Now a man named Merkin and his Ascot Partners enters the scene. He charged 1 1/2% to steal from the clients. "Steal" because all he was doing is turning over their money to Madoff and charging the clients 1 1/2%.
This also fits the "order flow" scam reasoning of the Barron's article I posted late yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/business/16merkin.html?_r=1