All Wall Street a Ponzi Scheme

Thinks he doesn't deserve to die in prison

(NEWSER) - There are probably at least a few former investors who wish this was literal: Bernie Madoff says the judge in his Ponzi scheme trial made him the "human piñata of Wall Street" when he dished out a 150-year sentence. Madoff tells the New York Times Judge Denny Chin's ruling was excessive. "Maybe the judge felt, ‘Well, he’s 70 years old, so even if I give him 20 years, he’s going to be 90 years old,’" says Madoff. “But quite frankly, there’s a big difference with dying in prison, you know, and dying outside with your family." More»

(NEWSER) - Baseball legend Sandy Koufax has joined the list of Bernie Madoff's victims, the New York Post reports. And the Dodger great isn't even the only pitcher: former Met Tim Teuful is an unwelcome teammate. A complete list of victims in the $50 billion Ponzi scheme was made public today after bankruptcy proceedings for Madoff Securities. To see the 162-page document in PDF form, click on the link below or the one at left. More»

Both possibilities hard to believe, friends say of inseparable couple

(NEWSER) - Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth, have been married for nearly 50 years and are practically inseparable. They worked together, and the outgoing blonde with the all-American look attracted friends to his hedge fund, the New York Times reports. So did she know or didn't she? "It’s hard to imagine that she could live with the guy for 50 years and have no inkling," one investor and old friend said. 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»

End of communism let Wall Street become unhinged: Friedman

(NEWSER) - Wall Street used to be the epicenter of capitalism that the whole world wanted to emulate, but, on a trip to Hong Kong, Thomas Friedman discovers that the American financial establishment has lost its credibility. "We don’t just need a financial bailout," he writes in the New York Times, "we need an ethical bailout." More»