A private equity executive was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison today for swindling more than $9 million from investors in his firm at the height of the real estate boom, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office. The executive, Joseph Shereshevsky, is the co-founder and former COO of WexTrust Capital, which was alleged to have targeted the Orthodox Jewish community in a Ponzi scheme surrounding commercial and residential real estate investments in several states, including New York. Prosecutors said the firm raised money by claiming to purchase properties that they never actually intended to acquire, and spent the money instead to pay other investors and for other, illegal purposes.
– Sarabeth Sanders [more]

Peter Madoff and the Old Westbury mansion

Peter Madoff, brother of Bernie, is trying to unload his Long Island mansion as he faces a lawsuit by the trustee overseeing the recovery of funds for victims of his brother’s Ponzi scheme. According to Newsday, the Old Westbury home that Peter owns with his wife has hit the market for $6.5 million. The five-bedroom, five-and-two-half-bathroom property, which is listed with Daniel Gale of Sotheby’s International Realty, sits on more than four acres next to a private golf club and has a pool, tennis court and elevator. The Madoffs purchased it for around $2.5 million in 1990. [more]

Shamed South Florida attorney Scott Rothstein has listed his luxury Manhattan condominium unit at One Beacon Court for $5.4 million, according to Curbed.

The ponzi scheme fraudster pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering and fraud in his $1.2 billion scheme January 2010. The listing, at 151 East 58th Street, bears no trace of criminal proceedings with no mention of restitution, bankruptcy or federal approval, Curbed reported [more]

New Jersey Ponzi schemer Antoinette Hodgson, who pleaded guilty in September to charges that she bilked her clients out of $50 million worth of mostly bogus real estate investments, was sentenced in Manhattan Monday to six years in prison, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced. Hodgson, who was said to have carried out the fraud between 2006 and late 2009, will also have to forfeit $45 million and pay more than $17 million in restitution once the losses of her more than 20 victims in New York and New Jersey are accounted for, according to her sentence. TRD [more]

A $2.6 million colonial-style Long Island home belonging to Bernie Madoff’s former office manager could be seized as part of the federal government’s investigation into her boss’ $68 billion Ponzi scheme, the Post reported. Annette Bongiorno, who has not been criminally charged, was hit yesterday with a civil lawsuit by federal prosecutors seeking more than $5.1 million of her assets. Prosecutors, who first filed suit against Bongiorno in June, are now saying that they’ve found more than $2 million worth of additional assets. The updated Manhattan federal court filing targets a luxury home in Manhasset, Long Island that Bongiorno and her husband bought for $1.4 million in 2000, in addition to a $1.2 million lakeside home in Boca Raton, Fla., for which they paid $862,000 in 1995. The suit also seeks forfeiture of a 2007 Mercedes-Benz sedan worth $65,900, that Bongiorno purchased in 2007. All the assets will be auctioned off to pay back victims of Madoff’s scheme. [Post]

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Federal prosecutors in Manhattan today accused a New Jersey woman of running a real estate Ponzi scam that took in more than $45 million from more than 20 investors in New York and New Jersey. Prosecutors claim that between 2006 and late 2009, Antoinette Hodgson convinced investors to give her tens of millions of dollars to invest in a mostly bogus plan to buy and renovate residential properties that would later be sold or rented, the office of the United States Attorney in Manhattan said in a statement. Instead, the complaint claims, she used that money for her own use or to repay earlier investors in the classic Ponzi pattern. In fact she spent just $6 million on residential real estate, prosecutors said. Hodgson turned herself in this morning and was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, authorities said. TRD

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Federal prosecutors in Manhattan today accused a New Jersey woman of running a real estate Ponzi scam that took in more than $45 million from more than 20 investors in New York and New Jersey. Prosecutors claim that between 2006 and late 2009, Antoinette Hodgson convinced investors to give her tens of millions of dollars to invest in a mostly bogus plan to buy and renovate residential properties that would later be sold or rented, the office of the United States Attorney in Manhattan said in a statement. Instead, the complaint claims, she used that money for her own use or to repay earlier investors in the classic Ponzi pattern. In fact she spent just $6 million on residential real estate, prosecutors said. Hodgson turned herself in this morning and was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of wire fraud conspiracy. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, authorities said. TRD

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From the South Florida website: Disbarred Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein has been sentenced to 50 years behind bars, after pleading guilty to perpetrating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. Among Rothstein’s group of investors was Manhattan-based developer Stephen Ross, whose Related Companies funneled $4 million to Rothstein’s firm. Millions of dollars worth of belongings were revoked from Rothstein following his arrest, including 22 properties, an 87-foot yacht and a fleet of pricey sports cars. Federal officials hope to use that money to reimburse those victimized by Rothstein.

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Bernard Madoff and his former penthouse apartment at 133 East 64th Street

The couple who bought Bernard Madoff’s Upper East Side penthouse duplex loved the rooftop terrace so much that they decided to look past the co-op’s seamy history. “There just weren’t a lot of penthouses on the market with a lot of outdoor space,” buyer Patsy Kahn, the wife of toy magnate Al Kahn, told the Post. “He was worried about the karma, but I just loved the terrace,” she said.

The Madoff pad was asking $8.9 million, a $1 million price cut off its original listing price and a steal compared to the Time Warner Center condo the Kahns currently reside in, for which they’re asking $33 million. They purchased the 4,000-square-foot apartment at 133 East 64th Street in February for roughly $8 million. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reimburse victims of Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.

The Kahns, whose fortune comes from Al’s Cabbage Patch Dolls and Pokémon empires, have been approved by the co-op board, formerly headed by Madoff himself, and are planning to renovate. [Post] [more]

Wayne Puff, the New Jersey man who pleaded guilty to a massive real estate Ponzi scheme last April, was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in federal prison. Puff, whose New Jersey Affordable Homes company in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy attracted $123.3 million in investor funds between 1998 and 2005, fabricated mortgage applications and used artificially-inflated appraisals to flip properties among investors — many of whom were senior citizens — without their knowledge. He was arrested in June 2008, and at the sentencing yesterday, was ordered to pay $100 million in restitution to his victims. A lawyer, an appraiser and a mortgage loan processor, along with seven other co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty in the scheme, which affected roughly 400 New Jersey properties. [NYT]