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Meet Joe Lewis - The $200 Million "British Madoff"
In an oddly familiar echo of Bernie Madoff's massive ponzi collapse, The Telegraph reports, a currency trader has vanished along with £130 million in investors’ cash in an alleged fraud that could be one of the biggest in recent British history. Joe Lewis, 59, is being investigated by police over almost $200 million which he claimed was in clients’ accounts (incluidng professional footballers and golfers) but now no longer exists. In a stunning email sent to clients 2 weeks ago, Lewis admitted that his company - JL Trading - had stopped operating in 2009 (after suffering heavy losses on disastrous FX trades), adding that "I have covered up my mistakes from everyone including my staff, no one else knew what was happening." The father of two has since failed to answer emails and phone calls, and at his Istanbul apartment a doorman said he had not been seen for a few weeks.
In an email sent a month earlier – in response to growing concern from investors trying to get their money out – he claimed that his company was having “a stressful time” releasing $197 million (£126 million) from American brokers because of US red tape.
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Mr Lewis admitted that his company, JL Trading, had stopped operating in 2009 after suffering heavy losses on disastrous foreign exchange deals.
He confessed in the email that he had continued taking people’s money for the next five years in an attempt to turn his fortunes around, but that all those attempts had failed.
Whatever the truth, the reality for investors – many of them British – is that they have each lost a small fortune.
A civil action to freeze his accounts and seize any assets has also been started. The businessman, who traded from a smart residential address in Istanbul with views over the Bosporus, is understood to have left Turkey some weeks ago. His adult son said he had no idea where his father was. One report suggested he had briefly visited relations near Hull and may now be in the Far East.
In the email sent on Dec 3, Mr Lewis wrote:
"Dear investor,
I am writing to inform you that JL Trading is ceasing to carry on business. Contrary to the impression that I have hitherto given, the business has lost almost all of its assets, and there appears no prospect of those assets being recouped.
JL Trading ceased foreign exchange trading in 2009 following substantial losses and since that time the business has suffered further losses, which I have tried to make good through investments in a number of commercial projects. However, it is now clear that the business will not be able to recover its losses and must cease trading. This means that, contrary to what was reported to you previously, you cannot expect any payments in the future.
I can only apologise unreservedly for any losses or unfulfilled expectations of profit. I have tried to recover the position for a considerable period of time, but it is now clear that I will be unable to do so. I sincerely regret that I have not been able to do better on your behalf."
On Sept 10 this year, Mr Lewis sent an email to clients that explained that he was “not able to give an exact date when we can send monies out” due to ongoing problems with American regulators. Lawyers, he said, were working on it and “they have everything in hand”.
On Nov 14, Mr Lewis sent another email. “We are going through a stressful time having our funds returned from our brokers; this has led to many doubts and concerns about the security of funds being held,” he wrote.
His business was being wound up, but investors would all get their money back, he said. “So you can realise the extent of our business, our current values are: Due to clients, $197,000,000 in 893 accounts, worldwide. Due from Broker, $260,000,000 in 1 account, US,” he wrote, adding: “As we are no longer trading, these amounts should not change.”
Then came the email of Dec 3, in which he admitted he had not traded currency for five years.
Two days later, Mr Lewis sent out another email – the last anyone has received – changing his story again and in which he blamed the previous email on his legal team. “You have been sent an update this week which was worded by my lawyers, but I wanted everyone to know, I am not running away from things,” he wrote, “Whilst I regret some of the things I have done, I will do my best to remedy this situation.
“Please note, I have covered up my mistakes from everyone including my staff, no one else knew what was happening.”
Mr Lewis’s son James said: “He [Joe Lewis] didn’t live extravagantly. I don’t know where the money’s gone. I am happy to share information with the legal entities.
“Everything he had is ruined. There are no assets at all that I am aware of.”
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Welcome Britain to the yield-chasing, get-rich-quick, consequence-less society in which we live...
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Only 200? Peanuts.
http://hedgeaccordingly.com/2014/12/belarus-president-alexander-lukashen...
Only 200! That's what I thought too. Come-on Joe! The real Joe Lewis was a heavy weight!
Not this guy.
CIA operative.
Lake Nona bitches
"We Corzined some folks"
Pals with Tiger Woods and he is also tribe.
So he "Made Off" with some "folks" money?
Check the 2008 DNC campaign donors list. You'll find him there, with the Clintons
Er wait. He's not Chinese.
Never mind.
Golly. What with Jeb and Hillary being the next battle, with no differences in policies, the Shit Flinging should be Marvelous!
Whatever knuks, at least that title is no longer held by a member of my family anymore.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
It's hard to believe in a rigged market you just couldn't index the DOW and make money.
