The New York Post says that inmates say Bernie Madoff has been talking about how he stashed away $9 billion through three other people...

Ponzi king Bernard Madoff is telling fellow jailbirds that he secretly funneled $9 billion in swiped funds to three people before he was nabbed, an inmate told The Post.

Madoff says that his partner in crime Frank DiPascali knows who the recipients are -- and that he suspects DiPascali is using that information to cut a better deal with the feds, according to the inmate at the medium-security prison in Butner, NC.

"I think it was personal friends," the inmate said of the recipients of the mega-bucks.

DiPascali, 52, pleaded guilty last year to 10 felonies in connection with helping Madoff swindle investors out of more than $60 billion at his Manhattan financial firm.

Madoff, 72, is serving a life sentence, but DiPascali has reportedly been trying to avoid that fate by cooperating with prosecutors -- who argued strenuously for his release from jail pending sentencing despite a judge's initial reluctance to grant bail.

DiPascali remains locked up awaiting sentencing, unable to post a $10 million bond.

DiPascali's lawyer, Marc Mukasey, did not return a call seeking comment.

The Manhattan US Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting DiPascali, and Madoff's lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, had no comment on the inmate's claim about DiPascali.

The inmate, who has witnessed the arch swindler's daily routine, also detailed how Madoff began attending sessions with a female prison psychiatrist last year after becoming depressed about a tell-all published in August by his former mistress, Sheryl Weinstein.

"He was having problems with his wife [Ruth]" over the book's revelations, the inmate said.

"He felt she might leave him."

The rest of the article basically just describes Madoff's prison conditions with some interesting anecdotes...

I find that last line in the quote above to be a bit ironic. He was worried his wife would leave him, while he is serving a 150 year sentence. There is nothing really for her to leave (not that that means he doesn't love her and wouldn't fear such a thing, just the irony made me chuckle)...

Bernie seems to have settled in nicely to his new home in Camp Fluffy at Butner, NC.

According to the NY Post, Madoff seems to be very well admired on the cell block. Madoff teaches prisoners the ins and outs of business, and hustles them for what he needs.

Colleagues, lawyers and inmates tell the magazine that Inmate No. 61727-054 generally seems content. His cellblock is known as "Camp Fluffy," and prisoners have use of a gym, library, pool tables and a sweat lodge. There are no bars on the windows.

Madoff likes to read novels by John Grisham and Dean Koontz, and once suggested he be put in charge of the budget for the prison landscaping crew, reminding one supervisor that he had run Nasdaq.

The response: "Hell, no."

Inmates ask him for autographs, which he refuses to sign because he thinks they'll wind up on eBay, and he doesn't think it's fair that others should make money off him.

Madoff thinks nothing of telling his fellow inmates that he regularly dropped as much as $200,000 on a wristwatch. In turn, drug dealers and other criminals who see themselves as entrepreneurs regularly solicit business advice from Madoff, who is happy to give it.

Now, says the magazine, Madoff lives on $290 a month. His favorite purchases are mac and cheese (60 cents), cans of Diet Coke (45 cents) and a Timex watch ($41.65).

One inmate does laundry for the others for $10 a month, but Madoff hustled him down to $8.

Unfortunately, it seems prison has not made him rethink his ways and regret his actions. he seems fairly proud of what he accomplished for so long:

Madoff, 71, has become a folk hero to most of his fellow inmates -- but when one inmate lashed out at the disgraced Ponzi schemer for his $65 billion theft, Madoff barked: "F- - - my victims. I carried them for 20 years, and now I'm doing 150 years," New York magazine reports in its issue on sale tomorrow.

When another convict told Madoff that stealing from old ladies was "kind of f- - -ed up," Madoff coolly replied, "Well, that's what I did."

Another former convict told the magazine that Madoff once said he could spin a globe, put his finger anywhere on it, "and chances are he had a house there or he'd been there."

Yet another prisoner recalled watching a "60 Minutes" segment about Madoff with Madoff, and remarking, admiringly, that he'd bilked his clients for millions.

Madoff corrected him: "No, billions."

His massive scheme has some inmates virtually worshipping him as a criminal legend who ultimately wound up a success, according to their twisted worldview.

