Vienna - The owner of private Austrian bank, Medici, may have been involved in some way in the $50bn pyramid fraud allegedly run by US financier, Bernard Madoff, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Medici owner involved in scam?

Vienna - The owner of private Austrian bank, Medici, may have been involved in some way in the $50bn pyramid fraud allegedly run by US financier, Bernard Madoff, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily Standard alleged that Madoff, who is accused of running one of the biggest-ever frauds in Wall Street's history, paid more than half a million dollars to Bank Medici's owner, Sonja Kohn.

Kohn has always denied knowing anything about Madoff's scam, even if the two knew each other personally.

But according to official documentation from Cohmad, a brokerage part-owned by Madoff, Kohn received $526 000 dollars from Cohmad in recent years for unspecified services, Standard reported.

Bank Medici has said its exposure to the scandal amounts to $2.1bn via two of its investment funds, but its survival is not under threat.

Questioned by Standard, a spokesperson for Bank Medici said the bank was not aware of the documentation, which it would have to be examined before any statement could be made.

According to Standard, Cohmad had been paid some $67m for "professional and brokerage services" by Madoff Investments since 2000.

Madoff was arrested December 11 after allegedly confessing to his two sons and to the FBI that he had run a giant scam known as a Ponzi scheme, where new investors' money is stolen to pay profits to existing clients.

Madoff is free on $10m bail but confined to his New York apartment under round-the-clock surveillance.

So far, Madoff is the only person charged in what could be the biggest such fraud in Wall Street history.

- AFP