Trust Fund Teens TP Madoff Mansion

(NEWSER) - While seizing Bernie Madoff's Palm Beach possessions yesterday, US Marshals got an eyeful of the fraudster's home furnishings, reports the Palm Beach Post. And they weren't impressed. "I've never seen so much bull in my life," said one deputy. "Pictures of bulls, bull statues, even bulls on clothing. There's a lot of bull in the house." And at the marina, one of the two seized vessels was a 55-foot yacht. Its name? Bull. More»

(NEWSER) - Bernard Madoff’s alleged mega-fraud and the large number of Jewish investors he apparently snookered is stoking anti-Semitic feeling in tony Palm Beach, ABC News reports. “It is a terrible thing to say, but some of the WASPs are delighted, they take great pleasure in this,” said an author who has written critically about the socially stratified Florida enclave. More»

Swindler exploited ritzy Palm Beach culture to bilk investors

(NEWSER) - You have to give it to Bernie Madoff: The Ponzi pirate wasn’t your average fraudster, Daniel Gross observes in Slate. Look no further than Palm Beach, which was "ground zero" of his scheme. Madoff got where he did by “fiendishly exploiting the unique, clubby culture" of the place—"and of the global jet set that congregates there,” writes Gross. The scheme was “as much an anthropological story as a financial one.” More»

Thieves rip-off investment fraudster

(NEWSER) - In a bit of poetic justice, a thief stole an expensive statue from the Palm Beach estate of Bernard Madoff last week, the New York Post reports. Burglars took a $10,000 copper statue depicting two lifeguards from the fraudster accused of losing $50 billion of investors’ money in a giant Ponzi scheme. The Post also notes Madoff's Montauk Point estate has been hit by severe beach erosion not affecting neighbors. More»

Jaffe nearly fights with furious bilked investor at black-tie bash

(NEWSER) - Bob Jaffe, who recruited many of the marks for Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion fraud operation, got an earful after showing up last weekend at a Palm Beach party brimming with Madoff’s victims, a source tells the New York Post. When one saw Jaffe, “it nearly came to blows and I think people wanted to see a good fight, but they were separated.” More»