Written by Jason Fink with Newsday

Bernie Madoff will learn today whether he will die in prison. A few victims of the disgraced Wall Street financier, who faces a maximum 150 years in prison, will get their chance to tell Judge Denny Chin of the havoc the fraudster wreaked on their lives. Some of the thousand of other victims have already written to the court pleading for a harsh sentence. “He has condemned his investors to a life of hell.” wrote Emma DeVita of Pennsylvania, who said she invested with Madoff for 20 years and is now broke.

Hundreds are expected to descend on the lower Manhattan Federal courthouse where Madoff, 71, will be sentenced. His attorney Ira Sorkin has asked for 12 years, arguing that Madoff’s life expectancy is only another 13.

Prosecutors have asked that everything Madoff owns, including the substantial assets of his wife Ruth be surrendered. The money will be used to compensate the victims. While the last statements Madoff sent to investors in November totaled $65 billion, investors believe the true losses will run $13 billion to $21 billion. One attorney who has represented white-collar criminals said he expects Madoff to help prosecutors recover some of the money he stole – as well as provide information about any co-conspirators – in exchange for a reduction in the sentence after it’s handed down.

“He has to get some benefit or else why not just have a big circus of a trial?” said lawyer Matthew Myers.

He was more Gargamel than Papa Smurf.

The man who helped bring the Smurfs to America was busted yesterday for allegedly trying to shake down his son-in-law – a deep-pocketed executive at a top private equity firm – for $11 million, authorities said.

Stuart Ross, 71, of Aventura, Fla., was charged with unleashing a campaign of harassment against his son-in-law David Blitzer, a senior managing director at the Blackstone Group, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced.

Ross’s 79-year-old New York attorney, Stuart Jackson, was also charged with attempted grand larceny for his role in the scheme. Both face up to seven years in prison.

Ross was traveling in Belgium in 1976 when he discovered the popular French-language European cartoon known as “Les Schtroumpfs” and decided it could become big in America.

He bought North American rights to the tiny characters with blue skin and white caps, who live in mushrooms and battle the evil wizard Gargamel. Renamed Smurfs for a US audience, they became hugely popular as dolls and an animated early ’80s Hanna-Barbera TV show.

Ross was also producer of a 1983 movie, “The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.” But over the years, Ross lost his cartoon fortune.

Ross – whose daughter Allison is Blitzer’s wife – had long been estranged from the family after telling her he wished her unborn child would die and that obscenities should be carved on her gravestone, according to a civil lawsuit Blitzer filed separately.

Ross had also walked off with $195,000 Blitzer gave him to start an Internet business, the suit said. Ross then disappeared from the couple’s lives for many years.

In December 2007, Ross called Blitzer and got the son-in-law to give him $65,000 for seed money to start a business venture.

Then in June, Ross allegedly began bombarding Blitzer with nonstop phone calls and e-mails demanding more cash and threatening to damage his reputation and ruin his career. He also started calling Blitzer’s bosses at Blackstone in a bid to discredit him.

“David, this is your worst nightmare,” he said in one call, according to the civil suit. “I’m going to continue to harass you. I am going to call you every day – four or five times a day – I am going to keep calling.”

On Thursday, Blitzer met with Jackson and Ross and agreed to give them $400,000. The two men were arrested yesterday.

lukas.alpert@nypost.com

Source: New York Post – August 23, 2008

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

Fotog Was Louse Who Got The Cheese

By Barbara Ross
Friday, August 18th 2006, 7:20AM

A FRENCH photographer admitted in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday that he ripped off his former roommate of thousands of dollars by pretending to be in financial deals with celebrities like Madonna.

As part of a plea deal, Alexis Quinlin, 46, will be sentenced next month to serve 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years in prison, and he will have to pay an undetermined amount of money back to two dozen other friends he also swindled.

Although Manhattan prosecutors said in May that Quinlin stole $3.9 million, his lawyer, Matthew Myers, said yesterday that the amount was closer to $325,000.

Myers said Quinlin spent much of the money instead of investing it: “He enjoyed that lifestyle and wanted to run in those circles.”

Quinlin will be deported to France when he gets out of prison.

Although he was accused of stealing money from almost two dozen people, Quinlin was allowed to settle all criminal charges yesterday by pleading guilty to one count of grand larceny relating to the $50,000 he took from his roommate.

Myers said Quinlin already had paid back $40,000 of that.

Source: New York Daily News

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

Between his cashmere coats, his perfect French accent and his claims of big-bucks dealings with John Travolta and Jodie Foster, Alexis Quinlin was quite the convincing businessman – taking some 22 investors into handing him nearly $4 million over five years.

But every one of these deals was a swindle, Manhattan prosecutors said yesterday, as Quinlin was thrown in jail on grand larceny charges.

Quinlin, 46, of SoHo, claimed that he exported DVD players and flat-screen TVs to Europe at astounding profit but needed money from investors to finance these transactions, prosecutors said.

To throw some extra razzle-dazzle into his sales pitch, he sometimes pretended to be famous French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, prosecutors said.

And to clinch the deals he’d pull out of his briefcase what he claimed were contracts in which no less celebrities than Travolta, Foster and Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson had invested in his deals.

In fact the celebrities were never involved – Quinlin had allegedly forged their signatures.

“He speaks French fluently; he’s a regular at Balthazar; he’s the man about town” said an alleged victim, who asked not to be identified. “Designer clothes, clean cut, always flirting with young girls – he acted like he really knew everything about everything.

“And he would give money back quickly, unexpectedly, so you wouldn’t suspect anything. So you wanted to give even more money” said another alleged victim.

The victims were all acquaintances of his – a personal trainer, a model, a teacher, lawyers and businessmen, prosecutors said.

Quinlin used some of the money to pay off debts from his movie projects, including the distribution of the Oscar-nominated film “The Taste Of Others” (“Le Gout Des Autres”).

He also blew the money on fancy dinners at The Four Seasons, Daniel, and Bouley, prosecutors said.

He’ll be in jail at least three days, as anything he posts toward his $100,000 bail is scrutinized.

Quinlin was caught after one of his alleged victim’s pals spotted him at Coffee Shop in Union Square.

Source: New York Post – Friday May 12, 2006

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers

A small independent film distributor has been indicted for defrauding at least 22 people  of $3.9 million over seven year, the Manhattan District Attorney said yesterday. The film distributor, Alexis Quinlan, 46, President of Offline Releasing told investors he needed money to export televisions to Europe, prosecutors said, but instead used the money to pay off debts incurred by his film company and to patronize luxury establishments. Mr. Quinlan’s lawyer Matthew Myers did not return a call for comment yesterday.

Source: New York Times – Friday May 12, 2006

Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers