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{{short description|Austrian banker}}
{{Cleanup|date=July 2009}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
'''Sonja Kohn''' (born August 5, 1948 in [[Vienna]]) is an [[Austria]]n [[banker]].
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'''Sonja Kohn''' (née Türk; born 5 August 1948) is an Austrian [[banker]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
Kohn was born to [[Jewish refugees]] from [[the Holocaust]] from [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/07medici.html Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff - The New York Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> She grew up in [[Vienna]]. In the 1970s, with her husband Erwin Kohn, she started an import-export business and moved to [[Milan]], Italy.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/d9d58eba-dcfa-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658|title=Profile: Bank Medici's Sonja Kohn|newspaper=Financial Times|date=7 January 2009}}</ref>
Sonja Kohn was born to Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe. She grew up in Vienna in a small Jewish community.
In the 1970s, with her husband [[Erwin Kohn]], she started an import-export business and moved to [[Milan]], Italy.


In the 1980s, she lived for a time in [[New York City]] and worked as a stockbroker for [[Merrill Lynch]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ef4949e0-5ed4-11e0-a2d7-00144feab49a|title=Kohn says she regrets meeting Madoff|newspaper=Financial Times|date=4 April 2011}}</ref>
In 1984 she founded the [[Bank Medici]] in Vienna. One year later, she moved to New York. They lived in [[Monsey, New York|Monsey]], a large, ultraorthodox Jewish community. Increasingly orthodox, she covered her hair as is customary for traditionally orthodox women.
The Kohns founded a small brokerage firm, the ''Eurovaleur Inc''. In New York City she became known as “Austria’s woman on [[Wall Street]].” Kohn only got into investing after staying home to raise her five children.


In 1994, she founded the [[Bank Medici]] in Vienna. One year later, she moved to New York State. They lived in [[Monsey, New York|Monsey]], a large, [[Haredi Judaism|ultraorthodox]] Jewish community.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> The Kohns founded a small brokerage firm, the ''Eurovaleur Inc''.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> In New York City, she became known as "Austria’s woman on [[Wall Street]]." Kohn only got into investing after staying home to raise her five children.
In 1990s, they moved back to Vienna. There, she cooperated with [[Gerhard Randa]] of [[Bank Austria]].

The [[Bank Medici]] was relaunched in 2003 as an [[Aktiengesellschaft]]. Sonja is shareholder of 75 percent and is head of the bank's supervising board.
In the 1990s, they moved back to Vienna. [[Bank Medici]] was relaunched in 2003 as an [[Aktiengesellschaft]]. She is shareholder of 75 percent and is head of the bank's supervising board.
She also became consultant of the [[Vienna Stock Exchange]] and was member of the supervisory board of Italian [[Finlombardia]] bank.<ref>[http://www.wirtschaftsblatt.at/archiv/14502/index.do Wirtschaftsblatt (04.11.2004): Zur Person - Sonja Kohn (viewed on 22nd March 2009)]</ref>

She also was consultant of the [[Vienna Stock Exchange]] until 2006, and was member of the supervisory board of Italian [[Finlombardia]] bank.<ref>[http://www.wirtschaftsblatt.at/archiv/14502/index.do Wirtschaftsblatt (04.11.2004): Zur Person – Sonja Kohn (viewed on 22 March 2009)]</ref>

In 2015 Kohn founded BestFit, her second digital venture after FundsWorld,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/fundsworld-goes-live-in-italy-20001005|title=FundsWorld goes live in Italy|newspaper=Financial News|date=5 October 2000}}</ref> a platform for the distribution of mutual funds with Intesa SanPaolo.


