Uma Thurman’s billionaire fiancé was scorched in Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion boondoggle – and he’s not buying the alleged con man’s claim that he did it alone.
“For the amount of money and number of accounts, it’s practically impossible that he was doing this alone,” said Arpad “Arki” Busson, whose $11.5 billion group of Swiss hedge funds, EIM, has about $230 million invested with Madoff.
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“What’s mind-boggling is the amount of assets and the amount of time he was doing it.”
When he was arrested Dec. 11, Madoff claimed to have orchestrated the massive ripoff on his own, according to investigators.
Busson’s is one of a long line of savvy, high-profile firms to be duped in the alleged fraud.
“There’s only so much due diligence you can do,” Busson told Bloomberg News. “In hindsight, you always wish you could have done it differently.
“Catching a fraud like this is practically impossible. He seemed like a very experienced, knowledgeable and trustworthy man, like the best con artists always are.”
Busson said Madoff sent out account and trading statements that seemed on the up-and-up, and also listed PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor.