Madoff Trustee Files Last-Minute Suit Against Austrian Banker

Madoff The scam is the Medicis Giving a bad name.

Irving Picard, trustees for the WHO investors lost millions by investing with Bernard Madoff, has filed suit against Sonja Kohn, principal shareholder of Bank Medici, Along with Several of her family, and Other Banks and businesses in Austria, Italy, Gibraltar and New York.

The suit seeks $ 19.6 Billion in damages under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. Although Picard has filed a rash of Civil Suits in the days preceding the Filing deadline at midnight on Saturday, this is the first time they has made Such stark accusations of Criminal Behavior.

"In Sonja Kohn, Madoff found a Criminal seoul mate, whose greed and Dishonest inventiveness

equaled his own, "Picard said. Describing "the deliberately Byzantine structure of the Medici Enterprise," they more information Predicted That Would Be Uncovered likely through discovery preceding trial.

Timothy Pfeifer, the Court-Appointed Trustee's counsel, said Kohn Went by Many Names, "Creating an International Network of spurious Investment Entities, and masterminding an Illegal Scheme Not only to Support the Madoff fraud, But Also Thurs ENRICH herself, her family, and the largest Banks in Austria and Italy. "

She is Accused of Activities Beginning fraudulent Madoff on meeting around 1985, then attracting investors by holding herself out To Be A close friend of his. Madoff Kohn allegedly paid money to feed into Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities - an relationship that was Kept Secret Even inside the company.

In exchange for Creating a feeder funds directed Investments That Thurs Madoff, Kohn and co-investors in the Medici Bank - Including Bank Austria and UniCredit - were allegedly paid Hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, kickbacks and fictitious Profits.

Kohn and her relatives are also Life Accused of funneling at Least $ 62 Million into private accounts using an elaborate network of Sham Entities in New York and Elsewhere.

The trustees of Reported That Madoff Kept records of payments Thurs Kohn But apparently Destroyed Them before they confessed two years ago. In the weeks before Madoff's arrest, Kohn and her family allegedly tried Thurs conceal and launder proceeds of the enterprise.