Corgentum Brings Operational Due Diligence focus to fund of funds panel at Boston Endowment & Foundation Forum
It has been announced that Corgentum Consulting Managing Partner, Jason Scharfman will moderate a fund of hedge funds panel at Endowment & Foundation Forum at the Opal Endowment & Foundation Forum at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Boston, MA on November 2, 2010. Topics anticipated to be discussed in the panel discussion include:
- What makes funds of funds useful?
- The role of operational due diligence, post Madoff?
- The evolving role of funds of funds, post 2008
Rather than focusing on a particular investment style, this endowment and foundation conference will tackle the issues that are most germane to the nation’s endowments and charitable foundations by examining critical investment topics, as well as the need to align fiscal strategy with the goals of a particular organization.
More information about the conference can be found here .
Corgentum – Hedge Fund Audits: Scope, Materiality, Audit Opinions and Operational Risk
A new paper has been released by Corgentum Consulting, the preeminent provider of the industry’s most comprehensive hedge fund operational due diligence reviews for investors, entitled Hedge Fund Audits: Scope, Materiality, Audit Opinions and Operational Risk.
This paper provides an introduction to audit opinions, the concept of audit materiality and audit scope in the context of assessing operational risk in hedge funds. Also discussed in this paper are several commonly held misconceptions regarding the work of hedge fund auditors.
The paper can be found in the Research section of the www.Corgentum.com website, or via direct link here.
The life and death of Stanley Chais: Plus Ruth Madoff Spotted
Stanley Chais was a Beverly Hills, California investment advisor who operated feeder funds which allocated capital to Madoff funds. He passed away on September 26, 2010 from a rare blood disease at the age of 84.
The Chais death is the third major death surrounding the Madoff scandal. The first was investor’s Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet’s suicide and the second being the death of Jeffry Picower (see previous post regarding Picower).
Chais was accused in a pending Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit of feeding about $1 billion — virtually all the funds he collected from investors — into Madoff’s multibillion Ponzi scheme. Specifically Chais managed three funds which invested with Madoff: 1) the Lambeth Company, 2) the Brighton Company and the 3) Popham Company. Although he withdrew $500 million before the collapse of the Madoff funds, Chais maintained that he was also a victim and was not complicit. Here is the SEC complaint against Chais.
Chais also facing a lawsuit from the Madoff trustee, Irving Picard which was filed on May 1, 2009 Irving Picard, bankruptcy trustee for Madoff Securities, filed a lawsuit against Stanley Chais. The complaint alleges he “knew or should have known” he was deep in a Ponzi scheme when his family investments with Madoff averaged 40% and
sometimes soared as high as 300%. It also claims Chais was a primary beneficiary of the scheme for at least 30 years, allowing his family to withdraw more than $1 billion from their accounts since 1995 – money that belonged to Madoff victims. The Picard complaint is here.
Chais was also facing a lawsuit from filed on September 23, 2009, California Attorney General Jerry Brown seeking $25 million in penalties and restitution for victims.
Chais was a large philanthropist and his philanthrophy, the Chais Family Foundation, closed in December 2008 as a result of losses associated with Madoff.
Here is a video from CNBC about the Chais death:
In other Madoff news, Bernard Madoff’s wife Ruth Madoff has been spotted in New York City at Midtown’s Le Pain Quotidien. Here’s the video:
Ruth Madoff had a new red harido (previously her hair was blond). Ms. Madoff was so dedicated to her previous blond hairstyle that she visited her salon, Pierre Michel, every six weeks for the last 10 years. After the Madoff scandal broker she was told that she could no longer enjoy her routine of sitting with a glass of Poland Spring water while Giselle, a colorist often cited in Vogue and Allure, wielded the foils. “Oh my g-d,” Madoff uttered, as ABC News advanced towards her. This video also features Madoff victims advocate Ronnie Sue Ambrosino. By the way the a website for the Madoff victim’s network is: http://bernardmadoffvictims.org. When Ruth Madoff was asked if she had any words regarding her husband’s victims, she said nothing. Perhaps it makes sense she’s keeping mum, since no one knows what federal prosecutors may or may not be up to….