"If I'd lived that well for 70 years, I wouldn't care that I ended up in prison," one said.

A frum guy in New Haven scammed customers on eBay out of hundreds of thousands of dollars selling equipment he never had any intention of actually delivering.

In a sentencing memo, she argued that his unusual background made him unequipped for the business world. Levitansky was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in the Beaver Hills neighborhood. His parents put him through years of religious day camps, summer camps, then a Talmudical seminary in California, all in hopes that he would become a rabbi. Following his parents’ wishes after high school, he volunteered alongside a rabbi doing community outreach in Florida, then attended another Talmudic seminary in New York run by the Chabad movement.

The young man didn’t take to the line of work, however.

“Mr. Levitansky did not want to become a rabbi,” wrote Merriam. At age 18, he withdrew from the seminary. In 2007, he started his own business, Bluetooth Kings LLC.

He didn’t start out intending to scam anyone, Merriam argued: Levitansky just got in over his head. By May 2008, the orders were rolling in with such volume that the young man couldn’t handle it.

“Things quickly got out of hand, and Mr. Levitansky became completely overwhelmed,” Merriam wrote. “As a young man who had been raised with the idea that he would one day become a rabbi, Yochi Levitansky was ill-prepared for the challenges of running a business on his own.”

In his sentencing, the judge, based on the prosecutions arguments, said that the crime was not just against his customers, and he did not do damage just to ebay, but he damaged the whole internet as actions like his undermine the faith people have in making transactions over the internet.

The case was about much more than money, he argued — it’s about the foundation of the Internet marketplace.

As more people turn to the Internet to buy goods, they need to be able to have faith that anonymous sellers won’t rip them off, Chang argued. Though the customers Levitansky swindled have mostly been repaid by eBay, he said, “they will have the memory of being defrauded.”

They even compared him to Bernie Madoff:

Dorsey said while a longer prison sentence wasn’t necessary, Levitansky does need some prison time to teach him respect for the law and to deter him from repeating the crime.

“That’s a lot of money,” the judge said of the swindled $237,257. He called the defendant “well short of Bernie Madoff, but somewhat tracking in that same direction.”

A comparison to Madoff seems to be a bit of an exaggeration, in my opinion... This was purely criminal as he took people's money and never delivered the product he was selling them. What does this have to do with fraud and Ponzi schemes to the tunes of $50 billion, or whatever the final numbers were?

At least he is trying to make good on the money he stole:

In defense of her client, Merriam said the case was “solely about money.” She said the case was really a civil matter, and that the debt owed to eBay was a drop in the bucket compared to the company’s profits. She argued that the behavior was extremely out-of-the-ordinary for the young man, who has no prior criminal record and comes from a supportive, educated family.

Merriam said her client intends to fully pay the company back — he already got a job as a maintenance worker, fixing sinks to dig out of debt. Levitansky can pay it back quicker if he can stay employed instead of going to prison, she argued. She urged the judge for probation instead of prison, arguing that the quarter-million dollar restitution would be sufficient punishment.

It turns out Bernie Madoff has terminal cancer. Meaning he had little to fear of going to jail for 150 years.

this strengthens the suspicion that he saved his kids and accomplices by taking all the blame. he knew he was going to die soon enough anyway, so why not take all the blame and let them continue living their lives without going to jail.... (I am not saying they really are guilty, but it is hard to believe he did that all on his own and nobody else was involved or knew about it)

Here is an inspiring story about a man who gave of his own money to cover hsi employees losses from investing their retirement funds with Bernie Madoff. Robert Lappin gave $5 million of his own money to recover their losses.

This week, Lappin honored a promise. He and his family donated $5 million to restore the retirement savings of about 60 employees of various family enterprises, including the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation. The charity was almost wiped out when the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff collapsed. Lappin and his family had invested all of their employees’ 401(k) retirement plans with Madoff more than a decade ago.

“I am absolutely thrilled,’’ said Amy Powell, a former publicist for the foundation and one of the employees whose savings were restored. “I really knew in my heart, all my heart, that Mr. Lappin would do all he could do for his em ployees.’’

