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Thema International Fund
Thema International Fund PLC, based in Dublin, Ireland, is a Dublin-listed, Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) III-certified, open-end fund incorporated in Ireland, which was launched in December 1996. It created only one sub-fund, the Thema Fund. The fund had a minimum investment requirement of $50,000.
Thema Fund acted as a feeder fund for Bernard Madoff, seeking funds from investors and channeling them to Madoff Securities. As of November 2008, the then-purported net asset value invested in the fund was $1.1 billion. The fund stopped providing redemptions in December 2008, shortly after the Madoff investment scandal broke, and it was discovered that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.
Bank Medici AG, an Austrian bank, was Thema Fund's investment manager. In return for finding investors, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million euros from Thema International Fund in 2007. Bank Medici is 75% owned by its founder, Austrian banker Sonja Kohn, and 25% owned by Italian banking company Unicredit SpA.
Thema Fund was distributed to investors by Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie., an investment adviser based in Geneva, Switzerland. Universal Investment (based in Frankfurt, Germany), Themis MN Fund Plc (based in Geneva), Carat Lux Sicav Global One, and BG Umbrella Fund were among the fund's investors. HSBC Holdings Plc acted as custodian for the fund.
The fund reported a rate of return of 8% for the 11 months ended 28 November 2007. During the same period, competing funds fell by an average of 39%.
Thema Fund acted as a feeder fund for Bernard Madoff's securities investment firm (Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC), seeking funds from investors and channeling the funds to Madoff Securities. As of 30 November 2008, the fund's actual transfers to Madoff Securities minus the fund's withdrawals were approximately $312 million, but the then-purported net asset value invested in the fund at the time was $1.1 billion.
The fund stopped providing redemptions on 14 December 2008, shortly after the Madoff investment scandal broke, when it was discovered that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, Madoff was arrested, and a U.S. court froze the assets of Madoff Securities. Madoff was later sentenced to prison for 150 years. It was alleged that Kohn assisted Madoff in criminal activities in effecting the Ponzi scheme.
Although Thema International Fund was regulated by the European Union as a registered UCITS vehicle, and specifically by the Central Bank of Ireland, the regulators were not effective at uncovering Madoff's scheme. Reuters wrote after the scandal broke:
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Thema International Fund
Thema International Fund PLC, based in Dublin, Ireland, is a Dublin-listed, Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) III-certified, open-end fund incorporated in Ireland, which was launched in December 1996. It created only one sub-fund, the Thema Fund. The fund had a minimum investment requirement of $50,000.
Thema Fund acted as a feeder fund for Bernard Madoff, seeking funds from investors and channeling them to Madoff Securities. As of November 2008, the then-purported net asset value invested in the fund was $1.1 billion. The fund stopped providing redemptions in December 2008, shortly after the Madoff investment scandal broke, and it was discovered that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.
Bank Medici AG, an Austrian bank, was Thema Fund's investment manager. In return for finding investors, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million euros from Thema International Fund in 2007. Bank Medici is 75% owned by its founder, Austrian banker Sonja Kohn, and 25% owned by Italian banking company Unicredit SpA.
Thema Fund was distributed to investors by Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie., an investment adviser based in Geneva, Switzerland. Universal Investment (based in Frankfurt, Germany), Themis MN Fund Plc (based in Geneva), Carat Lux Sicav Global One, and BG Umbrella Fund were among the fund's investors. HSBC Holdings Plc acted as custodian for the fund.
The fund reported a rate of return of 8% for the 11 months ended 28 November 2007. During the same period, competing funds fell by an average of 39%.
Thema Fund acted as a feeder fund for Bernard Madoff's securities investment firm (Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC), seeking funds from investors and channeling the funds to Madoff Securities. As of 30 November 2008, the fund's actual transfers to Madoff Securities minus the fund's withdrawals were approximately $312 million, but the then-purported net asset value invested in the fund at the time was $1.1 billion.
The fund stopped providing redemptions on 14 December 2008, shortly after the Madoff investment scandal broke, when it was discovered that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, Madoff was arrested, and a U.S. court froze the assets of Madoff Securities. Madoff was later sentenced to prison for 150 years. It was alleged that Kohn assisted Madoff in criminal activities in effecting the Ponzi scheme.
Although Thema International Fund was regulated by the European Union as a registered UCITS vehicle, and specifically by the Central Bank of Ireland, the regulators were not effective at uncovering Madoff's scheme. Reuters wrote after the scandal broke: