Madoff – The Collateral Damage Begins

We’ve been reading for ten days now about the wealth lost by individuals, foundations and organizations along with the effect on the numerous programs they support. We’ve also seen (and heard) about real hardships being suffered by individual (and generally elderly) investors.

Now, some of the collateral damage is beginning to make news:

from Haaretz:

Members of exclusive N.Y. synagogue lose collective $2 billion in Madoff scam

Hanukkah, which began Sunday, will not bring light and joy to the famous Modern Orthodox synagogue, situated in an upscale Manhattan neighborhood, known to many within the Jewish community as the “Fifth Avenue Synagogue.”

The revelation that has dampened the joy of the holiday for the Fifth Avenue worshippers is the discovery that the Madoff scam – the $50 billion “Ponzi scheme” that may rank among the biggest fraud cases ever – cost the members of the synagogue a collective $2 billion, the New York Post reported Sunday.

The fraud has crippled the synagogue, which boasts some of New York’s elite as members.