Word: madoff
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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...
Gavin Abadi acknowledged that the auction ads "may need tweaking." When told that bidders had complained that no Madoff estate items were on the block, as the ads seem to imply, and that bidders also didn't know whether any items were from Madoff victims, he said, "If that's a major concern, we should look into it and perhaps change some things," including disclosing to potential buyers which items are or aren't from Madoff victims. He said that he and his brother were "not looking to mislead or misrepresent. The victims we've been dealing with...
...Ilene Kent, a Madoff investor in New York City who now coordinates a victims' group called the Network for Investor Action and Protection, says Southern Star's advertising "seems deceptive at best" and makes her "feel like we're being used to lure people into auctions for this guy. If so, that really just adds insult to our injury." While Southern Star says it's using the ads as a way to get more bidders out to help Madoff victims, Kent fears Abadi is "just appealing to morbid public curiosity about how the mighty have fallen. But it wasn...
Recent ads have directed readers to madoffhelpline.com, a bare-bones site that consists of a few sentences and an e-mail address. "Have You Been a Victim of Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme?" asks the grammatically challenged site, which also misspells Madoff's name: "If you have been a victim of the Maddoff ponzi scheme and would Like to liquidate your fine art or jewelry at one of our future auctions contact us with a brief description of your inventory...
...auction ads used to reference a much more extensive site, Madoff-Help.com, a news and assistance site for Madoff victims, until its founder, Ron Stein, a certified financial planner in Huntington, N.Y., told Abadi to stop using it in his ads. "I guess he thought it gave them more credibility," says Stein. He says Abadi complied and apologized, but Stein nevertheless felt that "something just seemed unethical" about Southern Star's advertising...