Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former money manager and financier”. Today it says “american investor”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Quotes”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2015 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2015
Jacob Ezra Merkin (born April 19, 1953), also known as " The Rabbi ", is an American money manager and financier . He was a close business associate of the convicted Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff , and is alleged to have played a significant part in the Madoff fraud. He served as the Non-executive Chairman of GMAC until his resignation on January 9, 2009, at the insistence of the U.S. government. He was the general partner of Gabriel Capital LP, a $5 billion group of hedge funds which was dissolved in 2008 after heavy losses in the Madoff fraud . On April 6, 2009, Merkin was charged with civil fraud by the state of New York , for "secretly steering $2.4 billion in client money into Bernard Madoff 's Ponzi fraud without their permission." On May 18, 2009, Merkin agreed to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 's demands to step down as manager of his hedge funds and place them into receivership. Financial Times. , "Ezra Merkin, a money manager and leading member of New York’s tightly knit Modern Orthodox Jewish community...", "Mr Merkin followed his father in becoming president of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue" Elstein, Aaron (March 17, 2013). Crain's New York Business. , "[Merkin] was the "Rabbi of Wall Street," according to federal court documents" Free Birthday Database Brewster, Deborah; Sender, Henny (January 7, 2009). Financial Times. , "But [Merkin] is best known in his world as “the Rabbi”" Fishman, Steve (February 22, 2009).1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 650115059.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Jacob Ezra Merkin (born 1954) is a former money manager and financier . He was a close business associate of Bernard Madoff , and is alleged to have played a significant part in the Madoff fraud. He served as the Non-executive Chairman of GMAC until his resignation on January 9, 2009, at the insistence of the U.S. government. He was the general partner of Gabriel Capital LP, a $5 billion group of hedge funds which was dissolved in 2008 after heavy losses in the Madoff fraud . On April 6, 2009, Merkin was charged with civil fraud by the State of New York , for "secretly steering $2.4 billion in client money into Bernard Madoff 's Ponzi fraud without their permission." On May 18, 2009, Merkin agreed to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 's demands to step down as manager of his hedge funds and place them into receivership.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370801338.
The opening as it stood in 2020 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jacob Ezra Merkin (born April 19, 1953) is an American investor, hedge fund manager and philanthropist.He had been a fund manager and capital raiser until 2008 when one of the funds in Gabriel Capital LP, his $5 billion group of hedge funds became insolvent because a large portion of its assets was invested with the convicted Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff .The fallout from his investment with Madoff has been extensive.He navigated a series of lawsuits without a finding of fraud or knowledge of the scheme, but agreed to repay any fees earned from the investment in Madoff historically.He had to resign a series of positions including his role as Non-executive Chairman of GMAC .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957627793.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American investor (born 1953) Jacob Ezra Merkin (born April 19, 1953) is an American investor, hedge fund manager and philanthropist. He had been a fund manager and capital raiser until 2008 when one of the funds in Gabriel Capital LP, his $5 billion group of hedge funds became insolvent because a large portion of its assets was invested with the convicted Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff . The fallout from his investment with Madoff has been extensive. He navigated a series of lawsuits without a finding of fraud or knowledge of the scheme, but agreed to repay any fees earned from the investment in Madoff historically. He had to resign a series of positions including his role as non-executive chairman of GMAC .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1268680002. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former money manager and financier”. Today it says “american investor”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Quotes”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
former money manager and financier
Now
american investor
Sections that no longer exist
Present on October 6, 2023, absent today, with no near-matching heading in the current article and the article shorter overall, so this is not a renamed heading or a topic absorbed into a fuller treatment. 1 section of 400 characters or more gone since October 6 2023, with the article 1,024 characters shorter.
Quotes
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
