Dozens inAspen on List of Madoff Investors
ASPEN — Even when he was on the gondola Thursday, Aspen resident Steve Goldenberg could not avoid dealing with the Bernard Madoff scandal that has rocked dozens of local residents.
“This has become a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week problem,” Goldenberg said from his cell phone minutes before he stepped off the bucket. “You can’t get away from this. It’s a nightmare.”
Goldenberg is one of a number of Aspen investors whose names were revealed in a court document released Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Madoff is accused of cheating investors out of some $50 billion in a Ponzi scheme and is currently being held under house arrest at his multimillion-dollar penthouse.
The list does not detail how much each person or institution invested, providing only a physical address or post office box next to the name. Some names or institutions are shown several times, others just once; it is believed the duplicate names equate to multiple investments.
The 162-page document (see link above) names celebrities such as Larry King, sports stars such as Sandy Koufax, trusts, charities, businesses and other investors. John Denver Concerts Inc. and John Denver Enterprises appear on the list, as does Denver’s ex-wife, Ann.
But that’s not where the local connection ends: The list shows a couple of dozen investors with Aspen addresses. Three more come from Snowmass, and two are from Basalt.
The amount people have lost varies, but Goldenberg said he tries to remain optimistic: “Everybody in Aspen is trying to help each other.”
Other investors on the list contacted Thursday either declined to comment or did not return telephone messages.
“It’s complicated and unpleasant,” one victim said.
The list’s findings can also be misleading. Preston Fox, an Aspen tax attorney and accountant, is on it but he’s not an investor. Rather, Fox handled the accounts of three clients who invested with Madoff, meaning he receives their financial documents related to the suspect. “As the lawyer and CPA, I received all of the statements from Madoff on behalf of my clients,” Fox said. “I had three clients who got burned.”
Goldenberg, who began investing with Madoff in 1996, would not say how much he lost. He said he has hired a law firm and stays in constant contact with other Aspen investors.
He seems resigned to the fact that he won’t recoup what he lost.
“It’s hopeless,” he said.
The only financial break that might arise will come in the form of tax breaks or other relief, he said. But his chief concern is about Madoff’s fate.
“The real thing I don’t get is why he isn’t in jail. That’s what I want to see.”
rcarroll@aspentimes.com
The Madoff list — localized
The following names appeared with local addresses on the list of Bernie Madoff’s victims that was released Wednesday.
ASPEN
Gary Albert
Albert Family Retirement LP
Gaston and Nancy Alciatore
Aspen Fine Arts
David Chamberlin
Dr. Morton Eisenberg
Donnelley Erdman
Richard Felder
Preston Fox
Stephen Goldenberg
Kenneth Gutner
Kenneth H. Gutner Revocable Trust
Second Gutner Family
Philip M. Holstein Jr.
Geraldine Karetsky
Investments International
Melvin Knyper
Marc William and Dana Lynn Mandelbaum
Dr. Robert Magoon and Nancy Magoon
Bart F. Pepitone
Richard S. Poland
Lexie Brockway Potamkin
Lloyd G. Schermer
Diane Sloves Trustee
Joseph Sloves
Harold Thau
SNOWMASS
Liebmann Family Revocable Trust (Bruce and Bonnie Liebmann)
Bonni Liebmann
Jillian Wernick Livingston
BASALT
Edward F. Calesa Trustee
Michele and James Cardamone
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