Sonja Kohn
Sonja Kohn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sonja Türk 5 August 1948 |
| Occupation | Banker |
Sonja Kohn(née Türk; born 5 August 1948) is an Austrianbanker.
Biography
[edit]Kohn was born toJewish refugeesfromthe HolocaustfromEastern Europe.[1]She grew up inVienna.In the 1970s, with her husband Erwin Kohn, she started an import-export business and moved toMilan,Italy.[2]
In the 1980s, she lived for a time inNew York Cityand worked as a stockbroker forMerrill Lynch.[3]
In 1994, she founded theBank Mediciin Vienna. One year later, she moved to New York State. They lived inMonsey,a large,ultraorthodoxJewish community.[2]The Kohns founded a small brokerage firm, theEurovaleur Inc.[2]In New York City, she became known as "Austria’s woman onWall Street."Kohn only got into investing after staying home to raise her five children.
In the 1990s, they moved back to Vienna.Bank Mediciwas relaunched in 2003 as anAktiengesellschaft.She is shareholder of 75 percent and is head of the bank's supervising board.
She also was consultant of theVienna Stock Exchangeuntil 2006, and was member of the supervisory board of ItalianFinlombardiabank.[4]
In 2015 Kohn founded BestFit, her second digital venture after FundsWorld,[5]a platform for the distribution of mutual funds with Intesa SanPaolo.
Madoff connection
[edit]Kohn metBernard Madoffin the 1980s while she was working as a broker atMerrill Lynchin New York City. Bank Medici directed funds from investors to Madoff. For example, Bank Medici wasThema Fund'sinvestment manager.[6]In return for finding investors, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 millioneurosfromThema International Fundin 2007.[7]
In 1992, Kohn introduced Madoff to Mario Benbassat, founder ofGenevalor Benbassat & Cie,and his two sons in New York, as a possible source of new funds for Madoff.[8][9][10]Genevalor set up five European feeder funds, including $1.1bn Irish fundThema International Fundset up by Thema Asset Management, a British Virgin Islands-based company 55 per cent owned by Genevalor, and invested almost $2 billion with Madoff.[8][9][11]Thema International paid fees of 1.25% ($13.75m a year) to Genevalor Benbasset & Cie. [11]The Wall Street Journalreported in December 2008 that the company was said to be a key player distributing Madoff investments in theMadoff investment scandal.[12]
Kohn kept a low profile after the disclosure of the securitiesfraudconducted by Madoff.[13]She said in an e-mail dated 14 January 2009, toBloomberg News,that she was not an accomplice with, but as deceived by the "Madoff fraud" as anyone else. Madoff wasn't a friend and didn't confide in her, she wrote.[14]She denied participating in a "fraud that destroyed lives, life savings and companies." Following this, Bank Medici decided on 19 March 2009 to wind down all banking business and to relinquish thebanking license.[15]On 10 December 2010, Kohn was sued byIrving H. Picard,trustee of assets seized by the court from Bernard Madoff, for $19.6 billion. Picard claimed that she funneled 'billions' of investor dollars to Madoff in return for $62 million in kickbacks; this was one of dozens of lawsuits filed against Madoff investors and alleged collaborators before the two-yearstatute of limitationsrequired by US civil code ran out on 11 December 2010.[16]
At theQueen's Bench Divisionof theHigh Court of England and Walesin November 2013, judgeAndrew Popplewelldismissed all claims against Kohn filed by liquidators of Madoff Securities International Ltd., based in London. The judge criticized the way the case had been pursued, while praising the "dignity" and "restraint" of Kohn. "This unfounded claim... has been pursued aggressively and relentlessly over several years, on occasion with an unfair degree of hyperbole," he said, adding that Kohn had suffered "poisonous press releases" by the trustee of Madoff's U.S. business, and stating that she was a victim and that her honesty and integrity had been vindicated.[17]
In September 2017, Thema International Fund agreed to pay $687 million to resolve the trustee's lawsuit that followed from the Madoff frauds.[18]
References
[edit]- ^Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff - The New York Times
- ^abc"Profile: Bank Medici's Sonja Kohn".Financial Times.7 January 2009.
- ^"Kohn says she regrets meeting Madoff".Financial Times.4 April 2011.
- ^Wirtschaftsblatt (04.11.2004): Zur Person – Sonja Kohn (viewed on 22 March 2009)
- ^"FundsWorld goes live in Italy".Financial News.5 October 2000.
- ^Groendahl, Boris (12 March 2009)."Austria's Madoff-hit Bank Medici seeks buyers".Reuters.Retrieved9 February2013.
- ^Schneeweiss, Zoe (31 December 2008)."Bank Medici Manages Up to $3.2 Billion of Assets Tied to Madoff".Bloomberg.Retrieved9 February2013.
- ^abHenriques, Diana B. (2011).Bernie Madoff, the Wizard of Lies.Oneworld Publications.ISBN9781780740430– via Google Books.
- ^abKeena, Colm (10 December 2010)."Dublin-registered Thema part of complaint filed to recoup $9bn received under Madoff".The Irish Times.
- ^Allan Dodds Frank (20 February 2011)."Sonja Kohn, Bernie Madoff's Bag Lady".Newsweek.
- ^ab"Madoff looking for new money as scandal hit".Financial Times.22 December 2008.
- ^Forelle, Charles (17 December 2008)."In Geneva, Spotlight Casts an Unwelcome Glare on Banks".The Wall Street Journal.
- ^Schwartz, Nelson D.; Werdigier, Julia (7 January 2009)."Austria's 'Woman on Wall St.' and Madoff (Published 2009)".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 22 March 2023.
- ^Bloomberg
- ^BANK MEDICI Statements until 19 March 2009
- ^HENRIQUES, DIANA (10 December 2010)."Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker".The New York Times.Retrieved10 December2010.
- ^Madoff Securities International Ltd v Raven & Ors (2013) EWHC 3147 (Comm) (18 October 2013) at BAILII
- ^Irish Times report, 7 September 2017 (accessed 11 September 2017)