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The article focuses on the death of Wall Street senior statesman Bernard L. Madoff on April 14, 2021 while inside the Butner Federal Correctional Complex for his fraud scheme. Topics include the history of his illegal practices after being part of the Wall Street, the devastating effect of Madoff's scheme leading to damaged professional reputation and suicide and the legacy of shame Madoff had left to his victims and his family.

Cites the ruling by New York State trial judge Bernard Malone of the false front of N.Y. Catalog Sales company. Revelation of the true nature of the company as a money lender making illegal short-term loans to military and civilian customers; Practice of the company to charge annual interest rates at 700 percent; Lawsuit filed against the lender by New York State attorney Elliot Spitzer; Prohibition for the company to contract additional loans; Nullification of any outstanding loans to the borrowers.

Reports that First Command Financial Services agreed to pay $12 million to settle accusations it used misleading information to sell mutual funds to military officers and soldiers. Company exaggerated the track record of its high-cost fund products; Misrepresented the costs and availability of cheaper investment alternatives; Punishment includes a formal censure.

Reports that First Command Financial Services has stopped selling an archaic type of mutual fund with upfront sales charges that can consume an investor's first-year contributions. Sale of the funds to military families; Bill passed by the House that would have barred the sale of contractual plans; Disciplinary action facing First Command.

Reports on the U.S. House of Representatives' approval of a bill abolishing an archaic form of mutual funds and contractual plans sold to military personnel. Protection of military personnel finances; Jurisdiction over sales on military bases; Strategies for monitoring insurance agents who violate military rules; Details about the bill; Strategies to prevent misleading sales pitches to military personnel.

Reports that Congressman Richard H. Baker, chairman of a U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the sale of life insurance and mutual funds to young soldiers, has criticized the marketing practices of financial services companies active on military bases.

Reports that the U.S. Department of Defense will be barred from taking any action to tighten its rules on the sale of insurance and other financial products on military bases until spring 2005 as a result of a small rider to the defense appropriations bill that was passed by Congress in July 22, 2004.

The author reports that legislators, regulators and judges have make special rules for religious organizations that have shielded religious employers from most employee lawsuits, from pension laws, from providing unemployment benefits and from giving employees the right to form unions. Cases of religious employees dismissed due to ill health, sex and age discrimination are mentioned.

The article discusses legal exemptions from government regulations for religious organizations. Day care centers run by faith groups are exempt from state licensing requirements, as well as discrimination lawsuits filed by former employees. They are also exempt from filing tax reports with the Internal Revenue Service, leading critics to claim they are getting preferential treatment. INSETS: In God's Name.;Laws for the Faithful: Counting the Ways..

The article reports on the stability of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and bond mutual funds. Topics discussed include the monitary condition of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the bond markets in the country, and the international debt and bank loans. Also mentioned are the financial crisis management, the mutual funds management, and the liquidity risks of ETF. INSET: Money Funds Remain Haunted by Fears Of 'Breaking the Buck'..

The article reports on the March 2014 verdict brought against former employees of financial adviser Bernard L. Madoff for their involvement of in a Ponzi scheme. Topics discussed include the belief by a U.S. federal jury that the former employees were engaged in fraud, the testimony in the case by Madoff's co-conspirator Frank DiPascali Jr., and the argument that the actions of the former employees constituted a conspiracy.

The article looks at the the financial situations of several victims of a global Ponzi scheme organized by stockbroker Bernard L. Madoff, who was arrested in 2008, as well as what the investors have learned from the experience. It notes that a majority of investors, 16,000 of whom have placed claims with the U.S. government, will receive little if any money and may be required to pay a trustee. Information is provided on victims including Burt and Joanne Meerow, David Iselin, and Geneen Roth.

This article focuses on the expansion of megachurches into various businesses in their local economies. Megachurches are usually Protestant congregations with an average weekly attendance of 2,000 people or more. The megachurches have expanded into such outlets as basketball schools, aviation subsidiaries, investment companies, shopping centers and real estate developments. The ChangePoint ministry in Anchorage, Alaska and its partnership with Sysco Corp. is discussed.

