Colleagues: Sands Lost Up To $4.5 Million In Madoff Scam
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Legislators are putting a number on the loss Florida House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands suffered in the Bernard Madoff scam.
Sands declined to publicly say how much he lost when he revealed last month he was a victim of the fraud.
Colleagues say that they have been told that Sands loss is enormous — up to $4.5 million.
Sands of Weston, 68, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he would have to go back to work because of his losses.
State financial disclosure forms indicated Sands as of Dec. 31, 2007 was worth $7.344 million.
The disclosure form states he had around $4.5 million in stocks, bonds and other savings.
While Madoff was wiping out Sands’ investments, the real estate collapse was shaving money off his home.
The home in the Bonaventure section of Weston was valued $1,070,910 two years ago, but is now valued at $733,050 by the property appraiser.
He also owns a Tallahassee condo. He stated he had $965,000 in “household goods and personal effects.”
The disclosure form indicates he owes about $540,000 on loans.
A legislative colleague e-mailed: “(Its’) hard to believe he had just about everything with Madoff. I think his only other assets were his house and personal property. Very sad.
Sands said in a statement:
“Leslie and I are shocked and saddened by this devastating news. However, we are gratified by the support of our family and friends. Falling victim to this fraud will require necessary adjustments, but it will not affect my commitment to my community, my constituents, colleagues and the people of Florida.”
He told the Sun-Sentinel that his accountant hooked him up with Madoff years ago.
Do I smell a law suit?
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
My heart is breaking for Franklin Sands. I can’t imagine working my whole life and losing it all to a scumbag like Made Off.
January 4th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Such a terrible situation for Sands and his family. But I dont think it is very nice to post anything about it on here. Why publicize his loss even more so?
FROM BUDDY: I feel terrible for Franklin and his family.
It must be remembered that the public didn’t know about his loss until he released a statement to the media and gave interviews. Also, he is a very public figure — Florida House Democratic leader.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
working his whole life? The guy didn’t work a day in his life!
January 5th, 2009 at 9:41 am
How can you write, “working his whole life? The guy didn’t work a day in his life!” That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I know him very well and he has been one of the hardest working individuals. If you say that, you are uninformed and it is just silly to comment on something you know nothing about.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Franklin is a class act and always has been. There are already class action suits but Madoff probably hid most of the assests overseas and they are going to be hard to find.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
What does this say about his wisdom on the state budget crisis?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
really, you know him very well and you know him to be a hard working individual?
I know plenty about Franklin and his family. His father was a wealthy land owner in NY. Then Franklin sold some junk jewelry for a while in New York, but all of his wealth came from his father.
When he ran for City commission in Weston the first time he lost. When he ran for State House against Wishner he lost. Then he wised up and did the smart thing, he bought himself a seat in the legislature. He put $65k into the race before any viable candidate could get in, and there you have it. So please, enlighten me… where in all of these years did you know him to be a hard worker?
January 6th, 2009 at 7:58 am
His father had NO money and Franklin worked since he was a kid. Yea he lost a few elections before he won his seat, but I find that to be a great thing. It shows how much he wants to serve his community. Most people that I know lend themselves money to fund their race… that is normal- not “buying a race.” If anything that shows that he is willing to not only give of his time and energy but his pockets as well. This is definitely someone I want in office. This will be my last response to you as I am wasting my time. But I would like to point out one last thing… someone who wastes his time bashing another man on blogs really may want to look into himself to find out why.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
While it is sad for some one to lose everything to Madoff, don’t forget that the actual losses are greatly inflated. Why? People who held “money” in his accounts over long periods of time only thought they were accumulating at 13 to 20% rates which were doubling their balances in 3 or 4 years, but actually this wasn’t happening. A true picture was probably 1/4 of what the people are actually claiming which is what they actually invested.
November 12th, 2010 at 1:57 am
[…] area State Rep. Franklin Sands, the Democratic minority leader for the last two years (and major victim of Bernie Madoff … totally different post…) is said to be trying to broker a deal with the Broward DEC […]