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Deminor webcast: Status of the Madoff case

This webcast will be online on Tuesday October 20, 2009 at 10:30 AM.

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Joost J.Kramer (29) has been appointed as new Manager of Deminor Nederland

Amsterdam, Tuesday 1 December 2009 - As from 1 December 2009, Mr Joost J. Kramer (29) has been appointed as new manager of Deminor Nederland. Joost Kramer is an experienced lawyer with an MSc in Management of the University of Nyenrode. He has been a lawyer for three years with Houthoff Buruma N.V. and consequently corporate counsel with Koninklijke Ahold N.V.

Joost Kramer will coordinate and develop different activities of Deminor in the Netherlands together with Bernard Thuysbaert, partner of Deminor International and director of Deminor Nederland.

Deminor has the ambition to further expand its activities and team in the Netherlands considering the increasing number of mandates regarding:

(i) Advise on questions of shareholders of non-listed companies,

(ii) Corporate governance research and engagement assistance of listed companies, and

(iii) Collective damage claims of investors.

Mr Otto B. Linker (58), who was appointed in March as director ad interim and recently resigned, will keep supporting Deminor in the Netherlands as an ‘of counsel' advisor.

Persons of contact:

Deminor Nederland (Amsterdam):

Joost Kramer
Manager Deminor Nederland
Tel. + 31 (0)20 3012 340
Email: joost.kramer@deminor.com

Bernard Thuysbaert
Director Deminor Nederland
Tel. + 32 475 366 382
Email: bernard.thuysbaert@deminor.com

Websites:
www.deminor.com
www.governanceplatform.com
www.dagfund.com

Download:

Deminor Press Release Joost J.Kramer (29) has been appointed as new Manager of Deminor Nederland

One Year post Madoff

One year after the Madoff scandal was revealed, European investors have formed a pan-European syndicate aimed at recovering their losses suffered on funds with Madoff exposure. Deminor's analysis demonstrates that the Madoff feeder funds have been set up in breach of European rules, that investors have been misled and that the service providers failed to perform their contractual and legal duties. More than ever, Deminor's clients are determined to recover their losses from the responsible institutions. Investors cannot rely on actions undertaken by third parties, such as the US trustee or the funds' liquidators, if they want to benefit from a maximum recovery.

A. An international and diversified syndicate of more than 1.000 investors

As of today, Deminor represents more than 1.000 investors who have invested in the so-called "Madoff feeder-funds". These investors are mainly from Europe (The Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium) and South-America (Argentina and Uruguay). They are individual or institutional investors, representing altogether losses of approximately EUR 400 million. Losses per investor range between EUR 5.000 to EUR 30.000.000.

Erik Bomans, a Deminor partner : "investors must understand the need to join forces in order to form a common representative front against the involved institutions' obstinate refusal to compensate losses despite clear evidence that they breached their legal obligations. We believe that only a collective representative investor action can lead to a successful outcome".

B. Achievements since December 2008 and update of legal analysis

Since December 2008, Deminor has been principally active on the following investment funds whose assets have been entrusted to and managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Securities LLC ("BMIS"): Luxalpha, Luxinvest, Thybo International, Plaza, Herald Lux, Kingate, Hermes and Fairfield. Court or regulatory actions have been taken in Luxembourg, Monaco and the British Virgin Islands. Proceedings in the Netherlands are being prepared.

Deminor has successfully undertaken pre-trial discovery actions before the Luxembourg courts in order to receive further information on the relationship between the involved financial institutions and BMIS. Documents revealed that Madoff cumulated all important functions and that there was no appropriate control mechanisms put in place by the designated custodians (i.e. UBS and HSBC) on BMIS's activities. Investors have been misled about the true nature of their investments since the prospectus has not mentioned essential information, and the legal guarantees attached to UCITS funds have been breached.

