And Bernie Madoff gets off yet again! Four words: untreated case of syphilis. Didn’t think Bernie Madoff’s spotted sexual history was going to play a part in his defense of the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time? Think again! As you all know, some personally, when syphilis enters the symptomatic tertiary stage, “it becomes a very serious medical condition” that can cause a person to go crazy and do crazy, illegal shit, against his own will. From the Daily News:
Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear.
“Bernie’s family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break,” says a Madoff acquaintance. “They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder.”
Madoff’s grip on reality does show signs of slipping. The 70-year-old financier, now a prisoner of his East Side penthouse, wore a weird smile when he was photographed shortly after his Dec. 12 arrest. He’s also said to be taking a heavy dose of anti-anxiety medication.
“He seems really out of it,” says a source, who believes Madoff’s family fears he’ll follow the example of Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the Madoff client who slit his wrists last week. “He has a very low affect. Bernie barely speaks. His wife, Ruth, and his sons, Andrew and Mark, do most of the talking for him.”
“He might try to argue that Madoff suffered from dementia or a bipolar disorder,” says the psychiatrist, who has served as an expert witness in high-profile criminal cases. ”
He could argue that Madoff committed the fraud during manic, euphoric periods and that he never found the equilibrium to correct his crime. Or that he was so delusional that he convinced himself the investment returns were real. You might also plead that he was incapacitated by some character disorder, like a malignant narcissism stemming from an early-life trauma.
Bernie’s funda-mental defense [NYDN via Cityfile]
what a scumbag
Is he a vegetarian? Is he obssessed with his mother?
more likely, he made the decision to lie about his results and the mounting pressures of keeping it secret for years finally broke him emotionally. shame he didn’t get into art school.
Yeah, somebody who committed a financial fraud as large, far reaching and complicated as this one must have suffered from dementia.
If he was bi polar then that was one hell of a manic episode; it seems to have lasted about 30 years!!!
Somewhere along the line? Like for the past 30 years? Remember – we heard last week that this fraud stretches back into the 70′s.
Was the ‘insanity’ contagious? Is that why his co-conspirators played along?
Maybe this ‘insanity’ defense will protect him against the front-running charges when the SEC finally unravels the broker-dealer. Or are they going to bury that to prevent further embarrassment?
poor guy. clearly syphilis leads to some savant-like mental illness. we can all only hope to catch it and dream up savant schemes like his.
We can now dispense with the fiction that Bernie is contrite over his fraud and cares to inform authorities as to where he stashed the loot.
“who believes Madoff’s family fears he’ll follow the example of Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the Madoff client who slit his wrists last week”
Seriously, someone is against that?
Then all of his personalities should go to jail.
He better not kill himself – he deserves to rot in jail and die in his cell – he should not get to take the coward’s route and off himself.
“Here’s an idea – why don’t you rent a gun and buy a bullet.”
He is confined to an apartment that he shares with his wife. Isn’t that enough punishment for this poor defenseless 70 year old man?
Just kidding. I say they convict all his multiple personalities and then put his tushie in jail for life without parole.
Dementia my ass. He knew what he was doing and should be held accountable for his actions.
The good news is, if this is the best his lawyer can come up with, then Bernie is pretty much toast. He can save a bundle and hire a lawyer from the burbs’ for this flimsy defense. What a joke!
I expect a plea deal or a flying Bernie from the penthouse to the sidewalk below. No way this guy is going to go to jail, he will not do it, anything but the big house. I am sure he will try to take the shame he brought to the family name alone, therefore no lengthy trial, I believe. He will choose the one that serves the Madoff name best, and at 70 he has very few options, especially now that he has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, which is now empty.
This is all very sad, not that I feel sorry for him one bit.
he should be in jail getting banged by Bubba instead of house arrest. what a crock of shit.
Bernie Madoff, while in his teens, discovered that a majority of people who gather and invest money are really fools.
He spent thirty years trying to prove his thesis and his results will be published next month.
11 Don’t you think that this fraud is too big and too focused on one individual for a plea deal? What does he have to offer?
Dear Mr. Madoff,
Kill yourself.
Sincerely,
Lucifer. (aka Prince of Darkness)
@13
I believe the time horizon is closer to 50 years, and, if so, the paper will likely be titled something along the lines of , “See, I told ‘ya so (ha ha jk?)”
Only in America!
No way will he be able to hide behind the insanity claim.
@14, of course Bernie Madoff did not act alone. He and his associates fabricated the whole “confession to his staff” story so they have a chance of not going to jail.
