There may be a bit of good news in the fallout from Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion swindle – some of his potential victims say their losses aren’t as big as initially believed.
At least three organizations have publicly stated their losses were lower after they realized that much of the money on their balance sheets was probably phony to begin with.
Women’s Zionist group Hadassah downgraded its losses from $90 million to $33 million, the amount it initially invested with Madoff.
The other $57 million were phantom profits Madoff had said it had earned in the two decades it invested with him.
The American Techion Society, which provides support to one of Israel’s top science schools, reduced its losses from $72 million to $29 million.
And Yeshiva University has said it only lost $14.5 million, not the $110 million it first reported.
Madoff is under house arrest at his East Side apartment while awaiting trial.