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Here's the CNBC rough transcript of Jeffrey Katzenberg being asked about the Madoff scandal during a CES discussion about 3D technology. This is the DreamWorks Animation CEO's first public statement about getting burned by Bernie. See my previous, Madoff Hurt Spielberg And Katzenberg In The Millions:
CNBC: I've got to ask you one last question and it's not a good story. Obviously, the Bernard Madoff situation. It's been reported you had money with Madoff. Did you know you were giving your money to Bernard Madoff or was it...?
KATZENBERG: I would say two things. The first time I heard the name Bernie Madoff was about three weeks ago when I found out that, you know, he had swindled all this money. And it's -- you know, I'm blessed and fortunate in that this is extremely painful and humiliating for me. It has done extraordinary damage to my philanthropy and the giving that my wife and I is so important to us. What it has done to other people is terrible. It's destroyed many people's lives. People that I know. That this man is actually walking free today I think is a disgrace. And people that have done far less and hurt people in ways that he has not, you know, find themselves locked up in jail. And this guy is living in a $7 million apartment today walking free, there's something very, very wrong. It is extraordinary. And then sending the millions of dollars in watches and jewels to family and friends. It is something deeply wrong with our process and something we all should be ashamed of, that a man could swindle $50 billion. And forget me. But I'm talking about people who have taken their lives over this. It's a disgrace.
CNBC: Jeffrey, thank you for your candor on that.
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yep, i have no sympathy for Madoff for swilling money from charities… fucking scumbag.
What a tool Katzenberg is. Apparently his foundation has 22.1 million in assets and yet, to date, he’s donated only about 445K from it. For a man worth billions, that’s roughly 2% of 1% of his net worth. Poor poor Jeffrey, we feel so badly for you…Amazing how self important these folks are to think that we care how he feels for losing a tiny little proportion of his enormous fortune by stupidly entrusting it to a scam artist like Madoff. Hard not to laugh at people like Katzenberg and Spielberg whining about losing a few dollars when it has absolutely no effect on their lives. I only wish he’d lost everything. Schmuck.
Katzenberg isn’t very, you know, articulate.
Variety headline:
Katz Bats Money Rat
Madoff should be punished, as should anyone involved in the scam (which includes fund managers who turned a blind eye to bring in management fees) and any gov’t officials (hello SEC) who didn’t catch earlier.
I feel bad for all the victims. I hope Madoff has a stash of cash somewhere so they can be at least partly repaid. Let’s keep in mind though there’s a difference in losses caused by the fraud and losses caused by the market drop. The bubble bursting damaged a lot of our 401Ks.
What a tool Katzenberg is. Apparently his foundation has 22.1 million in assets and yet, to date, he’s donated only about 445K from it.
Don’t forget, he’s in Hollywood, where it’s the appearance of doing something is what matters.
Variety headline:
Katz Bats Money Rat
Good one Reel Busy. The best I could come up with was “Madoff Made Off,” pretty lame.
As for Madoff, that little ever present smirk he always has is not going to win him any friends. It’s bad enough that he swindled a lot of charities, many of them doing actual charity work, but he seems to be enjoying the attention. Greed and narcissism are a dangerous combination.
And to make things worse, it’s expected that a lot of the people who were paid when the Ponzi was going strong, are going to be forced to pay the money back. This could completely bankrupt people who are already on a shaky footing.
Should he not have answered the question? Do you really wish he would loose everything he has? Are you a sociopath?
Chris Cole,
I’m amazed by your compassion. Good luck to you in life and all that.
Chris, You identified the wrong Schmuck. Look inward.
Chris Cole,
Mr.Katzenberg is one cheap bastard to work for, but having said that…he is also a major fund-raiser for Aids Project L.A., and his Foundation did make a donation of $100,000 to the Motion Picture and T.V. Fund. For his Foundation to be caught up in this, is not something to be snarky about…it’s his Foundation, he can donate any amount , or not…however he pleases. How much have you given to charity? I’ll bet nothing.
“Chris Cole”: a lot of people at Dreamworks work for and with this man who takes no annual salary over $1. How exactly is it beneficial that anyone, including a boss like this one, are swindled?
No one can claim Jeffrey hasn’t worked damned hard for everything he has. Only a fool would opine that the head of a relatively small company that employs a lot of artists would have “lost everything” . A nasty, clueless fool. Exactly what business do you work in again?
Katzenberg is not a billionaire.
Sounds to me like a lot of Katzenberg ass kissers on this commentary. It would help if you all included your actual names and contact information so that you could reap the rewards of such blatant brown nosing (that is assuming that he actually reads this).
I don’t agree with the sentiment that he should have lost everything, but someone reckless enough to entrust that kind of money to a man like Madoff did so after concluding that the 15% Madoff was returning on investments was worth the risk. It all boils down to greed.
And by the way, the foundation is a tax shelter — he gets the tax write off on the tens of millions of dollars he gets each year from Dreamworks stock sales (so what that he only takes $1 in salary when he gets all sorts of stock grants and options), for the money he places into the foundation that he and his wife control.
And I do not believe that a man as savvy and financially sophisticated as Jeffrey Katzenberg heard the name Madoff three weeks ago for the first time — if he did than he’s even more reckless or cavalier than it appears.
