J. Ezra Merkin

Who is J. Ezra Merkin?

Jacob Ezra Merkin is a former money manager and financier. He was a close business associate of Bernard Madoff, and is alleged to have played a significant part in the Madoff fraud. He served as the Non-executive Chairman of GMAC until his resignation on January 9, 2009, at the insistence of the U.S. government. He was the general partner of Gabriel Capital LP, a $5 billion group of hedge funds which was dissolved in 2008 after heavy losses in the Madoff fraud.

On April 6, 2009, Merkin was charged with civil fraud by the state of New York, for "secretly steering $2.4 billion in client money into Bernard Madoff's Ponzi fraud without their permission." On May 18, 2009, Merkin agreed to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's demands to step down as manager of his hedge funds and place them into receivership.

Famous Quotes:

• As long as investors remain human, and thus subject to greed, fear, pressure, doubt, and the entire range of human emotions, there will be money to be made by those who steel themselves to overcome emotion.
• The stereotype imagines a Wall Street populated by bulls and bears. In reality, the Street itself is neither bull nor bear but shark, constantly shifting direction in an eternal search for food.