As hundreds of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables have shown, Libya’s Gadhafi regime is linked in curious ways to some surprising figures — from A-list American celebrities to shady former-Soviet arms manufacturers — but there is one association Gadhafi is likely happy he never made: investment partners with convicted con man Bernie Madoff and alleged fellow Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford.
The head of Libya’s Investment Authority, Mohamed Layas, told U.S. officials in a meeting in January 2010 that the LIA had been approached separately by both Madoff and Stanford about potential investments in the past, but had declined both men, according to a document posted on the website Wikileaks.