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Bank Medici

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For the bank of the Italian Medici family, see Medici Bank.

Bank Medici AG was a bank based in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1994 by banker Sonja Kohn and incorporated as a bank in 2003.[1]

Bank Medici's president and majority stakeholder is Sonja Kohn.[2] Its main institutional shareholder is Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Austria's largest banking group. Sonja owned 75% of the bank, and Bank Austria owned the balance.[3]

Madoff investments

Bank Medici was Thema Fund's investment manager, as Thema invested its funds with Bernard Madoff.[4] In return for finding investors for Thema, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million euros from Thema International Fund in 2007.[5]

Following news on 2 January 2009 that the Bank may have lost $3 billion invested with funds run by Bernard Madoff, the Austrian government appointed a supervisor to run the private bank.[6] On January 7, The New York Times reported the exposure to Madoff was $2.1 billion, some of which may have come from Russian oligarchs. After the Madoff losses were reported, Ms. Kohn, aged 60 at the time, and her husband Erwin had largely been out of public sight. The Austrian-government-appointed commissioner Gerhard Altenberger has been effectively managing the bank in that time.[3]

On January 14, 2009, William Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who is in charge of the state's securities issues, filed suit against Jaffe, who promoted Madoff's funds to wealthy investors in Massachusetts and Florida.[7] On February 4, compelled to testify, Jaffe invoked his Fifth Amendment right. Marcia Cohn, Maurice Cohn, and Alvin Delaire, Jr. failed to appear. On February 11, 2009, Galvin filed a complaint[8] seeking to revoke the Massachusetts license of Cohmad Securities Corp., an accounting of all Massachusetts investors Cohmad referred to Madoff’s company, all the fees it earned doing so (more than $67 million), and a fine. It cited $526,000 in referral fees paid from Madoff Investments, to Cohmad, to Vienna Bank Medici majority owner, Sonja Kohn, which she subsequently denied.[9][10] On May 28, 2009, Bank Medici lost its Austrian banking license. Kohn and the Bank are under investigation.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Firmenabc: BANK MEDICI AG
  2. ^ Gulf News
  3. ^ a b "Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff" by Nelson D. Schwartz and Julia Werdigier The New York Times January 7, 2009, p. A1 NY edition. Retrieved 1-17-09
  4. ^ Groendahl, Boris (12 March 2009). "Austria's Madoff-hit Bank Medici seeks buyers". Reuters. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  5. ^ Schneeweiss, Zoe (31 December 2008). "Bank Medici Manages Up to $3.2 Billion of Assets Tied to Madoff". Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  6. ^ FT: Austria takes control of Bank Medici
  7. ^ ""William Galvin Sues Salesman Robert Jaffe -- Demands Testimony", Boston Herald (January 15, 2009)".
  8. ^ http://www.sec.state.ma.us/sct/sctcohmad/cohmad_complaint.pdf
  9. ^ Groendahl, Boris (2009-02-12). "Medici's Kohn says did not get Madoff payments | Markets | Markets News | Reuters". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
  10. ^ "Galvin seeks to shut down firm with Madoff ties - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
  11. ^ Hansen, Flemming E. (May 28, 2009). "Madoff-Hit Bank Medici Loses License". The Wall Street Journal.
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