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 Convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff's stock trading business has found a
new home. The operation is being sold on the cheap to Castor Pollux
Securities, a financial firm based in Boston, unless a better offer is
submitted in an auction supervised by a U.S. bankruptcy judge.The agreement marks Castor Pollux as a "stalking horse" or lead bidder for the firm, setting a baseline for the court-run auction, scheduled for mid-April. Under the terms of its offer, Castor Pollux will pay $500,000 up front to the trustee of Madoff's firm and then up to $15 million based on revenue generated and shares traded through 2012. "This agreement is a successful outcome of the broadly marketed sales process we started in December," Irving H. Picard, of Baker Hostetler, the court-appointed trustee who is responsible for liquidating Madoff's firm, said in a statement. Madoff valued the business at $700 million just after his arrest in December, and even though it was forced to cease operations, the firm was thought to be worth between $200 million and $400 million based on trading volumes. The firm had previously been valued at $1 billion by the company's auditors in December 2007, but that accountant has been arrested, throwing into question the value of the business. Several securities firms and private equity firms had expressed varying levels of interest during the process, but the Castor Pollux deal was the only one submitted. Investment bank Lazard marketed the deal. Picard, noted that the sale price reflected that the business has been closed since early December and significant capital would be required to start up the operation. A skeleton staff of 35 were terminated but may be re-hired by the new owners. Madoff pleaded guilty earlier this month to fraud and other charges. He told a judge that unlike his secretive investment advisory business, the trading operation was "legitimate in all respects." Meanwhile, Picard may have better luck with baseball fans as he works to sell Madoff's Met's tickets at Citi Field. The prime season ticket seats are just behind home plate and will probably be sold by opening day, April 13. The seats were already paid for and are either in first or second row behind home plate, in the Delta Club Platinum section. They list for $695 each for opening day and overall the season ticket comes to $40,095 per seat, an average of $495 per game for some of the best seats in the ballpark. - Donna Block
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Talk about fraud! $500k is pennies on the dollar for furniture and fixture that cost $5 million--and the brand equity value of the name alone is worth hundreds of millions!..Bernie's family is blistering mad..and blogging about it at www.bernard-madoff-scam.blogspot.com
The Deal?? This is more like shpiel!