There’s a grief that can’t be spoken.
There’s a pain goes on and on.
These lyrics from Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (Les Misérables) instantly formed in my mind when I read this morning about the ex-husband of Laura Blank, a woman who works at the City University of New York.
One of the sources Steven Simkin used to pay his divorce settlement was a collapsed Madoff fund (sounds like an unsuccessful soufflé).
When the couple split their assets evenly, the largest chunk of money was invested with Mr. Madoff. Mr. Simkin kept much of his funds in the Madoff account, which was held in his name. Ms. Blank, who said she had no interest in investing with Mr. Madoff, received her settlement proceeds in cash. Shortly after Mr. Madoff admitted wrongdoing in December 2008, Mr. Simkin, a lawyer at one of the country’s most powerful law firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, filed court papers to drastically alter the terms of his divorce settlement. Ms. Blank, he argued in the lawsuit, should be required to turn over millions of dollars that she had received in their settlement to make up for the substantial losses he had sustained in the fraud.
The hardship claim is based on Simkin’s having moved from a 5.7 million to a $4.1 million house.
May 31st, 2011 at 1:48PM
Interesting case, ontologically – the crux (at this point) is whether or not an account with Madoff “existed.” I wonder if there’d be any talk about “ironclad” divorce agreements, though, if Picard were looking for a clawback from these folks.