Bank Medici

{{Infobox company

| name = Bank Medici AG

| logo = Bank Medici logo.jpg

| caption =

| trading_name =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| romanized =

| type = Bank

| traded_as =

| industry =

| genre =

| fate =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| foundation = 1994 (incorporated in 2003)

| founder = Sonja Kohn

| defunct = 2009{{elucidate|date=January 2019}}

| location_city = Vienna

| location_country = Austria

| locations =

| area_served =

| key_people =

| products =

| production =

| services = Banking

| revenue =

| operating_income =

| net_income =

| aum =

| assets =

| equity =

| owner = Sonja Kohn

| num_employees =

| parent =

| divisions =

| subsid =

| homepage =

| footnotes =

| bodystyle =

}}

Bank Medici {{post-nominals|country=AUT|post-noms=AG}} was a bank based in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1994 by banker Sonja Kohn and incorporated as a bank in 2003.{{Cite web |url=http://www.firmenabc.at/bank-medici-ag_EdR |title=Firmenabc: BANK MEDICI AG |access-date=2009-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703075421/http://www.firmenabc.at/bank-medici-ag_EdR |archive-date=2009-07-03 |url-status=dead }}

Bank Medici's president and majority stakeholder was Sonja Kohn.[http://gulf-news.com/business/Banking_and_Finance/10272289.html Gulf News]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Its main institutional shareholder was Bank Austria Creditanstalt, Austria's largest banking group. Kohn owned 75% of the bank, and Bank Austria owned the balance.[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/07medici.html?pagewanted=2&fta=y "Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff"] by Nelson D. Schwartz and Julia Werdigier The New York Times January 7, 2009, p. A1 NY edition. Retrieved 1-17-09

Madoff investments

Bank Medici was investment manager for Thema International Fund, which invested with Bernard Madoff.{{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}} Bank Medici collected fees of 4.6 million euros for finding investors for Thema in 2007.{{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}}

Following news on 2 January 2009 that the Bank may have lost $3 billion invested with funds run by Madoff, the Austrian government appointed a supervisor to run the bank.[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b202d0fe-d8c8-11dd-ab5f-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fb202d0fe-d8c8-11dd-ab5f-000077b07658.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fhome%2Fuk FT: Austria takes control of Bank Medici] On January 7, The New York Times reported the exposure to Madoff was $2.1 billion, some of which may have come from Russian oligarchs. After the Madoff losses were reported, Ms. Kohn, aged 60 at the time, and her husband Erwin had largely been out of public sight. The Austrian-government-appointed commissioner Gerhard Altenberger has been effectively managing the bank in that time.

On January 14, 2009, William Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who is in charge of the state's securities issues, filed suit against Robert Jaffe, who promoted Madoff's funds to wealthy investors in Massachusetts and Florida.{{cite web|url=http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2009_01_15_William_Galvin_sues_salesman_Robert_Jaffe:_Demands_testimony/srvc=business&position=recent_bullet|title="William Galvin Sues Salesman Robert Jaffe -- Demands Testimony", Boston Herald (January 15, 2009)}} On February 4, compelled to testify, Jaffe invoked his Fifth Amendment right. Marcia Cohn, Maurice Cohn, and Alvin Delaire, Jr. failed to appear. On February 11, 2009, Galvin filed a complaint{{Cite web |url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/sct/sctcohmad/cohmad_complaint.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-06-01 |archive-date=2009-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225211040/http://www.sec.state.ma.us/sct/sctcohmad/cohmad_complaint.pdf |url-status=dead }} seeking to revoke the Massachusetts license of Cohmad Securities Corp., an accounting of all Massachusetts investors Cohmad referred to Madoff's company, all the fees it earned doing so (more than $67 million), and a fine. It cited $526,000 in referral fees paid from Madoff Investments, to Cohmad, to Vienna Bank Medici majority owner, Sonja Kohn, which she subsequently denied.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLC60093820090212 |title=Medici's Kohn says did not get Madoff payments | Markets | Markets News | Reuters |publisher=Reuters |date=2009-02-12 |accessdate=2009-04-26 | first=Boris | last=Groendahl}}{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/02/galvin_seeks_to.html |title=Galvin seeks to shut down firm with Madoff ties - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe |publisher=Boston.com |date=2009-02-11 |accessdate=2009-04-26}} On May 28, 2009, Bank Medici lost its Austrian banking license. Kohn and the Bank are under investigation.{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124351941925862619 | work=The Wall Street Journal | title=Madoff-Hit Bank Medici Loses License | date=May 28, 2009 | first=Flemming E. | last=Hansen}}