JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - JANUARY 4: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (L) shakes hands with Ezra Merkin, Managing partner for Gabriel Capital Group as Israeli Finance Minister Ehud Olmert (C) looks on during a ceremony completing the sale of Bank Leumi to a private U.S. investment group in his office on January 4, 2006 in Jerusalem, Israel. A corruption probe haunting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the run-up to Israel’s March election resurfaced on Wednesday after police asked a court for permission to search an Austrian businessman’s computer. (Photo by Eliana Aponte-Pool/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ariel Sharon;Ezra Merkin;Ehud Olmert
Photo: Pool/2006 Getty Images
Reuters has learned that disgraced ex–money manager Ezra Merkin will pay out $410 million to settle a three-year-old lawsuit brought by the New York Attorney General’s office accusing him of complicity in the multibillion -dollar Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. In all, the three funds Merkin controlled funneled some $2 billion to Madoff’s firm, which imploded fantastically in 2009 after years playing a big-money version of “in with the left hand, out with the right.” All but $5 million of the settlement amount will go to bilked investors.
