Consumerist: Bernie Madoff,

The Conman Who Loved Me: Madoff Mistress Tells All

Phil Villarreal — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:00:43 EDT

Sheryl Weinstein, Bernie Madoff's mistress, is making the rounds with her steamy, tell-all account of Bernie Madoff the love machine called "Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me" (the title beat out "Bernie Madoff Robbed and Sexed Me and All I Got was This Stupid Book Contract").

It's all about Madoff putting on the moves and making sweet, sweet love on the way to romancing the money out of Weinstein's bank account.

The New York Daily News quotes a couple intriguing passages from the book:

"... This man was not well-endowed," said Weinstein, who was once a top executive with the Jewish women's group Hadassah and lost her life savings with Madoff.

Despite the initial shock and disappointment, Weinstein said, billionaire Bernie turned her on in bed.

"When we made love, I was on fire," she said.

Finally, proof positive that size doesn't matter. That's a reference to investors being duped by the colossal size of Madoff's enterprise, nothing sexual. Get your minds out of the gutter.

Bernie Madoff wooed, then robbed me blind, ex-mistress Sheryl Weinstein claims in steamy book [New York Daily News]

Madoff's Former Finance Chief Could Expose Co-Conspirators

Phil Villarreal — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:15:02 EDT

As convenient as it is to crucify Bernie Madoff and even his wife for the investment fraud that screwed billions out of investors, it's foolish to believe he acted anywhere close to alone. That's why prosecutors are giddy that former finance chief Frank DiPascali is pleading guilty and believed to be cooperating with investigators to build cases against the other culprits.

Bloomberg has the story:

"I believe he's cooperating," said John J. Fahy, a former federal prosecutor not involved in the case. "He would be very valuable to the government because he has been close to Madoff for so many years and had to have seen some of the fraudulent transactions that went on. From what we know of Madoff, he trusted very few people."

DiPascali is aiming for a reduced prison term. Whatever he gets it most likely won't be worse than Madoff's 150 years.

Ex-Madoff Finance Chief Could Point U.S. to Other Accomplices [Bloomberg]
(Photo: Kevin Dean)

Madoff Gives First Prison Interview To Victims' Lawyers

Laura Northrup — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:00:22 EDT

Bernie Madoff has given his first prison interview...to attorneys representing his victims. Highlights: He's quite candid now (what has he got to lose?), he can't believe that he got away with running an epic Ponzi scheme for as long as he did, and apparently he's been working out.

[Attorney Joseph] Cotchett said Madoff was "very articulate, very direct" and did not appear to hold back anything. "He talked about how he pulled it off, how many years he got away with it," the lawyer said.

"I was surprised at how candid he was," Cotchett told ABCNews.com after the session, the first time Madoff has talked with outside lawyers. Madoff refused to cooperate with the FBI after his initial, largely untruthful confession last December.

Cotchett said Madoff "did not dodge" any of the questions he asked and that Madoff's lawyer did not object to any of the questions.

The victims' attorneys have not yet decided whether to go after other members of the Madoff family. Confidential to Ruth Madoff: There's always money in the banana stand.

First Madoff Interview: Can't Believe I Got Away with It [ABC News]

NY Lawmaker Wants Rich Convicts To Pay For Their Own Incarceration

Laura Northrup — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:32:57 EDT

New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedicsco sees an injustice. The upstate Republican saw wealthy scammer Bernie Madoff convicted and sent to federal prison for 150 years the rest of his life at taxpayer expense. How fair is that? Why can't rich criminals pay their own way?

So, yesterday, Tedisco introduced a bill. The—what else could you call it?—"Madoff" bill would charge New York inmates for their imprisonment on a sliding scale. It would include New Yorkers serving on federal charges.

If such a law had been in effect at the time, it could have targeted such wealthy inmates as Martha Stewart, the lifestyle guru who was sentenced to five months in prison in 2004 for lying to investigators about a stock trade, and Leona Helmsley, the high-end hotelier who was sentenced to prison in 1989 for tax evasion. Helmsley's prison sentence was reduced to four years, but she only served about a year and a half.

Tedisco said the need for his bill was demonstrated by "an incident in lower Manhattan's Tombs prison," a reference to an inmate's costly bar mitzvah that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the city is investigating.

A sliding scale would determine how much convicts would have to pay, based on their assets, under Tedisco's bill. Those who are worth $200,000 or more would pay the entire tab, while those whose net worth is $40,000 or less would pay nothing.

Homes wouldn't be included in the total, but still, ouch. That's a respectable middle-class net worth. Fortunately, New York's legislatures is so dysfunctional right now that it probably couldn't even vote itself a pay raise.

"Madoff" bill would charge rich NY inmates for jail [Reuters]

(Photo: frankieleon)

Tell Your Great-Grandchildren To Protect Their Money In 2139

Laura Northrup — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:48:49 EDT

When Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, they weren't kidding around. Here's a screencap of his profile in the U.S. federal prison system database. He's in the system as scheduled for release in 2139.

Inmate Locator [Federal Bureau of Prisons] (Thanks, Matt!)

PREVIOUSLY:
Madoff Asks Judge For 12-Year Sentence
Madoff Eligible To Scam Again In Only 150 Years

Madoff Map Shows Geographic Distribution Of Fraud Victims

Laura Northrup — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:44:33 EDT

Data is fun. Check out this map with data about the locations of Bernie Madoff's victims, color-coded according to the proximity of victims to each other, and in 3-D. Coooool. (Unless you're one of the victims represented by those shiny, colorful dots, that is.)

Madoff Map (Via ResourceShelf)

Frontline Investigates Bernie Madoff

Meg Marco — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:39:53 EDT

PBS's documentary show FRONTLINE took on Bernie Madoff this week, exposing the history of his operation and how the SEC let him slip through their fingers.

One of the most interesting interview subjects is Madoff's old "business partner" a member of the "feeder firm" that took a percentage for feeding Madoff clients. He claims he didn't know he was sending investors into a ponzi scheme — the firm just cashed the checks from Madoff until the SEC shut them down for operating without a license back in the '90s.

Interesting stuff.

The Madoff Affair [FRONTLINE]