Madoff’s Canadian casualties

Victims cheered the 150-year sentence handed down to fraudster Bernie Madoff on Monday. Although information on how much each victim invested is not public, it is known that a number of Canadian families and companies were victims of his $50-billion ponzi scheme.

Barry Rashkovan: Rashkovan is a Montreal accountant and a partner in the firm Stein Jacobs Krolik. He appears on the list of Madoff’s victims, although he says he did not personally invest in the scheme. He has acknowledged that one of his clients lost money after investing with Madoff.

Sandra Farber: Farber’s family owns Farber Holdings Inc., which appears on the list of victims. She is also Rashkovan’s mother-in-law, and is believed to be the client of Rashkovan’s who invested in the scheme.

Allen Gould: Gould was a Hamilton, Ont. steel trader and broker who passed away ten years ago. His family owns Milli boutiques in Toronto’s Yorkville area. Gould is listed among Madoff’s victims, although his son Mark claims he liquidated his investments with Madoff before his death and that the family suffered no losses as a result of the scheme.

Alvin Segal: Segal is the CEO of Peerless Clothing Inc. of Montreal. He is known as being an active philanthropist, and has donated millions to the Centre for Jewish Studies at McGill University and the Segal Cancer Centre at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital.

Herb and Ruth Gamberg: The Gambergs are retired professors at Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S. The couple invested with Madoff over twenty years ago, and have reportedly watched their retirement savings disappear after the collapse of the scheme.

Judy Pencer: Pencer, of Toronto, is the sister-in-law of Canadian soft-drink maker Cott Corp. founder Gerald Pencer.

There are several other Canadian additions to the list, including:

Nesbitt Thomson Bongard of Toronto; Woodrock Investment of Montreal; BBHF Emerald of Mississauga, Ont.; Sutha Fergusson of Toronto; B. Robinson of Westmount, Que.; and William L. Robinson of Westmount, Que.