Stanley Chais: L.A. agent for Bernie Madoff?

By Dan Whitcomb and Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Like Bernie Madoff in New York, Stanley Chais was known among certain wealthy Los Angeles investors as a man who could defy the stock market, if only you were lucky enough to invest your funds with him.

A money manager for 40 years, Chais built a clientele that included many among the wealthy Jewish communities in the suburban San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, where he was known as a stock market wizard whose clientele was exclusive.

With Madoff awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a $65 billion (39.7 billion pounds) pyramid scheme, Chais, 83, was charged in an SEC lawsuit on Monday with ignoring red flags as he funnelled money to his New York counterpart.

"What a lot of people were saying about Madoff in New York were things that people were saying in L.A. about Stanley," Daphne Brogdon, who said she lost her entire $80,000 IRA after investing it with Chais, told Reuters in an interview.

Brogdon, the host of TV Guide Channel's weekly series "The Fashion Team" and a contributor to CNN Headline's "Showbiz Tonight," decided to invest with Chais after being told that he was consistently beating the market.

She said she saw the statements her husband, restaurateur Mark Peel, was getting from his investments with Chais, which reflected returns of 8 percent to 10 percent when most investors were only breaking even or losing money.

"(Chais) was by no means a charming guy, from what I understand, but he was supposed to be a good business person," said Brogdon, 40, the name plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Chais. "It was supposed to be very exclusive. They wouldn't even take my money until I married my husband."

Brogdon's lawsuit warns that Chais has deep ties to Israel, and may have hidden assets there.