University Diaries » ‘“MIT does not comment on pending criminal proceedings involving members of the MIT community,” Paul Denning, [an MIT spokesperson] said in an e-mail.’

And why, you might ask, not? Here’s one of your deans, a man who taught at your business school for decades, and you have nothing to say?

The former deputy dean of MIT’s business school and his son agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to operating a $500 million hedge fund scam.

Gabriel Bitran, 69, who taught at MIT for 35 years and served as deputy dean at the Sloan School of Business for five, allegedly lied to clients about the return on investments his hedge fund GMB Capital Partners was delivering.

He’ll probably go to prison for five years. He kissed the ass of Bernard Madoff (that’s how the SEC discovered his scam). He lied and tried to hide funds when the SEC started being interested. He skimmed millions off of his scammed money for himself.

He’s a dumbfuck too, having admitted in a series of emails to his son/partner in crime exactly what he was doing every step of the way.

This guy did incalculable damage to many people, and one of our highest-profile, most-esteemed universities harbored and esteemed him for over a generation. Gave him cover. Gave him respectability.

But eh we don’t wanna say nothing, man… It’s … pending! We don’t do pending…

But they were found guilty. What’s pending? You’re waiting a decent interval to see how many years he gets?

Way back in 2012 – when Bitran was barred from the securities industry and had to pay a massive fine to the SEC – MIT did the same thing: “It has nothing to do with the school.”

UD gets that universities dread being tainted by the crooks they hire and promote. But with something this high-profile, you simply have to acknowledge it and regret it and all of that. Otherwise you leave people wondering why your school retained a highly praised and highly compensated Ponzi schemer in its school of business.

Take a look at Yeshiva University – look at how well it’s doing with alumni giving and credit ratings and all of that in the wake of its decision to pretend that Bernard Madoff and Ezra Merkin had nothing to do with the school.

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Notes of a Neophyte

Dave Stone Says:
August 13th, 2014 at 9:36AM

I think I may have used this before, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NNOrp_83RU

Margaret Soltan Says:
August 13th, 2014 at 10:39AM

Dave: One of my favorites, and appropriate on a host of occasions.

Jack/OH Says:
August 13th, 2014 at 10:53AM

If my memory’s okay, MIT’s Noam Chomsky used to get scolded a half-century ago by Establishment types for his anti-Vietnam, anti-corporatist speechifying. Gabriel Bitran, and a whole mess of other folks who are “working” our universities today, can’t possibly be the improvement the Establishment was looking for. Why aren’t Republicans picking up on some of the excesses and abuses detailed by UD and other university insiders?

University Diaries » “I know Gabriel has been suffering immensely over the past few years during this whole ordeal,” wrote Georgia Perakis, a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “For someone with Gabriel Says:
December 21st, 2015 at 7:26AM

[…] long after his Madoff connection and wrongdoing were publicly known – he has remained an influential, venerated, and privileged MIT professor. He was even an associate dean. He finally left the school in […]

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