Reuters – Vito Fossella, a former U.S. congressman representing sections of New York until a drunk driving conviction last year, has joined controversial hedge fund Superfund Investment Group, the Staten Island Advance reported this week. The community newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said Fossella’s role at the firm was not known. Superfund officials and Fossella were not available for comment.

Superfund is a managed futures investment firm that wants to make hedge funds available to the masses. Founder Christian Baha, a former Austrian police officer and college drop-out, stars in television commercials that poke fun at his inability to pronounce "investor."

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Tags: austrian police, baha, congressman, conviction, drunk driving, investment-firm, investment-group, investor, managed futures, police officer, reuters, staten island advance, superfund, television commercials, unnamed sources, vito fossella

HorseRaceInsider.com – Richard Shapiro, former chairman of the Califorinia Horse Racing Board, has been "devastated" financially by the $50-billion Ponzi scheme that was engineered by Bernard Madoff, according to a letter that Shapiro wrote to a U.S. Congressman.

"Nearly all of my life’s work, savings and pension evaporated on December 11, leaving me in desperate financial straits," Shapiro said in the letter to Brad Sherman, a Democrat who represents the San Fernando Valley, an area where Shapiro lives. The letter was dated January 12.

In the letter, Shapiro asked Sherman to pursue Congressional relief that might help him and other victims of Madoff, who has confessed to defrauding dozens of clients from his company’s New York offices. One of Shapiro’s proposals is to allow Madoff victims to claim credit for back taxes that they paid on paper profits that didn’t really exist.

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Tags: back taxes, bernard madoff, brad sherman, congressman, democrat, dozens, horse racing, paper profits, ponzi scheme, proposals, richard shapiro, san fernando valley