Word: auctioneers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...created a Michigan Land Bank to assemble properties so that we can not just auction them but make them available for job providers. The bottom line is, Detroit was built as a city for 2 million, and it's got less than a million people now, so we've got a lot of vacant space...
...Bernie Madoff Auction" sales have been popping up across the country in recent weeks, getting the word out in such places as Columbus, Ohio, and Charleston, S.C., by placing big stickers on the front page of local newspapers. The ads begin, "Due to losses caused by Bernie Madoff," and then detail such treasures as original art by Peter Max, Salvador Dalí and Norman Rockwell - as well as Rolex watches and "other flashy items" - that are to be sold to "recover losses from Ponzi scheme." Trouble is, it's hard to tell whether any of the merchandise at these auctions...
Most of these auctions are arranged by Southern Star Auctioneers, a Georgia company run by Dion Abadi, who has faced a number of official complaints and fines in recent years in multiple states. At one so-called Madoff auction held this fall in West Palm Beach, Fla. - a community hard hit by Madoff, who once owned houses and other property in nearby Palm Beach and who is now serving a 150-year prison sentence for his massive Ponzi scheme - many potential bidders exited fuming. "They all thought it was Madoff stuff, and it's not; it's from all over...
Abadi did not return numerous phone messages, but his brother Gavin Abadi, an auctioneer also involved in the "Madoff" events, told TIME that Madoff victims do indeed provide merchandise for the auctions and that "we're getting inventory from them every single week." The problem, he said, is that most victims ask to remain anonymous. Southern Star put TIME in touch with one Madoff investor who said he lost millions in the Ponzi scheme and confirmed that he had given the Abadis some artwork to auction. But while that person said he was happy with the price the Abadis...
...Rhodes Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education - and asked the other 44 charities of which Mandela is a patron to sign on as well. Other charitable causes must get the foundation's consent before using Mandela's name. This week, the foundation reprimanded actress Charlize Theron for auctioning off a package of gifts related to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which included a 20-second kiss from her and a meeting with Mandela. "Not even the charity foundations Mandela himself established are allowed to auction off time with him," the foundation said in a statement...