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Meet Andy Madoff. A little over a year ago, Madoff was the leader of an investment group that bought Abel Reels. He was also an investor in NYC's Urban Angler Fly Shop and, I think, Thomas and Thomas. (He is no longer involved with Urban Angler.) Andy is the son of Bernard Madoff, he of the Ponzi scheme that is currently charged with defrauded investers of around $50 billion and has been all over the news the past three days. Here's a shortened version of the press release from November, 2007:
NEW YORK INVESTOR GROUP ACQUIRES ABEL
A small group of private investors has acquired Abel fly-fishing reels and fishing accessories. Andrew Madoff, Abel Holdings CEO and lead investor, said, “Abel’s 20 year legacy of unparalleled quality and performance makes it an attractive investment."
The New York Times is reporting this morning that, so far, there is no evidence that any of Mr. Madoff's sons (Andrew, Mark and Peter all worked at their dad's firm) helped their father carry out, oh... how do we put this delicately... "the largest financial fraud in history." So we'll see if that remains the case.
A moderately interesting side-note to the story (every good financial pages/fishing story has to involve a babe) is that Katherine Hooper—If you don't recognize the name, you may remember the cover of Fish and Fly a few years back, which featured a shot of her.
Edit:( Turns out, I can't use that shot. My Bad.)
Anyway, she is apparently Madoff's new love interest. (Never thought I'd use the words "love interest" but I saw it in on the cover of US Weekly at the Safeway checkout line, and had to steal it.)
Anyway, Hooper was also a former co-owner of Urban Angler and was formerly with fellow co-owner Jon Fisher (don't ask me what "with" means—it looks to have been a modern Manhattan relationship, so I don't know if they were ever married.)
In any case,Hooper's relationship with Fisher and Urban Angler dissolved about the same time Abel was being bought by Andy Madoff and his brothers. Neither Hooper nor Madoff are currently involved with Urban Angler. So what is she doing now? Pretty sure it has something to do with the new ownership group at Abel. Here's a shot of her and Andy Madoff at some NYC fundraiser:
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And lastly, here is a photo and Youtube video (what report is complete without a YouTube video?) showing Mark Madoff—Andy's brother, part owner in the Abel group, and in no way connected or remotely aware of his father's fraudulent 50-billion-dollar scheme—fishing in Cabo. Oddly, it appears that Mark—despite being an "avid flyfisherman"—somehow never learned a double-haul.
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http://wallstreetblips.dailyradar.com/v ... bel_reels/
