I Can Haz Bailout?

First it was the banks.  Then AIG.  Then Shittybank. Then the automakers.  Now it’s the former millionaires created by Bernard Madoff.

One week ago, Ronnie Ambrosino was a millionaire.

One week ago I owed less on my student loans than I do now.

Now, Ambrosino is among the long list of investors whose fortunes were allegedly wiped out by Bernard Madoff. Like them, she’s left hoping for a bailout that might never come.

I’m hoping Sallie Mae forgives my student loans.  And gives me a pony.

She plans to sue Madoff but that could take years to work through the courts and yield little in the end. Her best hope to recoup some of her money is from the Securities Investor Protection Corp., an industry-funded organization set up by the government to protect investors from fraud.

But, here’s the problem: SIPC does not have enough money to pay out all the claims that are sure to come from one of the biggest fraud cases to ever hit Wall Street. Securities attorneys say the organization has a reputation of being tough to squeeze money from, and each investor is only entitled to a maximum payout of $500,000 if a claim is approved.

Half a million bucks?  Sign me up.

SIPC officials say the books of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC are in complete disarray and could take six months or more to piece them together. With bills piling up and her bank account vanishing, the one thing Ambrosino and others caught in the alleged $50 billion fraud don’t have is time.

“It feels like I’m drowning, and someone is saying ‘we’re going to save you, but we have to build the boat first,’” said Ambrosino, 55, who had $1.6 million invested with Madoff. “We can’t wait for SIPC to go through all the papers.”

Can you spell “entitlement”?

“There’s no doubt that hearings will be held on this, and some government aid is a very logical request,” said Robert Schachter, an attorney with New York-based Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, which is representing several Madoff victims. “If we’re bailing out Wall Street and the auto industry, maybe these individuals should be bailed out too.”

Um, no?  Or maybe “fuck no.”

“It can take years,” said Leo Asaro, partner in the St. Louis office of law firm Bryan Cave LLP. “People need to think of other options, not waiting on these matters to wind their ways through the courts. It is not going to happen fast enough to get the relief that they need.”

They want their ponys NOW!

“It is way too early to speculate about the claims,” [SIPC President and Chief Executive Steve Harbeck] said. “We don’t know the number of customers, how much each is owed, and I don’t want to be prematurely alarmist.”

That’s not exactly what angry investors like Ambrosino want to hear. She used the money she thought was secure with Madoff to retire early, buy a luxury motor home, and travel around the country. The only assets she has now are the pieces of furniture inside the motor home she’s been making payments on for the past four years.

Now living in Surprise, Ariz., …

This shit writes itself.

… she felt helpless watching Madoff enter the court house Wednesday for a bail hearing. Ambrosino, who invested in Madoff’s firm some three decades ago, knows that others are in the same position.

“We need to get out there and get names and get unified so that we can go to the government and make our case,” she said. “Everybody has a horror story, everybody has bills, and everybody is devastated.”

 I’m sure Henry Waxman is scheduling a hearing as I write this.

Madoff Investors Hope for Bailout [TPM]

Comments

[DTA]

Must...eat...rich...

[tata]

Soylent Green: Now decaffeinated!

[Magical Shrimp]

Oh I'm sorry, am I supposed to feel sympathy for you, Poor Little Rich Girl? We just barely made ends meet for Christmas, rent, and bills, which has been the status quo ever since I finished college. I'm sure someone will bail you out, after all, you deserve it more than the rest of us unwashed masses.

[Lisa]

These people have no shame. They are revolting, and have the gall to feel hard-done-by. Meanwhile, people who have lived within their means are made the fools.

[Mr. Natural]

GREAT STORY!

Ever since I was a kid (I am 62 now), I was taught that "if you can't afford it, you don't GET it." It sounds as if this gal with her BIG-GIGANTO motorhome (I restored my own small 65 Chev with a 6 and a 4 speed)HAS a home, which makes her WAY MORE FORTUNATE than MANY this fine christian season...we have only BEGUN to hear the whining!

[Ronnie Sue Ambrosino]

I am the victim of the story. Yes, the VICTIM. I worked hard and saved my income. I invested with a man that was approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. I invested with a man that was a former chairman of Nasdaq, and the 23rd largest market maker in October 2008.
My only mistake was that I trusted our government to regulate a dealer broker. They failed in their job, and I am paying the price. I don't want a 'bail out'. I want insurance paid from an organization that was appointed by the government to pay victims for broker fraud.
I see nothing here that points blame or 'entitlement' to me or the other hard working, tax paying victims of Madoff and our government's failures.