Times Online
Shell, the Dutch oil giant, has emerged as the latest victim of the $50 billion (£32.23 million) fraud allegedly perpetrated by Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff, who is set to appear in court later today to meet the conditions of his bail.
Royal Dutch Shell revealed its Dutch pension fund had a $45 million exposure to the fraud, but said that even if it had to write off the entire amount, “the impact on the financial position and the funding status of the pension fund would not be material.”
The list of victim continues to grow as Mr Madoff prepares to appear in court today at 2pm EST (7pm GMT) to fulfil the outstanding conditions of his $10 million bail, in a hearing orginally planned for yesterday.
His lawyers indicated that he needed more time to find two additional signatories for his bail bond. His wife, Ruth, and his brother, Peter, have already signed.
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The $10 million bail, granted last week, was secured by his Manhattan apartment, valued at about $7 million.
Last night, Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), admitted that repeated tip-offs to the regulator about Mr Madoff’s activities were never followed up.
Mr Madoff registered his business, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, with the regulator in 2006, but the SEC has said it never completed an examination of the firm.
Usually, it completes investigations into company’s within a year of their registration.
There is further humiliation for the SEC because Mr Madoff once served on one of their advisory committees. In 2000, he was invited to join a panel advising on stock market traqding rules.
It also emerged that the SEC has launched a probe into the relationship between one of its former officials and a niece of Mr Madoff, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Shana Madoff, a niece of Mr Madoff who works as a compliance lawyer at the family’s firm, married Eric Swanson, a former SEC attorney, last year.
The SEC is currently investigating whether the relationship had any impact on its oversight of Mr Madoff’s company.
One of Mr Swanson’s duties before he left the SEC in 2006 had been to supervise the regulator’s inspection programme tasked with trading oversight at stock exchanges and electronic trading platforms.
Last night, a spokesman for Mr Swanson said “the compliance team he helped supervise made an inquiry about Bernard Madoff’s securities operation”.
It also said that Mr Swanson and Ms Madoff started a relationship in 2006, and were married the following year.
Another spokesman said the relationship began “years after” the investigation, and said Mr Swanson would “cooperate fully” with the SEC, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Neither Mr Swanson nor Ms Madoff have been named by the SEC as targets of the probe, but the Journal reported that David Kotz, the SEC inspector general who is leading the investigation, said he intended to examine the relationship.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
