Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak

Ponzi schemer a Luddite who crawled on all fours to align rugs

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 24, 2009 2:01 PM CDT

(Newser) – "Neat freak" may be one of the more polite epithets used to describe Bernie Madoff, who comes off as an obsessive-compulsive nut in a Fortune profile by James Bandler and Nicholas Varchaver. In immaculately tailored suits, he dusted furniture and got down on hands and knees to straighten rugs. Madoff, now jailed, would startle female employees by dropping trou to ensure his shirt buttons were vertical.

Other tidbits:

Madoff was a “locker guard” in high school.
In Madoff’s office, all pushpins had to be black or gray, all window blinds drawn at the same height, and all computer monitors angled evenly.
The $65 billion Ponzi schemer shunned email and could barely turn on a computer.
A 1960s swindler fleeced Madoff out of $85,000.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court, March 10, 2009. (AP Photo)

Bernard L. Madoff, the accused mastermind of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, leaves federal court in New York. (AP Photo)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

We knew it was statistically impossible. As a collective, we always kind of wondered: 'How the hell does he do it?' But that's where it stopped. You'd say, 'There couldn't be anything bad. The Madoffs had such a name, an aura.' - Madoff employee

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

SEC Overlooked Stanford Fraud in 2003

Former employee warned agency, others of 'Ponzi scheme'

(NEWSER) - A former employee of Sir Allen Stanford warned the SEC in 2003 of an “illegal Ponzi scheme” involving his firms, but regulators brushed off the allegations, the Financial Times reports. The whistleblower also told another regulatory body that one of Stanford’s companies was “engaged in a Ponzi scheme to defraud its clients,” but regulators didn’t come down on the alleged $8 billion fraud until last week. More»

Prisoner Madoff: 'F*** My Victims'

Ponzi schemer serving 150-year sentence becomes celeb in prison

(NEWSER) - Bernie Madoff isn't wasting time fretting over the lives he ruined and the fortunes he destroyed. Shortly after he arrived at a federal prison in North Carolina last summer, another inmate was pestering him about the people he had duped, and the Ponzi schemer lost his patience. "Fuck my victims,” he said, according to a New York magazine account based on interviews with two dozen other prisoners. "I carried them for twenty years, and now I’m doing 150 years." More»

Madoff Colleague Found Dead in Swimming Pool

Jeffry Picower faced Ponzi scheme lawsuit

(NEWSER) - Philanthropist Jeffry Picower, who allegedly reaped billions of dollars from longtime friend Bernard Madoff's Ponzi schemes, was found dead today at the bottom of his Florida swimming pool. Efforts to revive him failed, and his death was ruled a drowning, police said. Picower, 67, wife Barbara, and their foundation were among the defendants in a lawsuit brought by the trustee liquidating Madoff's assets, the Palm Beach Post reports. More»

2 Madoff Victims Sue SEC

Regulators are responsible for victims' losses, suit claims

(NEWSER) - Two investors who lost a combined $2.4 million to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme have sued the SEC for negligence. The lawsuit argues that the commission should reimburse the plaintiffs for their losses because it failed in its duty to protect investors. Regulators had "countless opportunities" to catch Madoff "and botched all of them," it says. More»

Madoff Trustee Sues Relatives for Not 'Doing Their Jobs'

$199M suit spreads blame to firm's execs

(NEWSER) - The trustee in the Bernie Madoff case, delivering on his threat to sue the imprisoned fraudster's relatives and co-workers, filed a $199 million lawsuit today in bankruptcy court. Rather than alleging that they knew about Bernie's Ponzi scheme, Irving Picard's complaint takes issue with the way brother Peter, sons Mark and Andrew, and niece Shana did their jobs. It charges that they were "completely derelict" in their responsibilities to investors, the New York Times reports. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Dirty-Dealing Madoff Was a Clean Freak