The article reports that two decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutters granted to a faith-based charity by the U.S. Congress in 1999 were never used for their intended purposes. Canvasback Missions of Benicia, California was given the ships for a medical mission to islands in the South Pacific. In financial difficulty, the charity sold the vessels to U.S. private businesses. The grant was an earmark appropriation, and critics cite it as an example of abuse of that procedure.

The article examines how certain religious organizations are hiring professional lobbyist to gain appropriations known as earmarks from the U.S. government. According to the article the number of earmarks for religious organizations increased sharply between the years 1997-2003. An overview is presented on how the religious organizations use the earmarks, and how the U.S. government determines which organization should receive them.

The article reports that the Nasdaq Stock Market will have to redesign its international expansion plan after its takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange was rejected. The failed deal has left the Nasdaq behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in terms of international presence. The NYSE has made a limited alliance with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a move that London may follow.

This article discusses the religious program at a prison in Newton, Iowa and how Robert W. Pratt, chief justice of the federal courts in the Southern District of Iowa, has ruled that the program is an unconstitutional use of taxpayer money for indoctrination. Other courts have previously ruled that taxpayer money can't be used for religious activities or evangelism aimed at prisoners, recovering addicts, job seekers, teenagers and children.

The article reports on the medical bill sharing practices of Christian Care Ministry, a church mission based in Melbourne, Florida. E. John Reinhold, the ministry's chairman, explains that all the medical bills are added up and then divided by the number of sharing households. This method assures that the medical bills are paid. As a secular nonprofit organization, Christian Care does not have to file with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

This article focuses on religion-based tax breaks to ordained clergy, but not to secular workers who serve society. Ministers are exempt from income tax withholding and in most states, from state unemployment tax, and can opt out of Social Security. Religious publications do not pay sales taxes in some states. The successful fight by Rev. Rick Warren for an exemption from federal taxes on housing as well as litigation by lawyer Heather Morcroft against the Florida book exemption are discussed.

This article focuses on property tax exemptions granted to religious organizations. In South Bend, Indiana, the Brothers of the Holy Cross' retirement community, whose residents have an average net work of $1 million, is litigating to ensure the development is exempt from property taxes. They say the community is a charitable mission. Yet, the exemption causes a heavier tax burden on working families in the county. Religious property tax exemptions in other U.S. states are mentioned.

The article reports that the scoring errors recently disclosed no thousands of the College Board's SAT tests were made by Pearson Education Management, a company that is one of the largest players in the exploding standardized testing business. The author suggests that the scoring mistakes raise fresh questions about the reliability of the kinds of high-stakes tests that increasingly dominate education at all levels. The article includes comments from Marilee Jones, dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The article reports on a forthcoming report by the Government Accountability Office that urges Congress to act to protect military personnel from the deceptive sales practices and unsuitable investments and insurance policies that have been a disturbing fact of military device. The Senate will soon consider legislation that will protect troops from financial exploitation. The author discusses a forthcoming hearing on the issue from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. United States.

Focuses on the business of military gambling. How an estimated two billion dollars flows through military-owned slot machines at officers' clubs, activities centers and bowling alleys on overseas bases each year; Acknowledgement by military researchers that many in the armed forces may be especially vulnerable to gambling addiction; Experience of Carrie Beth Walsh, whose husband, Warrant Officer Aaron W. Walsh developed a gambling habit; U.S. Pentagon study of how on-base slot machines were affecting military families; Topic of slot machine revenue as a source of cash for the military; Comments of Peter Isaacs, chief operating officer of the Army's Community and Family Support Center, which runs the largest slot machine program; The lack of programs to treat gambling addiction.

Reports that court records and interviews with military and civilian lawyers suggest that Americans heading off to war are sometimes facing distracting and demoralizing demands from financial companies trying to collect on obligations that, by law, they cannot enforce. Reference to a longstanding federal law that strictly limits the ability of mortgage companies and other lenders to foreclose against active-duty service members; Suggestion that the problem is that too many lenders, debt collectors, landlords, lawyers and judges are unaware of the federal statute or do not fully understand it; Description of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, that protects all active-duty military families from foreclosure, evictions and other financial consequences of military service; Focus on recent cases where the relief act apparently has not worked.

