A reader points out that Fairfield Greenwich has removed all pictures of its officers from its website. Fortunately, Walt Noel was such a social butterfly that there are lots of images of him on the net, just in case friends like Buffy, Buffie, Skip or even some now-impoverished grandmother run into him and Monica on Greenwich Avenue and want to smack him upside the head with an umbrella. Here’s one now (that’s Walt in the middle, his partner Tuck on the right and an Ojibwa shaman on the left):
Update: Aw, they’re all hiding. Tucker’s Stonebridge Horse Farm’s webpage has now been disappeared, but here’s the cached version.
Oh, Great Spirit, bring back our money!
For What It's Worth 
Apparently, Walter showed up at the Round Hill Club Christmas party this weekend, and people were appalled that he showed his face. At the very least, he should have PRETENDED that he was working hard all weekend to help his clients.
But, I guess since he didn’t work hard to protect them to begin with, why bother working hard to find out their exposure/hold their hands/determine next steps on a weekend? That is too much work for the $135 mil/year FGG made from Madoff.
Well I admire his gumption – that must have been incredibly difficult to do and I admire him for pulling it off.
On the other hand, you’re short selling the guy’s financial acumen because according to the Times, he made $125 million in that 20% split but he also collected a management fee of something like $70 million last year. Gee, multiply that total by 10 years and you get billions and billions of stars.
And by the way – the only “next step” I can see is for all those Round Hill Club members to sue their friend Walt. Bernie’s no good for it, the $7.5 billion remaining in Fairfield Greenwich Groups coffers presumably belongs to other clients so where will the defrauded look? I’d think Mustique and 175 Round Hill Road would be a good start.
I think he should have sent the family, with the message that he is hard at work at the office and talking to clients. It sends the wrong signal – yikes! – to be at a party (at your country club, no less) when you have clients who are wiped out.
Walt will ultimately lose everything – I’m hearing that he has limited time to enjoy his wealth. The due diligence he was so proud of in his comedic presentations will be what everyone focuses on. Why in the world would ANYONE give money to a man who had NO strategy that made any sense to anyone who KNEW ANYTHING about managing money. Walt will pay the ultimate price of poverty which no doubt has a way of humbling every human being. He will beg for forgiveness when its all said and done….