2009 October, 26th

Phil Butler

Police in Palm Beach, Florida were called to the house of Jeffrey Picower on Sunday after his wife found him at the bottom of their swimming pool. Picower, long time friend, and suspected collaborator of Bernard Madoff, was pronounced dead after EMT’s and police tried to revive him unsuccessfully. Picower, recently named by Forbes as one of the 400 richest people in America, has been implicated in the $65 billion Madoff investor rip off.

Appointed trustee of the Madoff assets, Irving Picard, had just filed a lawsuit in Bankruptcy court against Picower seeking $5.1 billion in supposed “ill gotten” gains derived from Madoff’s ponzi scheme. Police have not ruled out any possible cause for the billionaire’s death, including suicide or murder. Madoff’s conviction had already been the cause of suicide among his suspected associates.

The unfortunate death of Picower at his home (left) may now obscure several issues which the people and the government of the United States need to know. Though Picower was, on the face of it any way, a generous philanthropist for any number of non-profits, his history and these latest allegations reveal another character for him and his associates as well. Outside he and his wife’s philanthropic endeavors, Picower had been under scrutiny by the government and regulators on any number of occasions.

From setting up questionable tax shelters, late investment disclosures, spinning off non-profits into profitable ventures – to suspicious returns from the Madoff scheme and other investment “landslides”, Picower appears to be anything but a philanthropist. In fact, most of his philanthropy these last few years has been aimed at medical research in the area of a disease he suffered from, mild Parkinson’s disease.

The Money Trail Is Long

Picower pointedly denied any collusion between he and Madoff, claiming through his attorney that he nor his wife suspected anything illegal was going on. Another filing from trustee of the Madoff assets, Picard, earlier this month revealed what appeared to be undisputed evidence that Picower must have known what was going on. In this instance, Picower had written a $125 million dollar check to Madoff, and after only two weeks this sum earned almost $40 million in supposed “investment” dividends. Well, as everyone knows now, there were no investment dividends, but just dividends from stolen investor monies. Ironically, or conveniently, Picower drowns mysteriously in his swimming pool 3 weeks after the gig is apparently up.

Picower and his wife at MIT ground breaking

More Questions Than Answers As Always

A few things seem obvious, if unprovable at the moment, as many answers to all these questions about Madoff and the money trail leading from him were sunk at the bottom of Picower’s pool with him. As difficult as it is to speak ill of the dead, it is also difficult to pity too much billionaire’s who took in many millions as other more apparently “on the level” investors lost nothing less than their lives. It is a little bit rediculous in the first place to assume that Madoff “the plumber“, and Picower “the accountant” were masterminds of any kind. Maybe I have just watched too many movies? Or not enough?

In doing some light research of these people, tracking down their associates, schools, Muckety alignments, business associates and so forth, and number of consistent variables surfaced as possible “constituents” of a Wall Street crook’s repertoire. All these people are heavily involved in charitable organizations, their contributions to lobbies and elected officials reads like a gangster “pay off list”, often they are under achievers in school, and almost always they have been in more than one tiff with the law or the Securities and Exchange Commission. As for Madoff, he pretty much invented the NASDAQ! What all that means and the end of this story is speculative, but Picower’s sudden death and a missing $65 billion tend to point to even more conspirators. Some would suggest “bigger fish”, or at least a lot more of them.

Ongoing Damage

The ongoing damage assessment from Wall Street’s skulduggery may never reach and end. We are looking at perhaps the biggest rats nest ever assembled in my view. As for Picower, guilty or innocent, I sympathize with Picower’s family, as surely he was loved by them. Beyond that, I just hope we catch them all, the injustice done by all these people is actually of Homeric proportions. The really sad part of this story is the charitable organizations which bear to some extent the names of these people. They may not be guilty of anything, but their association is damaging enough.

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About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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