pay $687 million to victims of the Madoff fraud to resolve a lawsuit by Picard.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie. - Asset Manager, Switzerland". www.swfinstitute.org.
  2. ^ a b "Trustee Reaches $687M Settlement with Feeder Fund in Madoff Scam". Bloomberg. September 7, 2017.
  3. ^ "List of Investors Hit by Madoff Meltdown". Fox News. March 25, 2015.
  4. ^ Meyer, Jeffrey; Califano, Mark; Volcker, Paul (2006). Good Intentions Corrupted: The Oil for Food Scandal and the Threat to the UN. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781586484729 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ HedgeWorld Annual Compendium. HedgeWorld Limited. 2004 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Ruche, Sébastien (September 11, 2017). "A la chasse aux millions de Bernard Madoff". Le Temps.
  7. ^ a b Henriques, Diana B. (2011). Bernie Madoff, the Wizard of Lies. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 9781780740430 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Keena, Colm (December 10, 2010). "Dublin-registered Thema part of complaint filed to recoup $9bn received under Madoff". The Irish Times.
  9. ^ Allan Dodds Frank (February 20, 2011). "Sonja Kohn, Bernie Madoff's Bag Lady". Newsweek.
  10. ^ a b "Madoff looking for new money as scandal hit". Financial Times.
  11. ^ Forelle, Charles (December 17, 2008). "In Geneva, Spotlight Casts an Unwelcome Glare on Banks". The Wall Street Journal.
  12. ^ a b "HSBC fights Madoff claim; new settlement reached". Reuters. December 6, 2010.
  13. ^ Sallier, Pierre-Alexandre (December 7, 2010). "Plainte à 9 milliards contre le réseau Madoff formé par HSBC et des sociétés genevoises". Le Temps.
  14. ^ "Mayer Brown defends five Lloyd's syndicates from Madoff action". Legal Week. February 11, 2014.
  15. ^ "Irish fund Thema International to pay $687m to Madoff victims". The Irish Times. September 7, 2017.