Benefits July 15, 2009

MA Philanthropist Restores Employees' 401(k) Balances Lost to Madoff

July 15, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Massachusetts philanthropist has decided to take $5 million from his own pocket to restore the depleted balances of 60 employees who lost their nest eggs in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal.
Reported by

The Boston Globe reported Ronald I. Lappin on Wednesday began restoring balances to 60 employees of his company, Shetland Properties, Inc., and of his private charity, The Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation.

According to the newspaper, the employees’ 401(k) plans, as well as the foundation’s money and some of Lappin’s personal wealth was managed – and lost – by Madoff.

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“I wanted to do the right thing,” Lappin told the Globe. “And, I feel, I’ve done the right thing and that to me is my reward.”

Lappin has owned Shetland Properties, Inc., for 51 years. He said his net worth is now less than $10 million, a tenth of what it was before the scandal.

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