Reports on developments concerning 401(k) investments in the U.S. as of November 16, 2003. Concerns of investors following revelations of improper trading by insiders; Trustworthiness of mutual fund managers; Highlights of a survey by "Plan Sponsor" magazine which shows that more than 16 percent of respondents had already dropped a fund or a fund management company from their plan.

Focuses on the reaction of securities law experts on the decision of Enron Corp. to sold a partnership in the U.S. Benefits offered by the LJM2 partnership on the investors; Comment of securities historian Joel Seligman on the revelation made by the company; Question on the violation made by the arrangement on securities laws and regulations. INSET: Legal Review..

Reports that the two largest United States stock markets, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq market (NASDAQ), are considering a public offering. Timelines for both offerings; Reasons behind offerings; Charges that methods of buying chairs on the NYSE are dated; Questions regarding regulation; Role that the growth in online investors play in proposed offering; Comments by various interested or affected parties; Outlook.

An obituary for Andrew H. Madoff, the son of convicted swindler Bernard L. Madoff, is presented.

The article reports that the victims of the Ponzi scheme who lost cash by accounts with several middleman funds, operated by stockbroker Bernard L. Madoff, will be accommodated for compensation from a $2.35 billion fund that was collected by the U.S. Department of Justice.

ATTENTION, American investors: Do you know who runs your mutual fund? Until a year ago, the answer might have seemed clear enough. Investors, as well as regulators and judges, would undoubtedly have agreed that for all practical purposes, a mutual fund is run by the fund management company whose brand it carries. But in June 2011, in a case involving the Janus Capital Group, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a mutual fund is actually run by the obscure board set up to comply with the vintage statutes that have governed the industry since 1940. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For nearly four decades, as the second-in-command at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, Peter B. Madoff ran the family business alongside his older brother. On Friday, Peter Madoff - more than three years after his brother, Bernard, confessed to running a vast Ponzi scheme that swindled investors out of billions of dollars - is expected to appear in Federal District Court in Manhattan and plead guilty to criminal charges, according to prosecutors. He would be the first relative of Mr. Madoff's to admit to wrongdoing in connection with the fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clients of J. Ezra Merkin, a prominent Wall Street hedge fund manager who invested his clients' money in Bernard L. Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme, will recover more than $400 million under a civil settlement negotiated by the New York State attorney general's office. The deal, the first settlement of a government action against Mr. Merkin, was approved by a New York State judge late on Friday, according to the office of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. The agreement, which is also one of the largest settlements by an individual investor in the extensive Madoff case, is expected to be publicly announced on Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This month, as Bernard L. Madoff completes the third year of a 150-year sentence for masterminding his global Ponzi scheme, the top courts in the United States and Britain are tackling issues that could have a multibillion-dollar impact on thousands of his victims. On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court justices will confer on whether to take up the fiercely disputed issue of how victim losses in the Madoff scheme should be calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

SUGARCREEK, Ohio THIS village is as sweet as its name. Main Street climbs gently from a tidy railroad crossing, past a few gift shops to the simple brick First Mennonite Church. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AS Europe was lurching from crisis to crisis in late October, a Norwegian lender -- a $40 billion bank with a strong credit rating, four blue-chip owners and a 50-year track record -- abruptly stumbled. First, Norway's regulators turned down the bank's request that they waive a new rule requiring it to have a more diverse portfolio. Then they announced that the bank would no longer handle the export loan program it had run for decades. By late November, the bank's credit rating had been slashed from ''high quality'' to ''junk.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

''I made the tragic mistake of trying to change the way money was managed and was successful at the start, but lost my way after a while and refused to admit that I failed.'' -- Bernard L. Madoff, in an e-mail on Oct. 11, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Joseph E. Robert Jr., an international real estate investor with a talent for turning troubled properties into profits -- including billions of dollars' worth of assets from the collapse of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s -- died on Wednesday at his home in McLean, Va. He was 59. The cause was a brain tumor, according to JER Partners, the commercial real estate investment company he founded in 1981. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