Lappin had invested so heavily with Madoff that it cost him much of his personal fortune. The foundation lost $8 million when Madoff’s assets were frozen last December, and for a time was forced to shut its doors. Lappin said that now, after Madoff and the payment to employees, his personal net worth is less than $5 million, about a tenth of what it was before the scandal broke.

Yet giving his own money to the employees was simply the right thing to do, he said. “At least from the feedback, they feel very grateful and happy, which makes me feel very happy,’’ said Lappin. “So far no kisses, but I have had some hugs.’’

[...]

Although “I didn’t invest all of our money with Madoff,’’ said Lappin. “I did invest all of the 401(k) plan’s money and all of my charitable foundation’s money with Madoff.’’

Until the scandal broke, Lappin did not suspect anything was wrong with Madoff, who Lappin “used to see every now and then’’ and who was well-regarded in the community they shared. “The last thing I would’ve expected, particularly after eight SEC inspections of Madoff’s operation, is that he would be a fraud,’’ Lappin said. “I just trusted him as an outstanding person - we thought - as a Jewish person, as a businessman, and as a philanthropist.’’

Peter Lappin said the decision to replace the employees’ losses was immediate, and that he, his brother, and his sister all supported their father’s wishes. “You know what? The opportunity to build the wealth back will refund us,’’ he said. “We’ll recover to some extent over time.’’

Lappin said he couldn’t turn his back on his employees. Some had been with him for almost 51 years, as long as he’s owned Shetland Properties.

Is there a better example of the phrases "הוי שם שמים מתקדש על ידו" and "הוי שם שמים מתאהב על ידך"....

Bernie Madoff requested to be incarcerated in Otisville Correctional Institute, which is known as the "Jewish jail" because of the high number of Jews incarcerated there.

Madoff's request was denied, because of the length of his sentence, that facility is not deemed high enough security for him.

I am simply embarrassed by the fact that there is a jail known as the "Jewish jail". Aren't you?

Everything is relative.

Bernie Madoff has hired a "prison consultant" to help him figure out in which prison he would be best off serving the next 150 years of his life.

Baruch Hashem, I did not even know there was even such a profession as "prison consultant" until now. I also did not know that prisoners get to choose which prison they want to spend their time in.

One would think it does not make much of a difference. the courts will put him in a prison of a certain type and security level, and all prisons of that type must be pretty similar (within a range, of course).

I guess if you are going to spend the next 150 years of your life in the same place, even those minor differences make a difference, and best to get the best possible location in advance.

Whose money from the Ponzi scheme did you use to hire your prison consultant? More power to you, Bernie. I hope you choose wisely and enjoy as much as possible your next 150 years...

The recent article by Rabbi Avi Shafran is all the rage. all the blogs are talking about it. Usually that means I stay away from such a popular topic, but I have a point to make I did not see anywhere else (except for in a comment I wrote in one of those blogs), so i will tread where many have tread before.

Rabbi Shafran recently wrote an article in which he described how Bernard Madoff, the Jewish crook who ran the Ponzi scheme scamming others, including family members and members of his own community among many others including charities and foundations, out of something in the range of $50,000,000,000, is worthy of admiration, because he turned himself in.

Shafran also described how a guy like Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who remained calm and collected while heroically landed the plane in the Hudson keeping all his passengers alive, is not worthy of admiration.

What is more, Madoff likely began his crime spree in the hope of rewarding, not swindling, investors, and by the time it became clear he wouldn’t be able to do that, he was already deeply entangled – and daily becoming more entangled – in the web he wove.

None of that, though, is to belittle the great pain Mr. Madoff caused, and is certainly no cause for affording the iniquitous investment broker respect. No, what I admire about him has to do with his owning up to his crime.

Think about it. The man knew for years that his scheme would eventually come apart and that prosecution loomed, yet he took no steps to flee, huge bribe in hand, to some country lacking extradition treaties. Idi Amin, we might recall, died of old age in luxury. Madoff’s millions, moreover, could have easily bought him a new face and identity papers; he could spent his senior years tanned and well-fed among the sunbirds of Miami Beach.

