Sonja Kohn
Sonja Kohn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sonja Türk August 5, 1948 Vienna, Austria |
| Occupation | Banker |
| Known for | Founder of Bank Medici; involvement in Madoff investment scandal |
Sonja Kohn (born Türk on 5 August 1948) is a banker from Austria.
Biography
Born in Vienna to Jewish refugees who escaped the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, Kohn spent her early years in the Austrian capital. During the 1970s, she and her spouse, Erwin Kohn, launched an import-export enterprise and relocated to Milan, Italy.
In the 1980s, she took on the role of stockbroker at Merrill Lynch in New York City. Kohn established Bank Medici in Vienna in 1994, and a year later moved to New York State where she and her husband created the brokerage firm Eurovaleur Inc. After raising five children, she earned recognition as "Austria’s woman on Wall Street" by entering the investment sector.
The couple returned to Vienna during the 1990s. Bank Medici was reconstituted in 2003 as an Aktiengesellschaft with Kohn owning 75% and serving as chairperson of its supervisory board. Additionally, she provided consultancy services to the Vienna Stock Exchange until 2006 and held a position on the supervisory board of the Italian financial institution Finlombardia.
In 2015, Kohn launched BestFit, marking her second digital initiative following FundsWorld, a mutual fund distribution platform developed in collaboration with Intesa SanPaolo.
Madoff connection
Kohn first encountered Bernard Madoff during her tenure at Merrill Lynch in the 1980s. Bank Medici allocated investor capital to Madoff, functioning as an investment manager for funds such as Thema Fund. In 2007 alone, Thema International Fund paid Bank Medici €4.6 million in fees.
In 1992, Kohn facilitated an introduction between Madoff and Mario Benbassat, founder of Genevalor Benbassat & Cie. This firm created European feeder funds that invested close to $2 billion with Madoff’s operations, including $1.1 billion through the Irish-based Thema International Fund. Thema compensated Genevalor Benbassat & Cie with fees amounting to 1.25%, approximately $13.75 million annually. The Wall Street Journal identified Genevalor as a principal distributor implicated in the Madoff investment scandal.
Following the disclosure of Madoff’s fraudulent activities, Kohn kept a low profile and denied any wrongdoing, asserting she was misled along with other investors. Bank Medici ceased its activities and relinquished its banking license in March 2009. In December 2010, trustee Irving H. Picard initiated legal action against Kohn seeking $19.6 billion, accusing her of channeling investor funds to Madoff in return for $62 million in kickbacks; this suit was among many filed prior to the expiration of the US statute of limitations.
In November 2013, all allegations against Kohn brought by liquidators of Madoff Securities International Ltd. were dismissed by the Queen's Bench Division. Judge Andrew Popplewell criticized the vigorous prosecution of the case and upheld Kohn’s reputation for integrity.
By September 2017, Thema International Fund consented to a settlement payment of $687 million to resolve claims related to losses from the Madoff fraud.