Individual JWs lost millions in the Bernie Madoff scheme

by AndersonsInfo 5 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  AndersonsInfo

  I have it on good authority that many, many JWs in the US invested with Bernie Madoff, especially in NY where most of the people lived who invested and lost big time. I heard that there was a million dollar broker in NY who is a JW and he pointed Witnesses to Madoff. I can only wonder if he pointed Watch Tower's Treasury Dept. to Madoff.

  Did you know there's a victim's list. If you want to study it to see if there's anybody you know on the list, here's the link. I haven't looked at the list carefully yet, but intend to do so soon.

  http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/madoffclientlist020409.pdf

  http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_madoff_victims_20081215.html#top

  Also, note the link to a map that shows that most investors were located in NY. I have no idea if Watch Tower lost money. I do know that they were heavily invested in the stock market and have been for years.

  FYI, one of the first questions asked me by Joel Eames in Writing on my first day with the department was, "What stocks are you invested in?" To say the least I was shocked and told him so because we thought that buying stock was gambling and Witnesses didn't gamble. He told me that many of the staff in Writing dabbled in the stock market and saw nothing wrong with it. Every morning the Wall Street Journal circulated amongst the senior writers so they could check their stocks.

  Barb
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  Quandry

  He told me that many of the staff in Writing dabbled in the stock market and saw nothing wrong with it. Every morning the Wall Street Journal circulated amongst the senior writers so they could check their stocks.

  That's interesting. I wonder where they got the money to do this? Weren't they required to take a "vow of poverty" living at Bethel? If they lived off the small stipend given to Bethel workers, how did they have extra cash to invest?

  I never had ANY extra money to invest, because I (and my elder husband) bought into the keep it simple, self-employed. wives stay home and pioneer, don't get a job that would require nights or weekends drivel that they spewed.

  I can only hope the ones you mentioned did lose...big time....
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  truthsetsonefree

  This was well known among JW insiders here in NYC. How they got the money always made me wonder. There are the green handshakes, and there are really very few controls for people in positions of responsibility to siphon off money. Its also possible that while they invested they may not have done so in large quantities, though the way they used to brag about their investments leads me to think at least some did have substantial funds invested. It should also be noted that some Bethelites in high places had jobs on the outside before coming to Bethel and so could have obtained money that way. Some are even retired, collecting their pensions and living at Bethel. Those guys really make out as Bethel pays their room, board and food while they collect a real pension from their days working on the "outside".

  BTW-I searched the WSJ document for addresses in Brooklyn Heights. One came up but I didn't recognize the name.
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  AndersonsInfo

  Many lifers at Bethel inherited money from death of parents which they invested. Green hand shakes can really add up too. The problem as I see it is not that they had some money, but they were playing the stock market, something ole' school JWs were not encouraged to do. I remember one fellow who was a former zone servant. He was in his 70s in the late 60s and during one downturn in the stock market, he lost lots of money. No one had any sympathy for him. In fact, privately discussed how it served him right for gambling. That's how it was looked upon then. So that's why I was so surprised to know that ole' time Bethelites were involved in the stock market. Things were definitely not what I thought went on at the "House of God."

  Oh, by the way, one Bethelite, Harley Miller, a very important man in the Service Dept., now deceased, actually was a rep. for a large vitamin supplement company while he was at Bethel and working in the Service Dept. One time Harley was attending a big vitamin convention in Europe and ran into a former Bethelite, who had been a CO but was out of the organization by then, on the staircase. The XJW was a very successful rep. for the company, but never knew that Harley was involved with it too. Harley was not very happy to see his former "brother" in the faith. By the way, Harley also invested in the stock market.

  Barb
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  sir82

  Barb,

  Interesting news.

  Did you see this thread: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/175315/1/LATEST-BIG-RUMOR-WTS-calls-a-moratorium-on-ALL-KH-construction-in-US-Canada ?

  I wonder if there is an interesting picture to be made if the dots are connected?
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  Leolaia

  There were quites a few victims from Brooklyn Heights on the list (with addresses at Columbia Heights, Adams, Hicks Sts., etc.), but nothing that stands out as necessarily connected with the WTB&TS. Bear in mind that many of the names are those of lawyers, accountants, foundation trustees and agents who set up the accounts on behalf of the actual investors, so the list does no exhaustively list everyone who placed their money into Madoff's hands.