Earlier this week, when the Huffington Post’s Vicky Ward wrote that Andrés Piedrahita — Walter Noel’s son-in-law and a marketing manager at Fairfield Greenwich who helped to sell one of main feeder funds to Bernie Madoff — had been spotted chillaxing on a multi-million-dollar yacht in the Adriatic, representatives for Sitrick and Company (who are representing the Noel family) got in touch with everyone who picked up the item to clarify that Piedrahita wasn’t “vacationing blatantly,” as Ward had said — he had bought the yacht before, and now he was just, well, marketing it.
Mr. Piedrahita is attempting to sell the yacht and has been using it to meet with prospective buyers … Mr. Piedrahita was not able to cancel the yacht purchase or to refuse to accept delivery … Any proceeds from a sale would go to a pool to benefit Madoff investors in the event of a settlement with the Madoff bankruptcy trustee, Irving Picard.
The ensuing clarifications apparently weren’t satisfying enough for Piedrahita, who called up a Colombian radio station to complain about how he was being unfairly treated. “We lost everything,” he said, according to a translation in Colombia Reports. “We are one of the biggest victims.”
Earlier this week, when the Huffington Post’s Vicky Ward wrote that Andrés Piedrahita — Walter Noel’s son-in-law and a marketing manager at Fairfield Greenwich who helped to sell one of main feeder funds to Bernie Madoff — had been spotted chillaxing on a multi-million-dollar yacht in the Adriatic, representatives for Sitrick and Company (who are representing the Noel family) got in touch with everyone who picked up the item to clarify that Piedrahita wasn’t “vacationing blatantly,” as Ward had said — he had bought the yacht before, and now he was just, well, marketing it.
He then went on to say that while he felt responsible, he really wasn’t — actually, he did a great job, and someone else (his father-in-law?) screwed up.
And then, it seems, unless it’s a poor translation, he offered to give back all the money to everyone, ever.
“This is what we want to do … We consider it to be just to return the money we earned with Madoff during many years. Under British law we don’t have to but we consider it only to be fair,” Piedrahita concluded.
Nice. We’re sure his lawyers are happy about this one, not to mention his father-in-law. Especially since this is not the first time Piedrahiita has vented publicly — the only member of the Noel family to do so. In fact, between this and his earlier, similarly embarrassing interview with The Wall Street Journal, Piedrahita is distinguishing himself as the sort of person whose ego cannot take embarrassment; he must try to save face, even if intellectually he’s just digging himself into a deep hole. Which is, coincidentally, the exact kind of personality one imagines would become involved in a Ponzi scheme.
Colombian ex-partner of Madoff denies responsibility in fraud [Colombia Reports via Business Insider]
Earlier: Noel Son In Law Spotted ‘Vacationing Blatantly’
Andrés Piedrahita Never Knew Anything About Anything