What’s astounds me is not so much that Madoff swindled all these people out of all this money, is the fact that these people were stupid enough to invest money in him in the first place. Had they really looked at his workings on paper, would it have matched what story he told them? And it’s not like he was preying on the old or infirm (I hope not). A lot of “Heavyweights” invested most of what they had…
Madoff has duped some very powerful and influential people who themselves have powerful and influential advisors. Now we hear union pensions are in jeopardy across the nation. Why wouldnt it be fair to assume that one of the major film pension plans, guilds, or unions has been touched by this ponzi scheme? I feel strongly each of them should state publically yes or no to any liability brought on by Madoff. In addition, name the individuals, if any, who promoted such an investment.
Robbie Goldstein
Katzenberg is the real Ponzi artist. Look at DWA’s stock chart since it went public in ‘05 to what it’s at right now. The IPO for DWA opened at $38/share it went briefly to $40/share then down to $20/share. DWA stock now sells for $25/share. Anyone who invested in Dreamworks Animation has lost money. There was only one moment where it went up long enough for anyone to sell at a profit when it went from its low of 20 to 30. Jeffrey should be held accountable. Every investor deserves a full refund. DWA stock is never going to give anyone a profit. Let’s go Jeffrey do the right thing start sending out the refund checks today. If you don’t then you’re as bad as Bernie.
I’ve got a great script about the original scam man Charles Ponzi – If Katz wants to make some of that money back.
I have no sympathy for any individual who lost money with this guy. YOU should of done a better job investing/managing YOUR money. Just because you give money to a hedge fund or a broker doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Also, the way I see it. If you had a $1 million investment with Madoff for the past 10 years you were making 22% return in a year. That’s $2.2 million you would of got in return over 10 years since you never lost in a quarter. Now if you kept re-investing than shitty for you, if you pulled any of that return out then you are in the green and didn’t lose any money except your investment which you were paid off on. I know there are a lot of people who think they have lost money but in reality they actually made money on this scam. Not to say nobody lost because I know some have, however I know that not everyone is on the same intellectual level and there are people who are just playing victim here.
50 years of red flags and a flawed stadegy; anyone who did research knew to stay away. Once again, people finding out the hard way.
Let’s not forget that when you make that much money, if you don’t have a big donation you will be paying uncle sam a huge chunk. So tell me, which would you rather do? Give %10 to charity or uncle sam? If you think the same way about the IRS as I do then I know your answer.
I may not have the money to give because of everyone else in this industry making it all, however I still manage to donate plenty to chairty as well as my time. What have you donated to charity, btl teamster? I know you don’t have the time unless SAG has just provided you with some.
I echo Mr. Riesen. Mr. Katzenberg’s comment would truck much more respect w/ me if he didn’t claim he’d never heard of that despicable scumbag thief until three weeks ago. Does anybody believe that?
Otherwise, Katz took on Disney and in some ways deserves more credit for opening up MouseCorp’s logjam animation monopoly to competition than anybody else.
Oh, well… at least Bernie Madoff was the only one swindling people out of millions of dollars. Now, that he’s been stopped, all other activity on Wall Street involving investors’ money is completely above-board and legit!
And thank goodness we have a responsible organization like the SEC working to protect us and make sure that illegal activites like Madoffs’ are brought to a halt after only a few decades!
How many more celebs are going to surface from Madoff Rabbit hole? Will Corporate CEOS from Sony or Fox be next?
Two more ponzi schemes allegedly discovered since Madoff’s (on CNN tonight). When the tide goes out, these ponzi schemes fall apart and get uncovered. Re SEC, why did they miss it and what were they doing instead? They have a lot of discretion when opening investigations. How have they used it the past 10 years?
Someone asked me the other day how smart people like this could have been conned out of their money to which I replied that they’re evidently not smart.
And Mitch is correct.
Just because Katzenberg only “earns” a dollar a year doesn’t mean that’s all he’s making. He doesn’t live high on the hog in his mega-mansion on a dollar a year. He’s a multi-billionaire and anyone who denies it is Katzenberg’s accountant at tax time. His “generous donations” are nothing more than tax write-offs as most “general donations” are in LaLaWood.
You guys are totally right.
Everytime I hear about a person who gets car-jacked, I say to myself: ‘they shouldn’t have been driving in that neighborhood.’ When I hear of women being raped, I say: ‘they shouldn’t have worn that piece of clothing.’
WE. SHOULD. ALWAYS. BLAME. THE. VICTIMS.
Today, we learn, that Madoff had scammed his own sister out of all of her money. I definitely think it’s her fault though. After all, trust your brother with your money? How stupid was she?
Everyone knows that the only innocent person here is Bernie Madoff. We should just lay off the guy and conclude that all these people and charities that were swindled were all just asking for it when they trusted an investor to invest their money.
I know it’s easy to look at Katz and throw stones. You want to hate him because he’s been so successful.
But the hard truth is he is one of the goods. he may be the best movie exec of this generation.
Katz’s infamous “Memeo” was a crystal ball into the hell we now live in.
So I join the “Chris is an idiot” chorus.