He is among dozens of wealthy Jews to have lost substantial amounts of money in Madoff’s scheme.
The Elie Wiesel (pictured right) Foundation for Humanity lost more than 15 million dollars — nearly all of its assets — in the alleged fraud scheme run by Wall Street baron Bernard Madoff, the fund said Wednesday.
“We are writing to inform you that the Elie Wiesel Foundation forHumanity had 15.2 million dollars under management with Bernard MadoffInvestment Securities,” said the foundation, which aims to combatanti-Semitism, on its website.
“This represented substantially all of the Foundation’s assets,” it said.
“We are deeply saddened and distressed that we, along with many others,have been the victims of what may be one of the largest investmentfrauds in history.”
Wiesel, 80, a Nobel laureate and prolific author who survived the Holocaust, created the foundation some 20 years ago to foster international dialogue and youth programs to teach tolerance.
He is among dozens of wealthy Jews to have lost substantial amounts of money in Madoff’s scheme.
Prosecutors say Madoff confessed to losing upwards of 50 billion dollars over years of running a pyramid scheme, where new investors were secretly fleeced to pay returns to earlier investors.
The 70-year-old former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market and a mainstay of the powerful American Jewish community is currently free on bail of 10 million dollars as police continue their probe.