Facing a growing chorus of angry investors, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff lost his right to leave his home on Friday and was ordered to hire private around-the-clock security guards to protect him.
US Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz approved the revised bail conditions after prosecutors sent a letter requesting them earlier in the day. The letter, signed by Assistant US Attorney Marc Litt, did not explain why the bail conditions needed to be tightened.
Madoff, 70, a former NASDAQ stock market chairman, has become one of the most vilified people in the US since word broke last week that he allegedly plundered US$50 billion from investors.
The changes replaced a curfew established this week that allowed Madoff to leave his Manhattan apartment during the day.
He will be confined to his apartment at all times, except for court appearances.
The order calls for Madoff’s wife to pay for a security firm to provide 24-hour video monitoring of Madoff’s apartment doors. It also requires communications devices and services enabling the firm to send a direct signal from an observation post to the FBI if there is an “appearance of harm or flight.”
“The security firm will provide additional guards available on request if necessary to prevent harm or flight,” the order said.
Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said the order “speaks for itself.”
About his client’s safety, Sorkin said: “We are always concerned about the health and well-being of high-profile clients and we take whatever measures are appropriate.”
Madoff’s bail conditions have been gradually increased as angry investors who lost billions seek information about what happened to money they thought was safely invested with someone who was widely respected on Wall Street for nearly half a century.
A week ago, Madoff was released on US$10 million bail only on the signature of himself and his wife.
When he could not get a total of five signatures on his bail package to vouch for him, a curfew was imposed.
The bail development occurred a day after Madoff was ordered to provide a written list by year-end of his assets and liabilities, a key step in finding what is left for investors.
US District Judge Louis Stanton signed an order late on Thursday requiring Madoff to provide a verified accounting of all his assets, liabilities and property to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The court filings came as investigators spent another day trying to untangle Madoff’s operation.
Investigators have started serving grand jury subpoenas requiring witnesses to testify and seeking documents, an official familiar with the case said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, declined to identify who had been served or specify what documents were wanted.
Also on Friday, Tufts University became the latest group to come forward as a Madoff victim, saying it had lost US$20 million, or about 2 percent of the school’s endowment.
The school invested the money with an investment firm called Ascot Partners LP, managed by the chairman of GMAC Financial Services, J. Ezra Merkin. Other universities also lost a bundle with Ascot through the Madoff connection, including New York Law School.
Madoff and his family essentially turned him in to authorities last week, blowing the whistle on what authorities said he confessed was a “giant Ponzi scheme.”
The charge against Madoff carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Other charges could be added as the case is presented to a grand jury.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to