BERNIE MADOFF, PONZI KING: DEAD
CNBC special correspondent Scott Cohn and American Greed executive producer Chuck Schaeffer go “behind bars” to uncover the Madoff of today, from the lawyers and investigators to the victims.
By Ruthie DiTucci
Scott Cohn, a CNBC reporter and American Greed executive producer Chuck Schaeffer went “behind bars” to look at Madoff’s current life in prison. These three videos about Bernie Madoff offer the best explanation of how a highly antisocial psychopath crafted his entire adult life using theft and deception. Madoff died at the age of 82 of kidney disease in the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.
In 2009, Madoff pleaded guilt to eleven federal Ponzi scheme crimes. His had swindled thousands of clients based in countries all over the world. He stood motionless before the judge as he heard his 150 year prison term announced in open court. He was also ordered to make a $170 million dollar restitution..
Madoff’s crimes spanned over four decades and impacted public figures from L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, Andrew Rosen, the founder of Theory, model Carmen Dell’Orefice, Nine West founder Jerome Fisher and former editor-in-chief of Self, Alexandra Penney. Madoff also defrauded the likes of director Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and baseball legend Sandy Koufax, among others.
One of his most effective traits con men are known for is “the turn around”- that is when one asks a perfectly normal question and is made to feel guilty. Anyone who dared ask Madoff how their investment (the money they had given him) was doing was immediately verbally targeted and made to feel stupid for having asked the question at all.
Madoff fawned all over high wealth prospective clients. However, once he attained their money, he would make it a point not to answer their emails, postal correspondence or phone calls.
In September of 2009, 60 Minutes did an interesting interview about Harry Markopolos, the Boston-based financial analyst and fraud investigator. Markopolos had submitted five separate filings to the SEC alleging Madoff’s massive fraud from 2000 to 2008. The SEC, at the time whose officers were most of Madoff’s friends would not listen to Markopolos and even took steps to affect his reputation by referring to him as “a kook”. He wrote a book called NO ONE WOULD LISTEN. Click the book image below to buy your copy.
