By financial scam standards, this one ranks at the top. Billions upon billions of dollars taken from investors who trusted one man -- Bernard Madoff.
But behind the national implications, there are victims right here in Minnesota. On Monday morning, Sue Abderholden with the National Alliance on Mental Illness -- or NAMI -- received an email notifying her one of her organization's biggest donors is cutting off its funding.
"The e-mail just said we're really sorry, but the funds were invested with Madoff," Abderholden said.
This year, NAMI got the first hundred thousand dollars of a 300 thousand dollar grant from the New York-based JEHT Foundation. But because JEHT is now closing its doors, NAMI won't be getting the next 200 thousand. That means, the organization is out about 10 percent of their budget.
NAMI isn't the only one taking the hit. Officials with the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota's Center for Human Rights have also received funding from JEHT -- and now have no hope of getting more.
Also on Tuesday, Twin Cities attorneys confirmed members of the Oak Ridge Country Club held a meeting about the impact of Madoff's deals on local investors. Attorney Doug Kelley says he couldn't comment on how many people and how much money was invested with Madoff, but that "the numbers are going to be staggering when they come in."
As for NAMI, organizers had planned to use the money to fund a new project helping former inmates with mental illnesses transition back to mainstream living. Abderholden says she hopes they'll find a new donor who can pick up funding for the project. That's especially needed, she says, with individual donations down by as much as 50 percent this year.
(Copyright 2008 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
