The American Spectator

AmSpecBlog

Madoff Associate Picower Dies

By Matthew Vadum on 10.26.09 @ 12:21AM

Jeffry Picower, 67, an associate of embezzler Bernard Madoff, was found dead in his swimming pool.

Picower is alleged to have profited handsomely from Madoff's record-breaking pyramid scheme but that same fraud put Picower's charity, the Picower Foundation, out of business.

The left-leaning Picower Foundation gave away almost $213 million since 1999, according to a philanthropy database.

The giant foundation had the misfortune to choose Madoff to manage its more than $1 billion in assets.

A sizeable chunk of its funding has gone to abortion groups, including NARAL ($3.2 million), Center for Reproductive Rights ($2.5 million), Planned Parenthood ($2.4 million), and Center for Reproductive Law and Policy ($625,000).

Picower Foundation gave $2.9 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a public interest law firm that uses politically skewed definitions of racism to indoctrinate children while smearing conservatives who question racial preference programs. The foundation also gave $200,000 to Project Vote (a.k.a. Voting for America), an affiliate of the radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).