[1][2][3][4][5] The firm set up five European feeder funds that invested almost $2 billion into Bernie Madoff's criminal Ponzi scheme.
[11] In December 2010, U.S. court-appointed trustee Irving Picard sued HSBC for $9 billion, accusing it of aiding the Madoff fraud “through the creation, marketing and support of an international network of a dozen feeder funds.
"[12][13] The feeder funds named included Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie, which said: “it strongly denies any allegation that it had prior knowledge of the fraud committed by Madoff.
This unfounded action causes a significant harm to the investors and to itself.”[12] In February 2014, Genevalor, Benbassat & Cie on behalf of three funds, who invested with a company owned by Madoff, sued five Lloyd's syndicates under an insurance policy.
[14] In September 2017, Thema agreed to pay $687 million to victims of the Madoff fraud to resolve a lawsuit by Picard.