|
HOW THE MEISSNER FIRM IS ASSISTING
VICTIMS OF THE BERNARD MADOFF SCANDAL
Our Approach
The Madoff scandal is the most
significant financial scandal in decades. The Meissner
firm, which based on its prosecutorial experience,
specializes in financial fraud and mismanagement has
been contacted by numerous victims of the Madoff Scandal
from around the world. The shock and surprise that the
Madoff victims have incurred is typical of the Meissner
firm’s clients over the years.
The
Meissner firm’s focus on detail in both screening and
pursuing all cases it accepts retention on should assist
the victims of this scandal in avoiding the pitfalls of
pursuing misguided false leads and false hopes resulting
from in-experienced counsel. Financial fraud and
securities arbitration is a specialty that most
attorneys do not focus on.
Many
victims of this scandal will no doubt be led astray by
law firms who are either “mill” type firms or lack the
securities prosecution and arbitration experience that
the Meissner firm has, only further adding to the
victims woes.
By being
selective in the matters we accept and by limiting the
number of arbitration/litigation matters we take on each
year, our clients can be assured that they are being
provided with experienced counsel who pay careful
attention to their case and focus attention only on the
avenues which will most likely lead to the recovery of
funds.
In
pursuing all our cases we are well aware that the
combination of aggressive pursuit of all claims, while
at the same time cooperating with regulatory agencies
with which the Meissner firm, due to Mr. Meissner’s
background, has long term contacts with, along with
selective cooperation with the press where appropriate,
usually leads to the positive results the firm is known
for.
It is just
such strategic approach which has even led to our
retention on an industry dispute matter by a brokerage
firm which we had previously successfully pursued only a
month before on behalf of a defrauded investor (SEE
04/21/08 - NY Daily News: Staten Island Couple Getting
Savings Back After Financial Adviser Hurt Them.). When a
firm we successfully pursued on behalf of an investor
then seeks to retain us as their own counsel in another
proceeding, we know our approach stands out from the
rest of the crowd.
The Madoff scandal has
impacted the small and the large. We know that victims
of a financial scandal like the Madoff scandal can come
in all shapes and sizes. Victims can range from the
individual investor to an entity such as a charity. In
the Madoff situation where many relied on others who had
the responsibility to diversify one’s investment into
several funds, rather than the fund of one person as
many Madoff intermediaries apparently did; or as a
intermediary who collected a fee from either Madoff or
from the investor in supposedly screening Madoff’s
investment vehicles and supposedly investigating and
conducting due diligence on Madoff and his funds, such
intermediaries had duty to perform such
screening/diversification functions. It is clear that
many of these intermediaries failed in their duties and
we are confident we will hold those entities responsible
for their failures and in so doing bring relief to many
Madoff victims.
Mr. Meissner two decades of
experience in successfully investigating and pursuing
financial fraud on behalf of a variety of defrauded
investors creates the foundation for which he is
assisting victims of the Madoff Scandal. As a prosecutor
of State of New York Mr. Meissner led many financial
fraud investigations to successful prosecution. One of
Mr. Meissner’s well reported matters even involved his
assisting “victim” Thomas Gambino when even he along
with other investors were victims of financial fraud in
the 1990s. Meissner’s prosecution of the fraudster who
apparently had the courage to defraud Thomas Gambino of
the Gambino Crime Family was well reported by
Barrons Magazine “Profiles in Courage” Piece in May 1999
. The Madoff scandal once again demonstrates, similar to
the Gambino related matter, that anyone can be the
victim of brokerage fraud or brokerage negligence.
What We have Seen and Heard
We have heard from victims from around the world from
Switzerland to Israel and all over the United States.
Some have invested in Madoff funds as a result of their
interaction with a bank in which case we have asked to
see any agreements between themselves and that bank,
especially and documents referring to Madoff funds as
well as any agreements between the client and the bank
as to where one may pursue a claim against such bank
whether in a forum such FINRA or NASD or AAA or in Court
in a particular country or state.
We have
heard from others who were referred to Madoff by a
licensed broker of a brokerage firm who may have been
paid my Madoff or charged the client a fee for such
referrals, but where the brokerage firm itself did not
know of such referrals. Such referrals may lead to a
claim of “selling away” which may be pursued against the
employing brokerage firm for failing to supervise that
broker. In addition, we have heard from many individuals
who were not referred by a bank or brokerage firm, but
either invested through one of the funds of funds or
directly with Mr. Madoff.
