Monday, December 22, 2008
It was good while it lasted
In what looked like the perfect way to make money, the partners of Fairfield Greenwich Group made a ton of money by steering money to Bernie Madoff and taking a healthy piece of the action for their financial skilz.
Clients of Fairfield, a secretive hedge fund advisory company based in Connecticut, lost $7.3 billion to Mr. Madoff’s fund. But for Fairfield, working with Mr. Madoff was hugely profitable.Sell people on the deal, make a few promises that you don't keep and let Bernie keep cranking out his fantastic returns. What could possibly go wrong?
Internal documents from Fairfield show that the firm has taken more than $500 million in fees since 2003 alone from the money it placed with Mr. Madoff. Nearly all those fees went to a handful of Fairfield executives, including Walter M. Noel, Fairfield’s founder, who used the money to build a glamorous life, splitting his time between homes in New York, Connecticut, Florida and the Caribbean.
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