Dead man walking - a perfect moment of shadenfreude

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people. From Google/AFP:

Mystery shrouds Lebanon's 'Madoff' case
A shroud of mystery surrounding the bankruptcy of a top Lebanese financier was growing on Friday as his list of alleged victims, mainly Muslim Shiites, also does.

Salah Ezzedine, a Shiite from southern Lebanon in his 50s who has been dubbed the "Bernard Madoff" of his country, was arrested earlier this week when he filed for bankruptcy.

Reports surfaced that he had squandered more than 1.5 billion dollars (1.05 billion euros) of his clients' money.

Mohammed al-Duheini, mayor of the southern town of Toura, said on Friday that "around 250 residents from my town placed their money in the hands of Salah Ezzedine, and he would give them interest rates that topped 25 percent.

"He managed to win the trust of the Shiites of south Lebanon and handled a lot of their money," he told AFP.

From Google/Associated Press:

Shiite financier investments embarrasses Hezbollah
A Mideast version of the Bernie Madoff scandal is threatening to tarnish Hezbollah's reputation in Lebanon for being incorruptible, and the powerful Shiite militant movement faces calls to bail out small investors to keep its position from being undercut.

Hundreds of Lebanese sold land or drained their retirement savings and handed over hundreds of millions of dollars to Salah Ezzedine, a Shiite businessman with connections to Hezbollah.

The anti-Israeli Hezbollah is on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations and maintains the strongest military force in Lebanon. For its Shiite followers, however, it is seen as a trusted quasi-government that provides social services and aid. The group gets substantial funding from Iran and paid out millions to rebuild the Shiite heartland in south Lebanon after a devastating 2006 war with Israel.

Hezbollah has said it had nothing to do with the alleged swindle and has so far resisted pressure to rescue the investors.

Nevertheless, many investors put their trust in Ezzedine, principally because of the financier's connections to Hezbollah and because of his reputation as a pious, respectable Shiite. Ezzedine's investment company promised as much as 40 percent in annual returns, according to residents of this southern Lebanese village.

Good to see such a nice bunch of people take such a hit. Madoff had a lot of liberals investing with him so this is draining the swamp at both ends...

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on September 23, 2009 12:50 PM.

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