Aurelia Finance

Aurelia Finance
private bank and fund-management company
Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland
Key people
 Directors Vladimir Stepczynski, Pascal Cattaneo, Olivier Ador, Laurent Mathysen-Gerst, and Jean-Marc Wenger
Services feeder fund to Bernie Madoff

Aurelia Finance SA is a Geneva, Switzerland, private bank and fund-management company that was a feeder fund to Bernie Madoff.[1][2]

Aurelia managed 1.7 billion Swiss francs of clients’ money, and advised clients to invest in the Hermes World Fund, a Madoff feeder fund which was listed in Dublin in January 2004, as part of a “conservative” portfolio.[1][3]

Madoff

It placed assets of its 800 million Swiss francs ($758 million) Hermes World Fund in investments with Bernard Madoff.[1][4]

Irving Picard, the trustee charged with recovering money for Madoff fraud victims, alleged that in September 2008 when a JPMorgan Structured Investments Distribution Marketing division employee disclosed JPMorgan plans to redeem its money, he was threatened by employees of Aurelia Finance.[5][6] Picard asserted in a complaint: "The Aurelia Finance representatives repeatedly opposed [JP Morgan's] plan. At two points in the conversation, the Aurelia Finance representatives made threats ... referring to 'Colombian friends' who could 'cause havoc' and telling [the JPMorgan employee] 'we know where to find you’.”[5] JPMorgan reported the threats to the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency in October 2008 by filing a Suspicious Activity Report, concerned that “Colombian drug money” was involved in the Madoff firm.[5][7][8]

Aurelia lost an estimated $800 million of clients' money by investing in Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme, uncovered in December 2008.[2][9]

Post-Madoff

In April 2009, all five directors of Aurelia's board (Vladimir Stepczynski, Pascal Cattaneo, Olivier Ador, Laurent Mathysen-Gerst, and Jean-Marc Wenger) were charged by a Geneva magistrate with criminal mismanagement of client assets, and with enriching themselves on management fees, finder fees, and commissions paid for fictitious returns that were never verified.[2] [10] They all then resigned from the board.[2][11] Cattaneo and Stepczynski retained executive roles at the bank, however.[2] The company had one sole director as of 4 June 2009, Gerhard Auer.[2]

In November 2009, prosecutors leveled money laundering charges at Stepczynski after the bank he tried to use to transfer millions of francs out of Switzerland informed the authorities.[2] A Geneva examining magistrate then froze the assets of all five former Aurelia directors.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mulier, Thomas (30 December 2008). "Aurelia Finance Invested Client Money in Madoff, Le Temps Says". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 de Sa'Pinto, Martin (12 November 2009). "Aurelia man charged with money laundering-sources". Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  3. ↑ de Sa'Pinto, Martin (23 April 2009). "Swiss Madoff investors await Aurelia ruling". Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  4. ↑ de Sa'Pinto, Martin (12 March 2009). "UBP to partially reimburse Madoff victims". Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Murphy, Megan (3 February 2011). "JPMorgan under fire over Madoff role". FT. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  6. ↑ Courtney Comstock (15 April 2011). "JPMorgan Did A Cost-Benefit to See If It Was Worth Keeping a Ponzi Scheme As a Client". Cnbc. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  7. ↑ Schecter, Anna (2 December 2010). "JP Morgan Suspected Madoff Months Prior to Arrest". ABC News. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "Madoff trustee: JP Morgan execs were warned". usatoday.com. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Swiss judge allows charges in Madoff losses case". Reuters. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  10. ↑ Bloomberg Markets. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Giles, Warren (7 May 2009). "Rothschild Difference With Madoff Becomes Geneva's Obsession". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
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