February 19, 2009

On January 8, 2009, Gusrae, Kaplan, Bruno & Nusbaum PLLC (“GKBN”) and co-counsel filed a class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of investors in the Fairfield Sentry Limited fund (“Fairfield Sentry”). The complaint (Pacific West Health Medical Center Inc. Employees Retirement Trust v. Fairfield Greenwich Group, et al.) alleges various claims against defendants related to losses incurred by Fairfield Sentry investors as a result of the admitted “Ponzi scheme” orchestrated by Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”). Substantially all of Fairfield Sentry’s assets were entrusted to Madoff. The complaint was filed against Fairfield Greenwich Group, Fairfield Greenwich Limited, Fairfield Greenwich (Bermuda) Limited, Fairfield Greenwich Advisors LLC, and 22 of the partners and board members, including Walter Noel, Jeffrey Tucker and Andres Piedrahita.

The Complaint includes claims for breach of fiduciary duty, gross negligence, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and mutual mistake. The Complaint alleges that the defendants did not perform the necessary due diligence before placing funds that had been entrusted to their care under Bernard L. Madoff’s “management.” The Complaint further alleges that because defendants did not perform this due diligence they breached their fiduciary duties and contract obligations arising from the Private Placement Memorandum, and were unjustly enriched. The Complaint also seeks the return of fees paid in error to the defendants under the mistaken belief that assets and profits reported by Madoff actually existed. It is estimated that Fairfield Sentry Limited had approximately $7.3 billion of investment exposure and that approximately $1.0 billion was paid in management, performance and placement fees to the Fairfield Greenwich Group and its affiliates.

To view the Complaint, Click Here.