Fool Me Thrice: New York Businessman Fell Prey To Enron, Madoff, And FTX Scams

Robert Belfer was an oil entrepreneur and patriarch of the Belfer family. He lost his money when the cryptocurrency platform went bankrupt. FTX He suffered many losses from Enron’s fraud and the Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff years later.

According to court documents, investments funds that were linked to the Belfers were included in a shareholders list for FTX. This is a fraudulent digital asset firm led by Sam BankmanFried (30 years old). report From Financial Times. Belfer Investment Partners and Lime Partners were both related to the family. They held $34.5 million each in the company at the start of last year.

Robert Belfer and his wife, Renée, are philanthropists who have donated heavily to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the institution’s Greek and Roman galleries bear the Belfer name, as does the international affairs center at Harvard Kennedy School. Robert Belfer was born to Arthur Belfer, a Polish immigrant who arrived in the United States soon after Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Before his company started dealing in petroleum products and foam rubber, he imported feathers to make pillows and sleeping bags.

Belco Petroleum Corporation became a Fortune 500 firm and was then acquired by Enron. The Belfer family was now shareholders in the company. Robert Belfer was on the Enron board until 2002. That’s five years before the company became insolvent. The development cost the Belfers $2 billion.

After a family with a net worth of just $110 million, the family had a lucky break when they were able to withdraw $28 million from Bernie Madoff’s investment advisory. The late financier’s Ponzi scheme was discovered shortly after the stock market crash of 2008. Irving Picard was the trustee who was appointed to recover funds for Madoff victims. He filed suit against the family in order to get investments to help other victims. report The New York Post. The legal proceedings are still ongoing.

Bankman-Fried pleaded guilty to misconduct that has been often compared with the Madoff scheme. not guilty Eight charges were brought against eight people earlier this month, including conspiracy and wire fraud and securities fraud. Celebrities such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel ex-wife Gisele Bündchen received combinations of equity and cryptocurrencies as reimbursement for appearing in advertisements and publicly endorsing FTX; they now face a lawsuit They are accused of being part in an alleged gang. “fraudulent scheme” Unsophisticated investors are not recommended.

FTX crashed after users discovered that funds had been commingled between Alameda Research, a sister trading firm led by a former lover of Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried attempted to sell the company but it was not possible for some users or institutional clients to keep as much as $8 million. solicit Investors with limited success. John Ray III was a bankruptcy lawyer appointed to oversee the FTX bankruptcy proceedings. told He has never seen legislators like this “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.”

Bankman-Fried, along with other executives, had used the funds in order to buy luxury tropical realty and to make substantial political contributions to Democratic candidate candidates. Attorneys recovered Assets worth $5 billion to repay investors and customers who were defrauded.