==Madoff connection==
==Madoff connection==


Kohn met [[Bernard Madoff]] in the 1980s while she was working as a broker at [[Merrill Lynch]] in New York City. Bank Medici directed funds from investors to Madoff. For example, Bank Medici was [[Thema Fund]]'s [[investment manager]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Groendahl |first=Boris |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-madoff-medici-sb-idUSTRE52B29B20090312 |title=Austria's Madoff-hit Bank Medici seeks buyers |publisher=Reuters |date=12 March 2009 |accessdate=9 February 2013}}</ref> In return for finding investors, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million [[euro]]s from [[Thema International Fund]] in 2007.<ref name="bloomberg2">{{cite news|last=Schneeweiss |first=Zoe |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a7zd_uRseMl4&refer=home |title=Bank Medici Manages Up to $3.2 Billion of Assets Tied to Madoff |publisher=Bloomberg |date=31 December 2008 |accessdate=9 February 2013}}</ref>
The Bank Medici directed funds from investors to [[Bernard Madoff]]. Kohn kept a low profile after the disclosure of the securities [[fraud]] conducted by him either to hide from unhappy clients, or from embarrassment at being involved in the affair, or worse.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/07medici.html New York Times]</ref> She said in a Jan. 14 e-mail to Bloomberg News that she was as deceived by the “Madoff fraud” as anyone else. Madoff wasn’t a friend and didn’t confide in her, she wrote.<ref>[http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=awdJ9s8sXCT4&pid=newsarchive Bloomberg]</ref> She says she was a victim of a “fraud that destroyed lives, life savings and companies.” Following this, Bank Medici has decided on March 19, 2009 to wind down all banking business and to relinquish the banking license.<ref>[http://bankmedici.com/News.htm BANK MEDICI Statements until 19 March 2009]</ref> On December 10, 2010, Kohn was sued by [[Irving Picard|Irving H. Picard]], trustee of assets seized by the court from Bernard Madoff, for $19.6 billion. Picard claims that she funneled 'billions' of investor dollars to Madoff in return for $62 million in kickbacks; this is one of dozens of lawsuits filed against Madoff investors and alleged collaborators before the two-year statute of limitations required by US civil code ran out on December 11, 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/madoff-trustee-seeks-19-6-billion-from-austrian-banker |title=Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker |publisher=nytimes.com |date=2010-12-10 |accessdate=2010-12-10 | first=DIANA | last=HENRIQUES}}</ref>

In 1992, Kohn introduced Madoff to Mario Benbassat, founder of [[Genevalor Benbassat & Cie]], and his two sons in New York, as a possible source of new funds for Madoff.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2bk46hx3lsQC&q=%22Genevalor+Benbassat+&pg=PT161|title=Bernie Madoff, the Wizard of Lies|first=Diana B.|last=Henriques|date=2011|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=9781780740430|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/dublin-registered-thema-part-of-complaint-filed-to-recoup-9bn-received-under-madoff-1.686359|title=Dublin-registered Thema part of complaint filed to recoup $9bn received under Madoff|first=Colm|last=Keena|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=10 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/sonja-kohn-bernie-madoffs-bag-lady-68579|title=Sonja Kohn, Bernie Madoff's Bag Lady|author=Allan Dodds Frank|date=20 February 2011|work=Newsweek}}</ref> Genevalor set up five European feeder funds, including $1.1bn Irish fund [[Thema International Fund]] set up by Thema Asset Management, a British Virgin Islands-based company 55 per cent owned by Genevalor, and invested almost $2 billion with Madoff.<ref name="auto4"/><ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ec37cd44-d06f-11dd-ae00-000077b07658|title=Madoff looking for new money as scandal hit|work=Financial Times|date=22 December 2008}}</ref> Thema International paid fees of 1.25% ($13.75m a year) to Genevalor Benbasset & Cie.
<ref name="auto1"/> ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported in December 2008 that the company was said to be a key player distributing Madoff investments in the [[Madoff investment scandal]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122947464853712465|title=In Geneva, Spotlight Casts an Unwelcome Glare on Banks|first=Charles|last=Forelle|date=17 December 2008|work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>

Kohn kept a low profile after the disclosure of the securities [[fraud]] conducted by Madoff.<ref>{{cite news |title=Austria's 'Woman on Wall St.' and Madoff (Published 2009) |work=The New York Times |date=7 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322223511/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/07medici.html |archive-date=2023-03-22 |url-status=live |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/07medici.html |last1=Schwartz |first1=Nelson D. |last2=Werdigier |first2=Julia }}</ref> She said in an e-mail dated 14 January 2009, to [[Bloomberg News]], that she was not an accomplice with, but as deceived by the "Madoff fraud" as anyone else. Madoff wasn't a friend and didn't confide in her, she wrote.<ref>[http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=awdJ9s8sXCT4&pid=newsarchive Bloomberg]</ref> She denied participating in a "fraud that destroyed lives, life savings and companies." Following this, Bank Medici decided on 19 March 2009 to wind down all banking business and to relinquish the [[banking license]].<ref>[http://bankmedici.com/News.htm BANK MEDICI Statements until 19 March 2009]</ref> On 10 December 2010, Kohn was sued by [[Irving Picard|Irving H. Picard]], trustee of assets seized by the court from Bernard Madoff, for $19.6 billion. Picard claimed that she funneled 'billions' of investor dollars to Madoff in return for $62 million in kickbacks; this was one of dozens of lawsuits filed against Madoff investors and alleged collaborators before the two-year [[statute of limitations]] required by US civil code ran out on 11 December 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/madoff-trustee-seeks-19-6-billion-from-austrian-banker |title=Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=10 December 2010 |accessdate=10 December 2010 | first=DIANA | last=HENRIQUES}}</ref>

