And you can see why. He has presided over a university which appointed Bernard Madoff treasurer of its trustees and chair of the board of directors for its business school.
Don’t forget – it was only a few months ago that Madoff retained these positions at Yeshiva.
Harry Markopolos, in his testimony today, tells us the sort of person Yeshiva’s president maintained in these positions of responsibility.
Markopolos feared for his life while investigating Madoff. Why?
I don’t consider it paranoia. And the reason is, Mr. Madoff was running such a large scheme of unimaginable size and complexity, and he had a lot of dirty money. And let me describe dirty money to you. When you’re that big and you’re that secrective, you’re going to attract a lot of organized crime money, and which we now know came from the Russian mob and the Latin American drug cartel, and when you are zeroing out mobsters, you have a lot to fear. And he could not afford to get caught … And he would’ve known my name and knew he had a team tracking him, I didn’t think I was long for this world.
A blogger explains Richard Joel’s compensation:
Yeshiva University paid its president Richard Joel $698,495, plus the institution gave him an expense account of $84,869, according to the Chronicle for Higher Education, Facts and Figures, Executives’ Compensation at Private Institutions. That’s an $80,000 raise from his compensation package of the previous year. At that rate of increase it’s fair to assume that two years later, i.e., this year, 2008-9 his compensation is more than $940,000.
So – a million dollar a year salary… And how do you earn it? At a religious institution? By putting the fate of your campus in the hands of organized crime.
Strange incentive system.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:05PM
So we give Madoff the choice of standing trial or standing on a corner in Brighton Beach for 30 minutes?
August 28th, 2009 at 10:36AM
[…] “Merkin’s deceit, recklessness, and breaches of fiduciary duty have resulted in the loss,” alleges Cuomo’s suit. Despite his harsh words, Cuomo does not claim that Merkin was aware of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme; he claims merely stupidity. [Ouch. That’s gotta hurt. But in fact Cuomo is claiming more than stupidity. Deceit, recklessness, etc. The reporter nowhere in the article, by the way, mentions the crucial fact that Madoff, while this was going on, was treasurer of Yeshiva’s trustees and chair of the board of directors for its business school.] […]