It is a tragedy for my family my company and for me personally

Two years, almost day to day after the arrest of the New York broker, the Madoff scandal rebounded, this weekend, with the issue of new "accomplices" potential implementation. In addition to the suicide of the eldest son of the broker, Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanged Saturday morning in his apartment in Manhattan (read below), the liquidator of the company, Irving Picard, concluded a series of action against banks by an unprecedented initiative. By designating Sonja Kohn, the founder of the Austrian Bank Medici, a subsidiary of Bank Austria (repeated in 2005 by the Italian UniCredit), as the main "criminal sister soul" of Bernard Madoff, the liquidator filed an action to claim $ 19.6 billion. In addition to the Austrian, today volatilized, banker who is suspected of having maintained a "criminal" long twenty-three year relationship with Bernard Madoff, the use of the liquidator is 53 other people and entities, including the former boss of UniCredit, Alessandro Profumo, and his Vice President, Gianfranco gutta-percha (former Chairman of Generali from 2001 to 2002).

The money of the oligarchs

"We will vehemently refute the complaint", assured this weekend, a spokesman for Bank Austria, which holds 25 of Bank Medici, alongside Sonja Kohn. According to the use of 161 pages filed by the liquidator, Bank Medici would have used privileged channel in Europe to "Ferry" $ 9.1 billion to the company of Bernard Madoff, in exchange for secret "Kickback". It is the first time that the liquidator relies on us legislation against corruption and racketeering (Rico) on the basis of an action against a bank. According to the complaint, "Madoff had found a soulmate criminal by Sonja Kohn, whose greed and dishonest inventiveness equalled his own". It also refers to "the byzantine structure" of the Medici Bank who could deliver new evidence on the extent of the gigantic scam. Because, according to the complaint of Irving Picard, "schema implemented by Sonja Kohn continued well after the confession of Madoff".

Daughter of Jewish refugees to Eastern European émigré in Vienna after the second world war, Sonja Kohn was knowledge of Bernard Madoff in 1985, through Maurice Cohn, founder of Cohmad Securities, when she worked in New York for a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2009, she felt however "being the largest victim of Madoff.". "It is a tragedy for my family, my company and for me personally." But, according to the liquidator, a few days before the arrest of Bernard Madoff on December 11, 2008, she had asked her husband to withdraw all their personal assets of Bank Medici, its funds having already recovered 536 million from the company of New York broker in fall 2008. Before the seizure of Bank Medici by Austrian regulators, the "foster" funds used by Bank Medici were mainly Primeo Fund, Thema International Herald Fund, Alpha Prime Fund, Senator Fund, Herald (Lux)... Sonja Kohn clients have included several Russian oligarchs and rich Ukrainians, according to Austrian witnesses cited by the New York Times".

In addition to the members of his family and various companies including Pioneer Asset Global Management (subsidiary of UniCredit), other advocates cited complaint also includes the ex-PDG of the Italian Banking Group UniCredit, Alessandro Profumo, suddenly sacked by its shareholders on September 20, and the former Vice-President of the Italian banking group, Gianfranco gutta-percha. According to the complaint, Alessandro Profumo had maintained "a close working relationship" with Sonja Kohn, which would have facilitated the resumption of Bank of Austria by UniCredit, at the time of its merger with HVB German five years ago.

Two years after the arrest of Bernard Madoff, the liquidator seems decided to sweep large in pursuing a series of banks suspected of him have lent assistance (JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Natixis, Fortis, ABN AMRO, BBVA, Nomura and Merrill Lynch...), for a total of $ 32 billion.