It’s Libel says Madoff Victim - Konigsberg Wolf Taking Blogger to Court

PRLog (Press Release) - Apr 24, 2009 -
The accounting firm of Konigsberg Wolf today announced that it will aggressively pursue a libel lawsuit against blogger Lucinda Franks and the Daily Beast following their publication of a digital column by Ms. Franks that falsely alleges the company was a knowing accomplice of jailed Ponzi con man Bernard Madoff.

The accounting firm intends to file a lawsuit that challenges Ms. Franks to prove her defamatory allegations, all of which are attributed to an anonymous source, and to seek damages for harming the reputation of the accounting firm. It intends to show that many aspects of this story are false, including her libelous allegations that Konigsberg has been "implicated" in wrongdoing, profited from Madoff's London operation, participated in the transfer of billions of dollars and outrageous innuendo that the firm participated in money laundering. Ms. Franks false accusations directly contradict the reporting of responsible media outlets, including the New York Times, that Mr. Paul Konigsberg "has come up in the investigation but is not the focus of the inquiry." It also comes despite emphatic denials from the firm's counsel that Mr. Paul Konigsberg had any role in Madoff's London operation.

Mr. Paul Konigsberg reminded that, "For seventy five years the foundation for the firm's success has been the unwavering commitment to ethical practice, dedicated service, professional insight, and hard work on behalf of our clients. Individually, and as a firm, Konigsberg Wolf remains committed to those principles."

Online Character Assassination
"Combine an Internet medium where there is no need to be accountable to the facts, add one part venom, two parts sensationalism and three parts disregard for the truth, attribute it all to anonymous `sources' and you have the type of character assassination displayed in her latest blog," stated Mr. Charles Stillman, counsel to the firm. "It is clear that in a digital world desperately competing for attention Ms. Franks seeks to find notoriety by defaming those left damaged by the Madoff scandal. It is outrageous, it is libelous and it is profoundly wrong."

"One cannot simply stand mute in the face of such outrageous allegations. While the world recognizes that virtually anything goes in the virtual world of the Internet we will insist on protecting our reputation by taking this blogger into a real court house where she will have to produce the facts she so conveniently manipulates and distorts in her digital column," explained Stillman.

Konigsberg Wolf (http://www.konigsbergcpa.com/)  has been equally aggressive in setting the record straight among traditional media outlets following the arrest of Bernard Madoff. Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal issued corrections following publication of their stories regarding the relationship between the accounting firm and the disgraced "investor." It will continue to hold those who libel it and its members accountable for their false and defamatory statements.

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