Hours after filing for bankruptcy in a U.S. court, Bernard Madoff’s London-based financial firm sued Peter Madoff — the Ponzi schemer’s brother, and employee — for “unjust enrichment.” The company also moved to seize Peter Madoff’s assets, including a $200,000 Aston Martin car, which the company claims in court documents he purchased with company funds. This was the first action to seize the assets of Peter Madoff, who has not been charged with wrongdoing in connection to his brother’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. Filing under Chapter 15 of the bankruptcy code, Madoff Securities International said they owed up to $1.5 billion in liquid funds and assets. This is part of a larger effort to liquidate Bernard Madoff’s assets to repay victims of his massive Ponzi scheme. (Bloomberg)
A detainee at Guantanamo Bay called the al Jazeera television station Tuesday while pretending to call his family, telling the news organization that U.S. guards have repeatedly tortured him. Mohammad el Gharani, a citizen of Chad who has been held at Guantanamo for seven years, said that he was beaten and tear-gassed by six soldiers every day since before President Obama was inaugurated. Gharani said the treatment continued even after he was ordered released from the prison in January, part of President Obama’s promise to release all 240 detainees from Guantanamo within the year. “Since Obama took charge he has not shown us that anything will change,” he told the Middle-Eastern news network. (Reuters)
Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 16 counts of racketeering conspiracy and corruption, including using pay-to-play politics to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat. Doing most of the talking, Blago’s lawyer told the judge that the accused former governor would seek $2 million in campaign funds to hire additional defense lawyers. Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Blago said that the not guilty plea “is the beginning of me trying to prove my innocence and clear my name and be vindicated of what are inaccurate allegations.” (Chicago Tribune)
Allen Stanford has hired a civil attorney to represent him in civil proceedings connected to the $8 billion Ponzi scheme the SEC has accused him of orchestrating, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Stanford’s new lawyer, Jacks Nickens of the Houston-based Nickens, Keeton, Lawless, Farrell & Flack, has an impressive record in high-profile civil cases. Stanford said last month that he could not hire criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin because a court-appointed receiver had frozen his assets. (Reuters)
The SEC and New York prosecutors are investigating whether the Carlyle Group paid intermediaries to divert funds from New York state’s $122 billion pension fund into the private equity firm. Investigators are expected to probe whether Carlyle Group, and a handful of other investment companies, concealed their relationship with Hank Morris, who used to serve as an advisor to former state comptroller Alan Hevesi. Havesi’s aides were accused last month of selling access to the pension fund for personal profit. The politically connected firm which once counted George H. W. Bush and former British prime minister John Major on its board, which manages $1.5 billion of New York pension assets, has often been criticized but never charged with wrongdoing. (New York Times)
Conditions at Los Angeles County Men’s Central jail are “medieval and drive men mad,” according to a report released by the ACLU Tuesday. The report also says that the jail has insufficient access to mental illness medication, is comprised only of dark, windowless cells, and should be shut down. A spokesperson for the jail, which holds more than a third of the county’s inmates, said that the report “significantly overstates” the problems and that Sheriff Lee Baca has been a consistent advocate for improvements. (LA Times)
