Opinion

Many Jewish authors have bemoaned the fact that so many of Bernie Madoff's victims were Jewish.  Before his widespread fraud was discovered, he was a respected member of both the financial and Jewish communities.

Similarly, Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman, the owners of Canyon Partners, hold themselves out as observant pillars of the Jewish community and consider themselves to be successful members of the financial industry too. Yet, not unlike Madoff, many of Julis's and Friedman's victims have been Jewish too.

In both firms, their clients were were victimized by myriad schemes.  In the case of Madoff, he portrayed himself as a bona fide investment manager.  At Canyon Partners, Friedman and Julis hold themselves out to be a legitimate lender.  Yet, time and time again, Canyon's actions have proven that they are anything but legitimate, rather intentionally putting loans into default to steal hundreds of millions of dollars of property and money.  

"The Believers: How America Fell for Bernard Madoff's $65 Billion Investment Scam" by Adam LeBor discusses Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, his co-conspirators, and why so many people were deceived. The book demonstrates "the devastating effects of the scheme on charities, foundations, and individuals who had placed their trust in Madoff. It also raises thought-provoking questions about Madoff's motivations and the factors that contributed to the widespread deception, including the perplexing reality of how such a well-respected figure in the Jewish community could perpetrate such a massive fraud." 

"This book dramatically humanizes the results of Madoff's scam by focusing on his connection to, and catastrophic impact on, the Jewish community." "It seems nothing was sacrosanct to Madoff, possibly the greatest con-man in history—even Elie Wiesel's foundation lost tens of millions. It all prompted the unsettling questions: How could Madoff, a pillar of the Jewish community, do this to a Nobel Laureate and Auschwitz survivor? 

The book "reveals how an underlying sense of insecurity still shapes some of the richest and most successful individuals in America, making them crave ever more status and peer acclaim."  The similarities to Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman are uncanny. The victims of Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman have suffered the same devastating effects.  

"Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff" by Andrew Kirtzman argues that that "the Enron machinations pale beside the havoc that Madoff created in people's lives."  The hell unleashed on the borrowers who lost their careers, properties, life savings, reputations and more due to the greed of Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman is eerily similar.

"History of Greed: Financial Fraud from Tulip Mania to Bernie Madoff" by David E. Y. Sarna explains that "Unfortunately, so many of the schemers described in this book were Jewish — many of the victims were, too...The details of each story are compelling. The shame of it is that scammers, until caught, live life in the public eye inspiring respect and admiration when what they are really doing is reeling in their prey..."  The book explains too that, until Madoff's confession, almost no perpetrator of financial fraud has shown remorse for their crimes.  Thus far, Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman, fall into that camp, continuing to arrogantly pretend that they are financial geniuses rather than serial fraudsters, proudly following in the footsteps of their mentor Michael Milken, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and fraud.  

The book "The Club No One Wanted To Join - Madoff Victims In Their Own Words" compiled by Alexandra Roth "chronicles the experiences of individuals affected by Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, stating that 'Contrary to common belief, not all were wealthy or Jewish; they were simply people who had worked hard and had their life savings stolen from them in the blink of an eye'."  The same holds true for many of Canyon's borrowers.  In this book, like Canyon Partners News Inc., twenty nine Madoff investors band together to tell their stories.  The book's message is: this can happen to anyone. "They all have one thing in common: they were robbed of their life savings... It is time the public learns the truth."  "This is a story of financial devastation, of lessons learned, of hope and rebirth."  Unfortunately, many of Canyon's victims have lost hope and rebirth is impossible.

In the article, "Why Were So Many Madoff Victims Jewish?" by Harold A. Pollack, the author explains that Madoff "decimated a segment of the wealthy Jewish community and several Jewish charitable organizations."  "Such crimes would not have been possible without the cultural ease and social entre Madoff enjoyed in the Jewish community. To put a name on things, this was one of the worst affinity frauds in Americans history, whereby unscrupulous people exploit their cultural connections and people’s communal identities to rip them off." The lifestyles of Joshua Friedman, Mitchell Julis and their wives, Beth and Linda, resemble Bernie and Ruth Madoff closely in this regard too.  Innocent borrowers would never suspect that Julis and Friedman premeditate repeatedly to put their borrowers in default and take control of their properties.

Fortunately for Madoff's victims, approximately 90% of their investments were ultimately recovered.  The same cannot be said for Canyon's victims, at least not yet.  Although, some of Canyon's victims have since died.

Our hearts go out to the family of Harold Rothstein who died prematurely at the age of fifty after having his Las Vegas hotel foreclosed on by Canyon Partners.  Harold Rothstein, was quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, blaming the “‘greedy hedge-fund guys’ at Canyon Partners who were interested in wiping out the owners’ equity stake” and stated that the creditors had “taken approximately $14 million in fees and interest out of the property.”

We also want the Swartz family to know that we have not forgotten their pain. According to attorneys and the widow of the developer, Canyon manufactured defaults to force into foreclosure the East Coast Fisheries property, which had been in the Swartz family for generations.  According to their attorney, Canyon's loan was “death-spiral financing” designed to lead to the property owner’s downfall.  In conversations with Rebecca Swartz, the widow of the developer, Ms. Swartz reflected about Canyon Partners, “They steal your money, steal your time, steal your property, and steal your future." Soon after her husband's property and life-savings were taken by Canyon, Mr. Swartz was diagnosed with cancer and also died shortly after being victimized by Canyon Partners.

Other Jewish victims of Canyon Partners include, Leo Tsimmer and David Kislin, who years later said that "Just the thought of Maria Stamolis [from Canyon] put shivers down my spine".  They too lost their beautiful Franklin Place Tribeca building to Mitch Julis and Joshua Friedman.

We want to also acknowledge Joel Schwartz who put his handsome 110 Green Street Development into bankruptcy to protect the building from Canyon Partners, fearing Canyon's loan-to-own strategy to take control of the building.

And we want to mention Joel Schreiber too, who unfortunately did business with Joshua Friedman and Mitch Julis.  An Orthodox Jew, who Canyon put into default two days after the loan closing, Schreiber tried to arrange a meeting with Mitch Julis through his rabbi but to no avail.  Schreiber, with his May Company re-development in Los Angeles, endured years of pain and lost many millions of dollars to Julis and Friedman.  

The developers of the Packard Square project in Ann Arbor were also Jewish.  Julis and Friedman orchestrated the takeover of their asset after 15 years of pre-development work and many millions invested.  Julis and Friedman manufactured defaults when no loan payments were missed to steal the 360,000 mixed-use building.  The countless lies told by Canyon Partners to numerous courts can be read on this website too.

And, to the many more Jewish victims of Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman who can perhaps no longer afford to travel to see their families or to buy gifts for their children or grandchildren on Hanukkah, we are thinking of you too.  It is despicable that Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman stole your money, stole your properties and stole so much of your futures. There are no good words to compensate or console you for everything that you have lost due to the evil acts of Mitchell Julis and Joshua Friedman. Their greed knows no bounds.

Canyon Partners News Inc. has a forthcoming new book to further expose Julis and Friedman's wrongdoings.  Hopefully one day there will be justice for their countless victims (or their heirs), both Jews and non-Jews alike.