CORRECTION APPENDED Bill Miller, a legendary mutual fund manager, said Thursday he was stepping down from the Legg Mason fund that had long made him a star on Wall Street until the volatile years after 2006 brought his fund and his stellar track record hurtling to earth. For almost 30 years, Mr. Miller has been the portfolio manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust, which he helped found in 1982 as the flagship of Legg Mason Capital Management, a Baltimore-based mutual fund company that now manages more than $660 billion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the second time this year, a federal judge has barred a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee from seeking billions in damages from big banks and other third parties to help compensate victims of Bernard L. Madoff's giant Ponzi scheme. In a decision released Tuesday, Judge Colleen McMahon of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled that the trustee, Irving H. Picard, did not have the legal right to pursue $20 billion in combined damage claims against JPMorgan Chase & Company and UBS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

She stayed, and it cost her more than she ever imagined. For nearly two years after Bernard L. Madoff confessed to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history, Ruth Madoff -- who fell in love with him at 13 and married him at 18 -- stood by her husband, a man the rest of the world saw as a cold-blooded monster. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On Christmas Eve 2008, two weeks after Bernard L. Madoff confessed to running history's largest Ponzi scheme, he and his wife, Ruth, attempted suicide in their Manhattan penthouse. Mrs. Madoff said in an interview with The New York Times: ''I don't know whose idea it was, but we were both so saddened by everything that had happened. It was unthinkable to me: hate mail, phone calls, lawyers.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday that Finra, an important regulator of Wall Street for more than 70 years, does not have the right to take its members to court to enforce its disciplinary actions. The surprise decision curbs the powers of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers, at a time when it has been under pressure to impose greater accountability on its licensed brokers and brokerage firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

8:23 p.m. Updated The first batch of checks for eligible victims of Bernard L. Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme will go into the mail starting Wednesday, according to the trustee liquidating the Madoff estate in federal bankruptcy court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MIND OF MADOFF Despite initial doubts about his claims, Bernard L. Madoff, below, the convicted swindler, is actually working with a faculty member at Harvard Business School on a case study about his career experiences, including his enormous Ponzi scheme. The research, according to a Harvard spokesman, is aimed at identifying the ''pressures, circumstances, emotions, etc.'' that prompted the felons to commit their crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A federal appeals court panel reviewing one of the fiercest legal disputes to arise from Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme ruled on Tuesday that the embattled trustee's approach on how to calculate investor losses in the case is ''legally sound'' and fundamentally fair. The ruling upheld a formula that limits investor claims to the actual cash that they had lost in the scheme, not the fictional profits they believed had accumulated in their accounts over the years of the fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the bankruptcy trustee trying to recover billions for those who lost money in Bernard L. Madoff's enormous Ponzi scheme did not have the right to sue banks and other third parties on behalf of the victims. The ruling, by United States District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in Manhattan, could reduce by billions of dollars how much the trustee may ultimately be able to recover for Mr. Madoff's victims. Those who were taken in by the scheme say they had a total of $65 billion invested with Mr. Madoff on the eve of his arrest in December 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two mortgage servicing companies have agreed to settle federal complaints that they wrongfully foreclosed on the homes of at least 178 military service members and to set aside a minimum of $22 million to compensate those victims. The Justice Department announced on Thursday that it had simultaneously filed and settled lawsuits against the two companies -- a subsidiary of Bank of America formerly known as Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, and Saxon Mortgage Services, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article was adapted from ''The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust,'' by Diana B. Henriques, a reporter for The New York Times. The book, to be published on Tuesday by Times Books, analyzes Mr. Madoff's rise and fall. IT is Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007, the first day of the last year of Bernie Madoff's epic fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new federal bankruptcy court filing on Thursday showed that three current members of JPMorgan Chase's executive committee had discussed, as early as June 2007, the possibility that Bernard L. Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme -- as, indeed, he was -- but took no action to protect investors or alert regulators. Those executives are John J. Hogan, the bank's chief risk officer for investment banking; Matthew E. Zames, who oversees several important bank trading operations; and Carlos M. Hernandez, the head of global equities at the bank's investment banking unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 15-year veteran of the federal Food and Drug Administration and his 25-year-old son were arrested on Tuesday and charged with systematically using confidential information about pending drug applications to reap millions in illegal trading profits since 2007. The charges were made in a criminal complaint filed by the Justice Department against Cheng Yi Liang, 57, and his son, Andrew Liang, both residents of Gaithersburg, Md. The Securities and Exchange Commission simultaneously filed a civil securities fraud complaint against the elder Mr. Liang. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]