Instead, though, he chose to essentially turn himself in and admit guilt. He apologized to his victims, acknowledging that he had “deeply hurt many, many people,” and adding, “I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done.”

No one can know if those words reflect the feelings in his heart, but I don’t claim any right to doubt that they do. And facing one’s sins and regretting them is the essence of the Jewish concept of teshuvah, repentance – something we are all enjoined to do for our personal transgressions, however small or large.
No such sublimity of spirit, though, was in evidence in any of the public acts or words of Mr. Sullenberger. He saved 155 lives, no doubt about it, and is certainly owed the gratitude of those he saved, and of their families and friends. And he executed tremendous skill.

But no moral choice was involved in his act. He was on the plane too, after all; his own life depended on undertaking his feat no less than the lives of others. He did what anyone in terrible circumstances would do: try to stay alive. He was fortunate (as were his passengers) that he possessed the talents requisite to the task, but that’s a tribute to his training, and to the One Who instilled such astounding abilities in His creations (and Whose help the captain was not quoted as acknowledging). Basketball players are highly skilled, too – and heroes, in fact, to some. But I have never managed to understand that latter fact.
Sully has reportedly inked a $3 million book deal with HarperCollins, and is also planning a second book of inspirational poems; Bernie, likely for the rest of his life, will languish in jail.

That may make societal sense, but personally, I’m still unmoved by the pilot, and, at least somewhat, inspired by the penitent.

First of all, I dislike that he works to justify Madoff's crime. he suggests Madoff probably started out trying not to cheat people and make money for himself, but to help his investors. Right, I am sure Madoff started out as a real Robin Hood. Stealing from one investor and helping the other. Right. he was just trying to do the right thing all along.

Second, his lack of admiration for Captain Sully is because a) it was his job and that is all he did and b) he is going to make $3,000,000 in a book deal. Shafran saw no sublimity of spirit in Sully.

Did he forget that Sully was invited on a few talk shows being treated like a hero and practically refused to talk about himself because of what looked like humility in a simple person not looking for accolades? That is not sublimity of spirit?

And that is what he was trained to do so he does not deserve admiration for it? Does that mean Shafran does not admire the firemen of NY who were considered heroes the extra efforts they put forth to save people (many of those people being other firemen) during the attacks of 9/11? Does Shafran not admire Yeshiva students who spend the whole day learning Torah - because that is what they are trained to do and that is their job? Does Shafran not admire soldiers who valiantly fight against great odds and survive a battle, pulling out victory from the jaws of defeat and saving thousands or millions of people - just because the soldiers were trained to fight in battle? All they were doing was their job? What about great Roshei Yeshiva who conquer their desires and control their physical needs, and devote themselves to Torah - that is what they have been trained to do, so what is the big deal??

While I agree to a certain extent that Madoff deserves some sort of admiration for turning himself in - he realized he was doing something very wrong and he regretted it - albeit 15 years too late, but he regretted it nonetheless - and turned himself in knowing he was going to be in serious trouble. That fact does say something worthwhile about the person. But I still would not say I admire Madoff, let alone brush off Sully's heroic act as nothing.

I have a hard time believing that Sesame Street would really run a skit with Ernie shooting Cookie Monster, so I doubt this clip is authentic Sesame Street, but it's funny anyway...

The Donald weighs in on the Madoff scandal... He gave an interview on the topic to CNN. He calls Madoff a sleazebag and says that he was a Svengali for the rich people.

Trump blames the victims greed for how they could invest so much with 1 person. Just because they believed they would get higher returns, and [some of them] were wealthy already with plenty of cash, but were greedy and mortgaged their homes so they could get even more. Now many have lost even 100% of what they had, and now have to sell their homes and belongings just to live.

Read the interview. It is very interesting.

There is nothing good that can be said about what Madoff did. Every day we hear about more and more organizations, many of them charities, that have lost tens of millions of dollars with Madoff. Trump is right. He is a sleazebag. But if he could get away with it for so long, how can anybody now trust the SEC and anybody else with protecting investors money from such fraud?

This is not just a scam he was able to get away with for 6 months... he pulled this off for 15 years! Under the noses of the SEC!