Sonja Kohn has been in hiding for about two years.

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen December 16, 2010

In photos, accused Bernard Madoff co-conspirator Sonja Kohn looks something between the prototypical bubbe and the Queen of England, though she may be richer than the queen.

Ms. Kohn, the Austrian-born, fervently Orthodox founder of Bank Medici, reportedly steered more than $9 billion from investors into Madoff’s hands for at least $62 million in kickbacks. She and her bank were named last week by Irving Picard, the Madoff estate’s trustee, in a civil racketeering lawsuit as part of his effort to recover $19.6 billion for Madoff’s victims.

The suit was filed a day before Madoff’s older son, Mark Madoff, committed suicide.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

According to a New York Times story about the lawsuit:

Beginning in 1985, Ms. Kohn became one of Mr. Madoff’s most effective ambassadors to the world of private European wealth and offshore hedge funds. Through Bank Medici and other entities, she advised or promoted some of the largest so-called Madoff feeder funds, including the Herald Fund and the Primeo Funds.

When Mr. Madoff was arrested in December 2008, she portrayed herself and her investors as victims of Mr. Madoff’s enormous swindle.

Since shortly after Madoff was arrested, two years ago, she has been in hiding from some of her many enemies, including Russian oligarchs whose money she sent Madoff’s way.

Some say that she’s likely hiding out in Bnei Brak, Israel, where she might find safe haven — though surely not the luxuries to which she is accustomed — among the Haredi Jews who populate the town, and remain beyond the reach of legal authorities, and those who may want to bring her to a rougher kind of justice.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount