Stanley Chais

Stanley Chais (March 27, 1926 – September 26, 2010) was an American investment advisor, money manager, and philanthropist. He operated " feeder funds" which collected money for funds related to the Madoff investment scandal. The widow, family, and estate of Chais settled with Madoff trustee Irving Picard in 2016 for $277 million.

Early and personal life

Chais was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York.Stuart Pfeifer, David Sarno
Stanley Chais dies at 84; money manager invested with Bernard Madoff
''The Los Angeles Times'', September 27, 2010 He attended Syracuse University, graduating in 1947.''Bernie Madoff, the Wizard of Lies'' - Diana B. Henriques - Google Books
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He was married to Pamela Chais, a playwright and screenwriter. They resided with their three children first in Sands Point, New York, and then in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, California. After the scandal, they moved to Manhattan, New York.

Involvement in Madoff's Ponzi scheme

Chais was an investment advisor, money manager, and philanthropist. He operated " feeder funds" which collected money for funds related to the Madoff investment scandal."Accused Madoff middleman Stanley Chais dies,"
Reuters. He operated three funds that offered returns of up to 25%. He told clients that he achieved the returns using a complex combination of derivatives, stock, currency and futures trading. Instead, the funds were merely funneled into Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

On May 1, 2009, Irving Picard, bankruptcy trustee for Madoff Securities, filed a lawsuit against Stanley Chais. The complaint alleged 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 claimed 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 properly belonged to Madoff victims. The case number was ''Picard v. Chais'', 09-01172. When Chais claimed to be broke, Picard told a judge that Chais should sell his Fifth Avenue New York apartment to pay his legal fees. On June 22, 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against Chais. On September 23, 2009, California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit against Chais seeking $25 million in penalties and restitution for victims. Federal prosecutors had opened a criminal probe into him, but he died in September 2010 before they filed charges against him. His lawyer denied that Chais committed any wrongdoing.

Settlement with Picard

The widow, children, family, and estate of Chais settled with Picard in 2016 for $277 million."Madoff trustee reaches $277 million accord with money manager's family,"
Reuters. On November 19, 2016, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a global settlement – made in cooperation with the California Attorney General - with the defendants in ''Picard v. the Estate of Stanley Chais, et al''. The agreement was made with the Stanley Chais estate, Chais’s widow, children, and a number of other Chais family members, investment funds, trusts, companies, and other entities associated with Chais. Under the terms of the agreement, the BLMIS Customer Fund received $277 million, including a cash payment of $258.47 million, as well as the assignment of other assets that would be liquidated over time. All proceeds of the settlement were to go to the BLMIS Customer Fund for the benefit of BLMIS customers with allowed claims. Picard’s lawyers said the settlement covered all of Chais’ estate and substantially all of his widow’s assets, and represented “a good faith, complete and total compromise.”

Philanthropy

Chais founded the Chais Family Foundation, which donated extensively to organizations that preserve and further Jewish history and culture, from reestablishing and maintaining Jewish culture in areas where it was diminished by the Holocaust and by Soviet policy, to Israeli organizations. In Israel, Chais sat on the boards of Technion, the Weizmann Institute, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The foundation, which had been funded through the Madoff scam, collapsed in December 2008.

Death

He suffered from profound anemia. Chais died on September 26, 2010, at age 84 in Manhattan, where he and his wife had moved to further the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder that eventually took his life.">"Stanley Chais; linked to Madoff" - ''Times Union''
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References

External links

''SEC v. Chais''
US District Court Southern District of New York, June 22, 2009
"Settlement Agreement"
between Irving Picard and Pamela Chais, et al, October 19, 2016

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chais, Stanley
1926 births
2010 deaths
People from Sands Point, New York
People from Manhattan
People from the Bronx
People from Beverly Hills, California
People from West Hollywood, California
Syracuse University alumni
2008 in economics
Jewish American philanthropists
American money managers
Pyramid and Ponzi schemes
Deaths from blood disease
People associated with the Madoff investment scandal
20th-century American philanthropists
21st-century American Jews