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Bloomberg – Moscow-based art dealer Gary Tatintsian has sued New York’s Luhring Augustine Gallery alleging breach of agreements on $3 million of art by artists George Condo and Richard Prince, according to a complaint filed Aug. 11.
In April 2008, Tatintsian, one of the first promoters of contemporary Western art in Russia, agreed to pay $2.7 million for 12 new Condo paintings at $225,000 each, according to the complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The price reflected a 30 percent discount from Condo’s “minimum retail price” of $325,000, according to the filing.
Greenwich Time – Fairfield Sentry Ltd., seeking to recover more than $919 million in fees related to investments involving Bernard Madoff, sued the Fairfield Greenwich Group hedge fund that lost $7 billion in Madoff’s fraud.
Fairfield Sentry, based in the British Virgin Islands, said in a complaint filed May 29 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan that it is the largest victim of the fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.
The fund seeks to recover more than $919 million in investment management and performance fees that it paid to Fairfield Greenwich based on inflated net asset value reports of its investments with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Fairfield Greenwich, led by Greenwich resident Walter Noel, claimed it had $16 billion of assets under management, $7.3 billion of which was purportedly in Fairfield Sentry Ltd., according to the complaint.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Peter Madoff, brother of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, had his assets temporarily frozen by a New York State Judge yesterday. The Chief Compliance Officer of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was sued by an investor who lost almost half a million dollars in the master fraud committed by his brother.
The plaintiff, Andrew Samuels, entrusted Peter Madoff with an inheritance of $470,000 in which Peter, who was the sole trustee from 2003 to 2008, took and invested with his brother. When the scam collapsed and Samuels realized all of his money was gone, he contested that Peter breached his fiduciary duty.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Bucaria froze the assets until the next hearing on April 3rd.
Despite the massive $50 billion fraud that Bernard Madoff masterminded for decades, no other employees of the firm or subsidiaries have been charged with any wrongdoing.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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Boston Globe – A judge extended an order on Tuesday barring hedge fund founder Ezra Merkin from shutting down funds that had invested with accused swindler Bernard Madoff or withdrawing money from them.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Richard Lowe issued the extension in a lawsuit brought on December 23 by New York University, which says it lost $24 million when funds run by Merkin invested money with Madoff without its consent.
Another judge issued the initial order on December 24 to stop Merkin from liquidating Ariel Fund Ltd, named in the lawsuit by the university along with Merkin and his Gabriel Capital Corp.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Investors in the hedge fund Fairfield Greenwich Group have sued the company after about $7.5 billion in potential losses stemming from ties to Bernard Madoff.
The investors claimed that Fairfield sustained “avoidable losses,” by not practicing proper due diligence and failing to manage their investments properly. The lawsuit, filed by Pasha and Julia Anwar in New York State Supreme Court on Friday, is one of many attempts lately to salvage some of the estimated $50 billion lost by Madoff through his infamous Ponzi scheme. The Anwars are residents of Illinois and had an interest in Greenwich Sentry LP.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance is also facing a scrutiny from angry investors. On Monday, Arthur E. Lange of Connecticut and Arthur C. Lange of New York filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, claiming that the company “breached their fiduciary duties by failing to conduct adequate due diligence and/or numerous red flags,” regarding their investments with Madoff.
Massachusetts Mutual has denied the claims and plans to “vigorously defend itself,” according to a spokesman for the company.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
