Bernie Madoff, Gentleman of Leisure

$11M Palm Beach pad will be sold to pay pack Ponzi scheme victims

(NEWSER) - Federal authorities seized Bernard Madoff's Florida mansion yesterday shortly after confiscating his two yachts, the New York Daily News reports. US marshals and Palm Beach police took over the five-bedroom $11 million mansion—which is in Ruth Madoff's name—as part of an effort to seize as many Madoff assets as possible to repay defrauded investors. The Madoffs also own a $7 million Manhattan penthouse, a $3 million Long Island home and a $1 million chateau in France. 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»

Note suggests 'swindler' return his plunder, too

(NEWSER) - The thieves who nabbed a $10,000 copper statue from fraudster Bernard Madoff's swank Florida home have returned it, along with this note: "Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return stolen property to rightful owners." The advice was penned by "The Educators," whose inspiration may be a German namesake film in which anti-capitalists break into swank homes and leave notes for the rich, the Palm Beach Post reports. 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»