At the [[Queen's Bench Division]] of the [[High Court of England and Wales]] in November 2013, judge [[Andrew Popplewell]] dismissed all claims against Kohn filed by liquidators of Madoff Securities International Ltd., based in London. The judge criticized the way the case had been pursued, while praising the "dignity" and "restraint" of Kohn. "This unfounded claim ... has been pursued aggressively and relentlessly over several years, on occasion with an unfair degree of hyperbole," he said, adding that Kohn had suffered "poisonous press releases" by the trustee of Madoff's U.S. business, and stating that she was a victim and that her honesty and integrity had been vindicated.<ref>[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2013/3147.html Madoff Securities International Ltd v Raven & Ors (2013) EWHC 3147 (Comm) (18 October 2013) at BAILII]</ref>

In September 2017, Thema International Fund agreed to pay $687 million to resolve the trustee's lawsuit that followed from the Madoff frauds.<ref>[https://www.irishtimes.com/business/markets/irish-fund-thema-international-to-pay-687m-to-madoff-victims-1.3213099 Irish Times report, 7 September 2017 (accessed 11 September 2017)]</ref>


==References==
==References==
Line 22: Line 109:
==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9d58eba-dcfa-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658.html Financial Times profile: Bank Medici’s Sonja Kohn]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9d58eba-dcfa-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658.html Financial Times profile: Bank Medici’s Sonja Kohn]
* [http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2013/3147.html London High Court Decision; 18 October 2013]

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Kohn, Sonja
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH = August 5, 1948
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohn, Sonja}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohn, Sonja}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American bankers]]
[[Category:Jewish American bankers]]
[[Category:Austrian bankers]]
[[Category:Austrian bankers]]
[[Category:Austrian Jews]]
[[Category:Austrian Jews]]
[[Category:Madoff investment scandal]]
[[Category:People associated with the Madoff investment scandal]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian businesswomen]]

[[Category:20th-century Austrian businesspeople]]
[[de:Sonja Kohn]]
[[Category:21st-century Austrian businesswomen]]
[[fr:Sonja Kohn]]
[[Category:21st-century Austrian businesspeople]]

Revision as of 22:47, 19 May 2024

Sonja Kohn
Born
Sonja Türk

(1948-08-05) 5 August 1948 (age 76)
OccupationBanker

Sonja Kohn (née Türk; born 5 August 1948) is an Austrian banker.

Biography

Kohn was born to Jewish refugees from the Holocaust from Eastern Europe.[1] She grew up in Vienna. In the 1970s, with her husband Erwin Kohn, she started an import-export business and moved to Milan, Italy.[2]

In the 1980s, she lived for a time in New York City and worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch.[3]

In 1994, she founded the Bank Medici in Vienna. One year later, she moved to New York State. They lived in Monsey, a large, ultraorthodox Jewish community.[2] The Kohns founded a small brokerage firm, the Eurovaleur Inc.[2] In New York City, she became known as "Austria’s woman on Wall Street." Kohn only got into investing after staying home to raise her five children.

In the 1990s, they moved back to Vienna. Bank Medici was relaunched in 2003 as an Aktiengesellschaft. She is shareholder of 75 percent and is head of the bank's supervising board.

She also was consultant of the Vienna Stock Exchange until 2006, and was member of the supervisory board of Italian Finlombardia bank.[4]

In 2015 Kohn founded BestFit, her second digital venture after FundsWorld,[5] a platform for the distribution of mutual funds with Intesa SanPaolo.

