Luxembourg withdraws Madoff-linked investment fund

LUXEMBOURG, March 3 - Luxembourg's financial market watchdog said Tuesday it has decided to withdraw from the country's official list an investment fund linked to accused Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff and is seeking the judiciary liquidation of the fund.

"These decisions were taken in order to protect the interests of investors," the CSSF said in a statement. "The decision of the CSSF on the withdrawal from the official list implies the suspension of all payments by this SICAV and the prohibition of any acts other than precautionary," the statement said. A SICAV is a type of open end investment fund common in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg Investment Fund was in a list of investments funds affected by the Madoff case which the CSSF drew up in January.

The fund's depositary bank is the Luxembourg branch of Swiss bank UBS.

Madoff, a once-respected Wall Street trader and investment adviser, was arrested and charged with securities fraud on Dec. 11 after authorities said he confessed to running a global Ponzi scheme with losses of $50 billion.

"The decision of withdrawal shall be final after a period of one month, unless it is appealed against," the statement said. "As soon as the decision of withdrawal is final, the CSSF shall apply to the district court ... for the judicial winding-up."

Last week CSSF gave UBS three months to make changes to another Luxembourg fund for which it acts as depositary bank, Luxalpha SICAV.

In January, investor activist group Deminor said it would file a complaint against UBS and other institutions for allegedly neglecting clients who had invested in Madoff-related products, saying the banks involved had worked as depository banks for the funds and did not verify the true nature of the investments. ID:nL873931