The List: Sorting Through the Names
It's still unclear how many of the people on the "Madoff List" were truly victims of the Ponzi scheme. The trustee liquidating Madoff's financial firm has said that some of the people listed may have served as trustees or agents for other people who lost money, which may explain why some of the people who have stated publicly in recent weeks that they'd lost a fortune to the scheme don't appear at all. (Case in point: Ira Rennert has said he lost $200 million to Madoff's scheme, but his name does not appear in the 163-page document.) But it's interesting to go through the names anyway, and you don't even need to bother with the tedious task of scanning the PDF document: There's a Madoff victim search engine that has made the process much easier. Just point your browser here and you can look people up by address or name. After the jump, a long list of people who have turned up as possible victims in the last day or two.
Several financial big shots appear on the list, including Steven Mnuchin, the hedge fund manager and son of Bob Mnuchin, and his brother Alan Mnuchin, a former top investment banker at Bear Stearns. Arthur Rock, a legendary venture capitalist, is present. And a long list of prominent real estate execs is there, including Robert K. Futterman, one of the city's top commercial real estate brokers; Donna Olshan, who owns Olshan Realty; Stephen Siegel, the chairman of CB Richard Ellis; real estate developer Larry Silverstein; Burton Resnick, the prominent property owner; Leonard Litwin, who controls Glenwood Management; and Stephen Green, who founded the real estate firm SL Green and is the brother of politician Mark Green, whose name is on the list as well.
Top New York City gallerist Barbara Gladstone is there. As is Andrew Rosen, the fashion tycoon who now runs Theory. The "world's oldest living supermodel," Carmen Dell'Orefice, makes an appearance. And several aging heiresses may have been victims, including Wendy Vanderbilt Lehman and Lady Victoria de Rothschild. There are former athletes, like Tim Teufel, once a second baseman for the Mets; Ray Floyd, who played professional golf; Bob Nystrom, who used to play for the New York Islanders; and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. And a number of team owners, in addition to Fred Wilpon, who was identified as a victim long before the list was released: Norman Braman, the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, for example, and Ozzie and Dan Silna, who used to own the Spirits of St. Louis.
Not all of Madoff's victims were innocents. Mel Weiss, the lawyer and convicted felon who is now behind bars, makes an appearance, as does David Bershad, his former partner. There's also Morris Talansky, the scandal-tainted Long Island businessman who has been accused of bribing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
There's even a Hilton family connection. Robert Meister, a retired insurance exec in Palm Beach, appears on the list. He's Nicky Hilton's former father-in-law.