The founders of a New York hedge fund at the center of the Bernard Madoff scandal have begun selling assets as their firm faces massive losses and a slew of lawsuits, sources told The Post.
Walter Noel and Jeffrey Tucker, co-founders of Fairfield Greenwich Group, a New York hedge fund that lost a whopping $7.5 billion to Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme, have been forced to curb their lavish lifestyles amid mounting doubts that the firm can survive the firestorm.
The pair recently dumped a shared interest in a Cessna 560XL private jet, according to a person close to the firm.
The duo purchased a one-sixteenth share in the jet in late 2006, giving them between 25 and 50 hours of use a year. Experts estimate the sale saves them a portion of the plane’s $200,000 annual maintenance fees, plus $2,000 for each hour of use.
Meanwhile, Tucker – the lesser-known founder of the Madoff-scarred firm – is looking to sell his posh horse farm in Schuylerville, NY, near Saratoga Springs, according to several people familiar with the matter.
“He hasn’t made a decision about price or firm,” said Tom Roohan, head of Roohan Realty, a prominent Saratoga Springs real-estate agency that’s vying for the job.
Sources say Tucker, who’s chairman of horseracing group Empire Racing, is leaning toward listing the grand estate with the upscale real-estate arm of Sotheby’s.
Tucker, a prominent member of the elite horseracing community, has pumped millions into modernizing the farm, which he bought in 2004. It boasts a 210-foot indoor arena, covered horse paddocks and several homes. It’s widely considered to be the most impressive horse farm in the area, which is known for its horse trade, several real-estate agents said.
The asset sales come amid a torrent of lawsuits by investors who say Fairfield Greenwich got hefty fees to select and monitor investments made on behalf of its clients only to miss several red flags that might have uncovered Madoff’s alleged shenanigans.
Some hedge-fund experts predict the firm, which Noel and Tucker founded in the 1980s, won’t likely survive the Madoff scandal.
Thomas Mulligan, a spokesman for Fairfield Greenwich declined to comment. Tucker, who years ago worked as an SEC lawyer, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Even Tucker’s wife Melanie, an avid bridge player, has had to tighten her belt.
Sources told The Post that as a member of the Midtown bridge club Honors, Melanie Tucker was accustomed to using her husband’s jet to fly herself, and the bridge pros hired to play on her team, to bridge tournaments across the country.
She recently told some of the professional players she employs that she’s had to postpone attending tournaments that would have required air travel, though she continues to play bridge at Honors six days a week, sources said.
With Chuck Bennett
kaja@whitehouse@nypost.com