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Ezra Merkin, the money manager who plowed more than $2.4 billion of his clients' cash into Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, will now need to find a new occupation to keep him busy. He's agreed to turn over his three hedge funds to a liquidator at the "request" of Andrew Cuomo. As you may recall, the attorney general filed suit against the disgraced financier last month; Merkin is also contending with suits by about half a dozen of his investors, including Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, who lost $15 million, and NYU, which lost $24 million in Merkin's Ariel hedge fund. On a more positive note, Merkin remains the frontrunner to take over as president of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue when the board convenes tomorrow! And if he decides to leave finance and go into journalism, he has a fantastic connection to help him get a foot in the door. Plus the Post has a new photo of him wearing a super-cool hat, so he's got that going for him, too, which is nice. [NYT]