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J. Ezra Merkin

Jacob Ezra Merkin (born April 19, 1953) is a money manager and financier. He was a close business associate of Bernard Madoff, and is alleged to have played a significant part in the Madoff fraud. He served as the Non-executive Chairman of GMAC until his resignation on January 9, 2009, at the insistence of the U.S. government. He was the general partner of Gabriel Capital LP, a $5 billion group of hedge funds which was dissolved in 2008 after heavy losses in the Madoff fraud.On April 6, 2009, Merkin was charged with civil fraud by the state of New York, for "secretly steering $2.4 billion in client money into Bernard Madoff's Ponzi fraud without their permission." On May 18, 2009, Merkin agreed to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's demands to step down as manager of his hedge funds and place them into receivership.