Many charities
have been especially effected by this fraud. The
Meissner firm has substantial experience working with
charities. When a charity is the victim of fraud it
raises a variety of possible unique issues including
concerns relating to the Board of Directors and the
trustees who were misled. We understand the dynamics
involved and the complexity created by the altering
membership over the years within the Board of Trustees
and Board of Directors and the potential of Madoff
intermediaries who may attempt the typical “blame the
victim” defense in seeking to assess blame on the
trustees or the board.
The Meissner firm has
been down this road and is well prepared to present the
law demonstrating that such boards may rely upon the
purported expertise of financial “experts” in investing
the charity’s funds. These issues are certainly complex,
which is why it is important that victims are
represented by a firm with experience in these issues .
The Meissner’s firms well reported efforts as appeared
in the
Sunday Business Section of NY TIMES
on behalf
of a defrauded Long Island, New York charity, eventually
led to a successful confidential resolution.
Such eventual resolution took time and effort as can be
seen from the Times Article.
We took the time and were
not afraid to take on the process when we felt the
process was unfair and not working. The firm is not
afraid to spend the time in investigating and seeking
the removal of arbitrators who may have conflicts of
interest or who appear to be mis-classified as
supposedly “public” arbitrators and we do not hesitate
to deal with such issues again and again if necessary,
if they arise in the same case and many times they
unfortunately do. At the end of the day, in the event an
arbitrator of concern stays on a given panel, they and
our opponents are well aware about the issues that we
have raised which have now been preserved for appellate
review if needed.
As with the NY Times article we are also
not shy about shedding light on situations where
warranted.
We well
know that public focus on an issue of concern in a
proceeding assists in leading all participants in an
arbitration to act appropriately, provide full
disclosures, and ultimately to a fairer hearing with
fairer decisions along the way. Generally
our opponents and
FINRA
(formerly the
NASD)
are not fans of cases being highlighted in the media, as
it makes it difficult to ignore or shove under the rug
unexplainable or irrational decisions by the forum or
the panel, or conflicts of interest/ mis-classified
arbitrators which were not properly dealt with or even
revealed. Thus, where needed and with the consent of our
clients we do not hesitate to shed light on the
situation and cooperate with members of the press who
contact us regarding such issues.
Screening Madoff Cases
It is easy for legal counsel to be led astray in the
current scandal as many in-experienced counsel will
filed claims against Mr. Madoff and his funds directly
which will likely lead to no recovery as one cannot seek
water from a rock. Therefore the Meissner firm is taking
the following approach to the Madoff matter:
1) Those that invested in the Madoff funds as a result
of any recommendation or encouragement from a brokerage
firm, licensed registered representative (stockbroker)
who are member of the self regulatory securities arm
FINRA (NASD) – which may include Nomura Securities, BMP
Paribas, Neue Private Bank, Union Bancaire, Bank Hapolim
– we are accepting retention on these matters with the
aim of pursuing significant arbitrations against the
referring firm or the employer of the subject broker. As
the Meissner firm
represents individual investors, and
has unmatched
win statistics in arbitration we encourage
anyone who is in this situation to contact our firm so
that we may consider pursuing your claim as we have many
times before. Generally the Meissner firm pursues these
claims on a modified contingency fee basis although
other fee arrangements may be made.
2) For those that invested directly in Madoff funds we
are assisting them in the pursuit of filing SIPC claims.
Such claims are very limited. The recovery is limited to
$500,000 in securities and $100,000 in cash. However,
even those amounts are not simple to recover as the vast
majority of SIPC claims over the history of SIPC have
been rejected. SIPC covers a very narrow scope of
circumstances generally related to theft of securities
or funds and/or unauthorized trading. Thus we are
currently monitoring the uncovering of exactly what Mr.
Madoff did so that we may attempt to submit a claim that
will meet SIPC requirements. Generally, the Meissner
firm accepts retention on an hourly fee basis for such
assistance as, depending upon SIPC’s position, the legal
time required may be minimal if SIPIC is flexible with
this situation due to the magnitude.
3) Those that invested through a fund of fund, such as
Fairfield Greenwich, Banco Santander, Fairfield Sentry,
Ascot Partners, Tremont and lost significant funds we
are considering legal action against such funds for
failure to conduct due diligence. Such retention would
be on an hourly basis. We are also working closely with
a Class Action firm for those that wish to not file
their own matter and do not wish to incur legal fees and
are referring those individuals to such firm which will
have no out of pocket costs to participants.
If you fall into any of the above categories we
encourage you to contact our firm so that we may review
your matter and see if we can assist you.
|
