WSWS – New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Monday charged J. Ezra Merkin, a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager and former chairman of GMAC Financial Services, the financial arm of General Motors, with bilking investors out of $2.4 billion by funneling their money, without their knowledge, to convicted Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff.
According to the civil complaint filed by Cuomo with the New York Supreme Court, Merkin collected $470 million in management and incentive fees over a fifteen-year period by claiming to be carefully managing the money his clients invested in his three hedge funds, while funneling the bulk of the funds to Madoff’s operation.