Five years ago.2008 finally caught up.I asked him why he did it when I visited him in
Fed lockup(some yank investors too, so Uncle Scam got first bite,after rendition from a carribean island).
He was a multi millionaire anyways fom his insurance biz.
Because I could, was the answer.
Should have been a banker.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=corzined
Those two jokes never get old.
Bummer...that's a bummer, man
He's probably hiding out at his Lago Escondido estate, just an hour from my house in Bariloche.
Hey Joe, Just change your charter to that of a US bank, get FDIC insurance. Take a billion in bailout funds and try your luck again. Hint: this time buy e-minis. Viola, problem solved.
Is this the same Joseph Lewis British FX guy who bought Bear Stearns stock the whooooooooole way down?
haha, wow, I am sure lots of guys did that.
why people trust others with their money I will never understand.
No, that Joe Lewis is a multi billionaire and is much older.
NO !
I have it on good authority that he is hiding out with Corzine. If they finally locate Corzine, they will find this guy as well.
The banksters need to repay us.
Annnnnndddddd ....it's gone!
He probably got immunity in the US and a job on wallstinch.
And the difference between him, Madoff and the government is that the latter has a printing press and offers no pretense that tax proceeds collected and their earnings (losses) may be repaid at anytime and in full.
Madoff..Lewis..
There's a connection there I'm just not able to come up with it at the moment
Don't tell me I'll figure it out eventually
Lewis.... made off....
five years he ran that scam and nobody knew
law enforcement is such a joke
Too much midget porn for SEC to be focused.
Joe Lewis and Bernie Madoff can run a WTO cigarette Ponzi scheme while in their prison cells. Each morning, they swap each other’s protein drink in a Royal Doulton Belvedere Flute. Quick cheers and down the hatch.
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/ab_reports_e.htm
I'll sell you my menthol cigarette for $1 million if you also sell me your regular cigarette for $1 million. Voila! We each have assets worth $1 million! I'd call Daime Jimon and clue him in, but somehow I think he's already on to it.
Somebody should get that list of 893 "investors" and put them into TSLA.
It's a fit.
If the central banks ever get the guts to raise rates, it will become obvious that there's Madoffs everywhere. Anyone who has significant assets with lower-tier advisors, funds and hedge funds that would not be rescued or insured by the government are fools. I'm even getting nervous about my top-tier brokerage account.
Yeah, I'd sure entrust my life savings to someone living in the investment mecca of freakin Turkey.
That guy looks like a comic book villain.
Well hey joe
where you gonna run to now ?
where you gonna go ?
.....I'm goin' way down south , way down to Corzine way.....
Lewis doesn't sound Jewish but it rhymes with it.
Wrong there Colonel. Lewis is a very Jewish name...at least they use it a lot, just like 'Miller'. The minute I saw the name - and the offence - in this story my radar was activated and confirmation July arrived.
Joe Lewis was the founder of the American style of karate.
He would have been more famous than Chuck Norris, but was unwilling to sell out to Bruce Lee.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lewis_%28martial_artist%29
"Trading" is gambling. Gambling is a tax on ignorance. If you believe you can change the laws of mathematical probablility, there is a tax, a very high tax.
Bernie called and said that he was unimpressed with Mr. Small Potatoes Lewis. 200M.... c'mon that will barely buy a decent sized yacht & pay for a crew willing to sign NDA's.
Well ya know that any Ponzi stays alive only so long as there is an unending supply of yield chasing fools, whose suspicions are easily anethesthetized by the application of freebie golf trips and great early returns.
The problem is getting your money out when you retire.
This will be a problem for citizens of most countries when they retire in larger numbers. Typically they have voted for the politicians that provide the most promises and pork and deficit spending.
As Thatcher supposedly put it:
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money [to spend]."
Well with N-ZIRP it is looking like the ponzi only ends when CBs run out of zeros ? Or do the Sheeple actually wake up at some point and realize there is a problem?
Clearly the Japan citizens are still unconcious from Abe bleating soothing noises as their currency slowly (?) retreats (much like water receding before the 1st tsunami strikes). I am still watching in horrified amazement for any signs that they are waking up and moving to higher ground...
A straight answer is required here for me ...is this the guy from Barbados/ Bahamas?
NO ! I have met the Joe Lewis who lives in Barbados, this one comes from Hull and has won the John Corzine Award
I expect Mr. Levin will be joining us in Israel shortly.
What's the fuss ? Just a little bail-in.
The ones to come will be quite bigger. Stay tuned.
Another thing in common with Bernie is that he's also of the Tribe. But I'm sure all of this is cohencidental.
Expect him to surface in Tel Aviv in due course whence all attempts to extradite him will fail.
The Jew..eehhmm Joe Lewis, Soros friend, lives on a megayacht out of his property in Nassau Bahamas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lewis_%28British_businessman%29