Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Banco Santander SA, Europe's second- biggest bank by market value, may drop after saying its hedge fund unit invested 2.33 billion euros ($3.1 billion) of client funds with Bernard Madoff, who allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme that cost investors $50 billion.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGp8Qp8V0Two&refer=home
The Sunday Telegraph also reported, citing experts, that British pension funds and insurance companies invested in Madoff's company. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iOlOKnrglqUS5JeRuOwbTOZtgP0Q
http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2008/12/ponzi_nation.html?campaign_id=rss_daily Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff allegedly defrauds the rich and famous out of tens of billions of dollars. Minnesota businessman Tom Petters allegedly fleeces hedge funds out of $3.5 billion. And socialite New York lawyer Marc Dreier may have duped some hedge funds into giving him hundreds of millions of dollars for an apparently bogus real estate scheme.
[8:27:45 PM] eesolid says: Two major European-based banks said they have exposure worth billions of dollars to a US broker accused of a $50bn (£33bn) Wall Street fraud scheme. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7782731.stm
Italy's stock market watchdog, the Consob, has launched an investigation into the impact of the scandal on the national financial system, Ansa news agency reported.
The Bank of Spain also opened an investigation to determine the level of involvement of Spanish companies, the Spanish daily El Mundo said.
The Madoff scandal could have a bigger impact in Spain than the collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers this year, in which Spanish investors had exposure of between 1.3 and 2.6 billion euros.
http://news.smh.com.au/world/european-banks-suffer-new-hit-from-madoff-scandal-20081215-6yd6.html
a monumental blow to investors' trust in Wall Street, their financial advisers and even themselves, experts say.
Charles W. "Chuck" Ranson Jr., managing director of investor learning group Tiger 21's Florida region, calls last week's developments a "game changer" for investors.
"This is not Merrill Lynch, this is not Goldman Sachs," Ranson said. "This is an individual guy, but an individual who had the most amazing credibility: a senior officer of the board of directors of NASDAQ, an honored colleague by the securities associations over the years. This is truly a situation that you want to disbelieve. But it's true, evidently."
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/biz/content/news/2008/12/13/MADOFF1214.html
