Merkin Madoff Decision on Appeal
The Forward reports that Trustee Irving Picard asked a New York bankruptcy court on Sept. 5 to finalize the decision that dropped nine out of 13 charges against Ezra Merkin, the hedge fund manager who steered investors to Madoff, so that he could appeal it. The judge had decided there was not enough evidence on the charges to prove Merkin knew Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme. This severely curtailed Picard’s $565 million lawsuit against Merkin. The judge allowed the remaining charges, totaling $315 million, to proceed against Merkin, according to Reuters. According to The Forward, on Aug. 9, the 2nd Circuit appeals court ruled against Picard’s effort to overturn Merkin’s $410 million settlement, as well as Fairfield Greenwich Group’s $80 million settlement, with the New York State Attorney General’s office. So far, Picard recovered a $9.8 billion out of an estimated $17.3 billion lost to Madoff, according to the Wall Street Journal.
US and Israel Conduct Arrow “3” Tests
www.jerusalemonline.com–The Israeli Defense Ministry, in cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency, conducted a test of the latest version of the Arrow 2 air defense system in central Israel on Tuesday. The Defense Ministry fears that the test may have failed. The test data will be analyzed to determine the results. The Arrow 2 system, which is the second layer of Israel’s multi-layered missile defense system, is designed to intercept incoming long-range enemy missiles.
Steve Sotloff Sold to ISIS by “Moderate” Rebels
JNS.org–So-called “moderate” Syrian rebels captured American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff and sold him to the Islamic State terror group, which eventually beheaded him, a family spokesman said. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Sotloff family spokesman Barak Barfi said that Islamic State paid between $25,000 and $50,000 for Sotloff after the Syrian rebels set up a fake checkpoint near the Syrian border to capture him. “Somebody at the border crossing made a phone call to ISIS, and they set up a fake checkpoint with many people,” Barfi said. “Steve and his people that he went in with could not escape.” Barfi, who said he obtained this information from “sources on the ground in Syria,” added that the tipster was one of “the so-called moderate rebels that people want our [Obama] administration to support.”
