The Fairfield group of funds
Background
The Fairfield funds (Sigma, Sentry and Lambda) were some of the largest feeder funds to the Madoff ponzi scheme. In December 2008 when Madoff was exposed as a fraudster, the funds closed for redemption and in July 2009 joint Liquidators were appointed.
The Joint Liquidators presented the 1st liquidators report in September 2009. Whilst the liquidators have been diligent and quick to work on securing recoveries, making distributions to holders has been a long and difficult process so far.
Recovery prospects
There are approximately 4.6m shares issued and outstanding in Fairfield Sentry, distributed amongst c. 750 registered shareholders and 3.1m shares of Fairfield Sigma held by c. 220 registered shareholders. For the purpose of the Liquidation a registered shareholder can also be a bank or custodian, that may underneath it hold many hundreds of holders. Lambda the CHF fund is less well reported on and we do not have figures for it.
To date (2023), the JL’s have spent close to $180m on legal and professional fees to recover funds for shareholders. Legal costs continue to mount as the JL’s pursue the alleged facilitators of the scheme.
There is as yet no time-frame or maximum limit on costs for the processes, so the ultimate recoveries are as yet unknown.
Buying Interest
Southey Capital buys on its own account and for clients. We have long-term buying interest in liquidations and bankruptcies and our patient capital is looking to purchase claims in to the Fairfield group of funds to hopefully benefit from an eventual recovery.
Due to our location in the UK and our large network of Custody relationships, we are able to purchase and transfer shares both on the Register of Fairfield and with a Inter-custodial transfer.
This often enables a holder to wind-down their custody account or fund entity.
The Fairfield funds are identified by the below identifiers
| Share Class | ISIN | WPK | SEDOL |
| Fairfield Sentry | VGG3299L1004 | 926069 | 0330934 |
| Fairfield Sigma | VGG3299V1085 | 2860688 | |
| Fairfield Lambda | VGG3299W1068 | A0QZ1B | B034655 |
If you or a client of yours holds any of the above and wishes to discuss a potential sale of the position, please feel free to get in touch via the form below or the email: fairfield@southeytcapital.com
Please also contact us to register your interest and be kept up to date on events.
Additional links
Fairfield Sentry website
Fairfield Sigma website
Fairfield Lambda website