Erik Bomans: "we have serious indications that UBS and/or Ernst and Young have not correctly informed the Luxembourg financial authorities about the delegation of the custody to BMIS, as they were supposed to do in accordance with the Luxembourg regulations. Our analysis indicates that UBS and/or Ernst Young made materially wrong statements to the Luxembourg financial authorities by failing to mention that BMIS was UBS's sub-custodians for the Madoff "feeder funds"".

Following these pre-trial actions and the completion of its analysis, Deminor filed in October 2009 an action for damages against several UBS entities in Luxembourg. Legal actions against HSBC, Citco, Ernst & Young and PwC are in the process of being finalised and will be filed shortly before the appropriate courts.

Deminor wrote at several occasion to the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier ("CSSF"), the Luxembourg financial regulatory authority. Deminor recently demanded that the CSSF sanctions UBS as investment manager of Luxalpha for violation of Luxembourg law. CSSF has not replied so far to Deminor's arguments.

Erik Bomans: "We strongly believe that BMIS did act as investment manager, and not only as custodian and broker. Facts demonstrate that UBS knew that BMIS was doing more than the execution of orders. The delegation to BMIS was therefore in breach of the applicable Luxembourg and European laws, since the functions of investment management and custody cannot be delegated to the same entity. The set-up of the fund was illegal from the very beginning". Deminor urges the CSSF to withdraw UBS's licence as investment manager in Luxembourg.

Despite clear evidence that they breached their contractual and legal obligations, the major international institution which acted as custodians, investment managers or auditors of the funds have so far failed to recognize their responsibilities. Investors need to file actions on the merits to claim damages before the appropriate jurisdictions, as a "sit back and wait" attitude may lead to an exclusion from any recovery and is not likely to force these institutions to change their current attitude.

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Contact person:

Erik Bomans
Deminor International SCRL
+32-2-674.71.10
erik.bomans@deminor.com

Lehman Brothers Citibank - More than 98,6% of our clients accepted the settlement agreement

More than 98,6% of Deminor's clients have entered into the settlement agreement negotiated between Citibank Belgium and Deminor in the framework of the Lehman Brothers case. Deminor will no longer be active on that case with regards to Citibank Belgium.

Deminor continues to actively represent investors in Belgium (clients of Deutsche Bank), the Netherlands (clients of Wijs & Van Oostveen), or Italy (mainly clients of Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit groups). Deminor will continue to intervene in these cases in order to recover the losses suffered by its clients.

1. Following the end of the settlement period which took place on this Thursday 18 February 2010 at 5 PM, more than 98,6% of Deminor's clients have accepted the settlement offer which has been negotiated between Citibank Belgium and Deminor in the framework of the Lehman Brothers case. More than 68% have accepted the opportunity to place the amount of the payment in a 3 years' time deposit account yielding at 5.3% gross annual interest rate.

As previously indicated, Deminor will no longer be active on that case with regards to Citibank Belgium.

Deminor has been mandated by more than 500 Citibank Belgium's clients.

2. Since October 2008, Deminor has been at the forefront representing investors hit by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, by federating more than 1.100 persons in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.

Deminor continues to actively represent in Belgium clients of Deutsche Bank who have no obtained so far appropriate damages for their losses. Deminor served a writ of summons against Deutsche Bank before the

Commercial Court of Brussels in July 2009, and is closely monitoring the evolution of the investigation initiated by the Public Prosecutor of Brussels against Deutsche Bank and/or its managers on that case.

In the Netherlands, Deminor has federated a group of around 375 investors who are clients of Wijs & Van Oostveen, and is about to initiate a legal action on the merits against that financial intermediary before the court of Amsterdam in order to recover the losses suffered by its clients on their Lehman Brothers' financial products.

In Italy, Deminor has been contacted by a substantial number of investors, and is currently considering to start a legal action on a short-term basis against several financial intermediaries, such as Banca Fideuram (Intesa Sanpaolo group) and Unicredit.

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Contact :

Edouard Fremault

+32.2.674.71.10

edouard.fremault@deminor.com

Deminor evaluates options for UBS shareholders following the AGM's refusal to grant discharge

Please click here to read more about the UBS case