Madoff connection

Kohn met Bernard Madoff in the 1980s while she was working as a broker at Merrill Lynch in New York City. Bank Medici directed funds from investors to Madoff. For example, Bank Medici was Thema Fund's investment manager.[6] In return for finding investors, Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million euros from Thema International Fund in 2007.[7]

In 1992, Kohn introduced Madoff to Mario Benbassat, founder of Genevalor Benbassat & Cie, and his two sons in New York, as a possible source of new funds for Madoff.[8][9][10] Genevalor set up five European feeder funds, including $1.1bn Irish fund Thema International Fund set up by Thema Asset Management, a British Virgin Islands-based company 55 per cent owned by Genevalor, and invested almost $2 billion with Madoff.[8][9][11] Thema International paid fees of 1.25% ($13.75m a year) to Genevalor Benbasset & Cie. [11] The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2008 that the company was said to be a key player distributing Madoff investments in the Madoff investment scandal.[12]

Kohn kept a low profile after the disclosure of the securities fraud conducted by Madoff.[13] She said in an e-mail dated 14 January 2009, to Bloomberg News, that she was not an accomplice with, but as deceived by the "Madoff fraud" as anyone else. Madoff wasn't a friend and didn't confide in her, she wrote.[14] She denied participating in a "fraud that destroyed lives, life savings and companies." Following this, Bank Medici decided on 19 March 2009 to wind down all banking business and to relinquish the banking license.[15] On 10 December 2010, Kohn was sued by Irving H. Picard, trustee of assets seized by the court from Bernard Madoff, for $19.6 billion. Picard claimed that she funneled 'billions' of investor dollars to Madoff in return for $62 million in kickbacks; this was one of dozens of lawsuits filed against Madoff investors and alleged collaborators before the two-year statute of limitations required by US civil code ran out on 11 December 2010.[16]

At the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of England and Wales in November 2013, judge Andrew Popplewell dismissed all claims against Kohn filed by liquidators of Madoff Securities International Ltd., based in London. The judge criticized the way the case had been pursued, while praising the "dignity" and "restraint" of Kohn. "This unfounded claim ... has been pursued aggressively and relentlessly over several years, on occasion with an unfair degree of hyperbole," he said, adding that Kohn had suffered "poisonous press releases" by the trustee of Madoff's U.S. business, and stating that she was a victim and that her honesty and integrity had been vindicated.[17]

In September 2017, Thema International Fund agreed to pay $687 million to resolve the trustee's lawsuit that followed from the Madoff frauds.[18]

References

  1. ^ Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff - The New York Times
  2. ^ a b c "Profile: Bank Medici's Sonja Kohn". Financial Times. 7 January 2009.
  3. ^ "Kohn says she regrets meeting Madoff". Financial Times. 4 April 2011.
  4. ^ Wirtschaftsblatt (04.11.2004): Zur Person – Sonja Kohn (viewed on 22 March 2009)
  5. ^ "FundsWorld goes live in Italy". Financial News. 5 October 2000.
  6. ^ Groendahl, Boris (12 March 2009). "Austria's Madoff-hit Bank Medici seeks buyers". Reuters. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  7. ^ Schneeweiss, Zoe (31 December 2008). "Bank Medici Manages Up to $3.2 Billion of Assets Tied to Madoff". Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  8. ^ a b Henriques, Diana B. (2011). Bernie Madoff, the Wizard of Lies. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 9781780740430 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ a b Keena, Colm (10 December 2010). "Dublin-registered Thema part of complaint filed to recoup $9bn received under Madoff". The Irish Times.
  10. ^ Allan Dodds Frank (20 February 2011). "Sonja Kohn, Bernie Madoff's Bag Lady". Newsweek.
  11. ^ a b "Madoff looking for new money as scandal hit". Financial Times. 22 December 2008.
  12. ^ Forelle, Charles (17 December 2008). "In Geneva, Spotlight Casts an Unwelcome Glare on Banks". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. ^ Schwartz, Nelson D.; Werdigier, Julia (7 January 2009). "Austria's 'Woman on Wall St.' and Madoff (Published 2009)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023.
  14. ^ Bloomberg
  15. ^ BANK MEDICI Statements until 19 March 2009
  16. ^ HENRIQUES, DIANA (10 December 2010). "Madoff Trustee Seeks $19.6 Billion From Austrian Banker". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  17. ^ Madoff Securities International Ltd v Raven & Ors (2013) EWHC 3147 (Comm) (18 October 2013) at BAILII
  18. ^ Irish Times report, 7 September 2017 (accessed 11 September 2017)
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