Wiand met with about 60 investors to update his progress in seizing and selling assets that will raise money for those who got burned in the scam.
During several testy exchanges — at one point Wiand cut off attorney Morgan Bentley’s microphone — investors expressed frustration over their losses and why Nadel partners Neil and Christopher Moody have not been criminally charged.
They wanted to know what happened to the $400 million that the Nadel-Moody hedge funds gathered from hundreds of investors, and whether any of that money remains hidden.
Wiand said he still cannot respond to two key questions — when will investors recoup some money, and how much — but he said the receivership continues to work to gather and sell assets to generate cash for them.
Wiand said it may take “a year or two” for all the claims to be paid out to investors, who lost an estimated $168 million.
“At this time, there is no way to know how long this litigation will last or how much will be recovered,” he said.
Claims forms will go out within a month. As of now, the deadline for filing them is Aug. 19.
Wiand also revealed that he may soon file lawsuits against financial institutions that worked with Nadel and his Sarasota-based hedge funds. He declined to be specific about as whether they may include Goldman Sachs, which handled trading accounts for the funds, or Nadel’s personal banks.
Nadel, 77, has pleaded guilty to 15 federal fraud counts and awaits sentencing in New York City.
“Why are the Moodys not in jail?” asked one woman during the nearly three-hour session.
Wiand said that decision is up to prosecutors in New York. He suggested that if she called the U.S. Attorney’s Office there, they would respond: “Our investigations are continuing.”
Sarasota attorney Bentley, who represents some fund investors and who has clashed previously with Wiand, tried to ask about tax treatments for investors, posting Chris Moody’s bank statements on the receivership website and other issues.
Wiand brusquely said he would not discuss specifics in the receivership and,
in one brief exchange, the two argued over who has retrieved more assets.
As Bentley pressed to ask more questions, Wiand told a staffer to turn off
the portable microphone Bentley was using.
Others asked about rumors of secret overseas bank accounts, which Wiand said
were investigated but never discovered.
Chris Moody has cooperated with the receivership, Wiand said, but his father
has not. Wiand has sued Neil Moody for $28.3 million in profits and fees he
received from the funds.
The receiver said he has generated a little more than $10 million so far and
expects to raise millions more from asset sales, clawbacks from investors
who made false profits and from a pending lawsuit against the Holland &
Knight law firm.
Wiand, his former and current law firms and other professional services
firms have billed more than $2.2 million for their first year of work.
“So we’re not getting much for our money,” one investor grumbled from the
audience.
Other investors, including several on a teleconference line, commended Wiand
for his work on the case.
Wiand said he invests the cash he has raised in bank certificates of deposit
and interest-bearing accounts.
“Early on I considered investing these monies in hedge funds, but then
thought not,” he quipped.
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