@14
He could take the majority of the blame, if not all. Right now he knows he is done for. The only thing he can do is protect his family and name, hoping that he alone will be charged. All we know is that he is to blame, and it is safe to assume he had help as well. If he cooperates and shows how it all went down he may get lenient treatment, to some degree. So the only choice that protects his family and himself is to be the guy to take it all, whether that works or not only the accountants will know. All he can offer is to help the investigation. Since he is being treated with kid gloves at present, I am sure he will be treated the same going into the near future. Hopefully, this will proven to be wrong and they get him in jail where he belongs.
If this guy walks, then the system is broken. I wonder what kind of justice Madoff can buy nowadays.
18 Feels to me like the others involved are just small fry: the accountant in Rockland county who was more sloppy than criminal, the trusted assistant who helped with the recordkeeping and administration. So again, not sure what the govt can hope to get from a plea deal.
From Yahoo! News (sometimes even a blind dog finds a bone)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20081229/bs_bw/dec2008db20081224028134
@20 maybe some additional embaressment for the SEC, that’s all that can be gained, maybe a few bucks in investigative costs?
He should be made to take a public defender instead of a high priced private practice lawyer. No personal funds should be allowed to pay for a high priced attorney.
Madoff was a genius, how many so-called ‘smart’ money did he con.
Only marks get conned!!
I want to see his list of assets- that should be interesting.
Won’t do any serious time: rich and white. If you have enough dough, you don’t even need to be white.
The “Twinkie Defense” !!!! (Google it, wiki it…)
Isn’t Madoff too big to fail? I am surprised the feds haven’t yet bailed him out.
@27 – …better yet,
“The Chewbacca Defense”.
-BeckyBootFan
@21
They forgot national retail association’s “we predict holiday sales flat-to- up ~1%”
whoops, we mean, uh, down 5%+
no sh!t
I doubt the insanity defense will fly with the Colombians. They certainly have ways of extracting sanity out of the insane (and vice versa).
BeckyBootFan: I was impressed with the Chewbacca defense! Much better than the Twinkie defense.
@23 – You are correct. It’s illegal for council to accept payment from funds believed to have been sourced from criminal activity. Bernie is matzah.
31 The Colombian wrath is probably going to be directed towards the Noels. I don’t think Madoff has anything to worry about there.
Steal a $5,000 car: 4 years in prison starting with waiting for trial.
Steal $500 Billion: Hang out at home with an ankle bracelet.
Yeah, life’s fair! I hope he, and the other CEOs on Wall Street all end up jumping off a ledge. The crooks destroyed the world economy through pure incessant greed!
@35: I agree Wall St. should get religion. I also think we need government agencies with actual teeth. The SEC is a joke that no one is serious about. You can put things off, delay, delay, delay, and because the average tenure of their lawyers is like 3 years, you stall enough, the new guy needs ages to catch up – and the game begins again.
Wall St. has totally outlawyered the Feds. I’m no fan of big government, but it’s embarrassing at this point: like watching LeBron James going one-on-one with my four year old.
@29 – you are correct, the chewbacca defense works much better…
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103454
and I stand by my previous comment: why should tax payers have to foot the bill to have some guys eat donuts while sitting in polices cruiser watching the front and back doors of madoff’s apt?
37 Cluz, cluz, what’s with these uncharacteristics lapses in judgement. First, cost accounting, specifically the diff between variable and fixed costs re the police cruiser. Second, law: people are incarcerated before trial only if they are dangerous to society or represent a flight risk. Courts ruled that neither is the case with Madoff.
Onto more interesting topics. U been to Market Table, Carmine Street? A little on the casual side, so if its with clients, they have to be cool. The opposite of the ones you bring to Del Friscos. GAnalYst
@36, re “The SEC is a joke…” : Supreme Court of NY Rennaissance v. Millennium, 2004. Bloomberg story by Burton & Tietelbaum, 7/30/07, “Ex-Simons Employees Say Firm Pursued Illegal Trades”. Why no SEC investigation of the most UNBELIEVABLE (& I mean that in the literal sense) reported “returns” ever; Medallion “returns” make Shaw, Citadel, 2sigma, and everyone else (including, obviously, Madoff feeders)look absolutely FLAT — why no SEC investigation out on Long Island??
If any of that investor capital from Colombia is “blood money” I actually feel kinda sorry for Andres Piedrahita, Walter Noel and their families. It will be only a matter of time before someone pays those debts with their life…
If the condom doesn’t fit, you must acquit.
Too wookie, didn’t chew bacca
@ 39
Why would Simons build a madoff scheme with his own money?
@GAnalYst – where have you been?
re: variable vs fixed / risks to society – the mere fact that they have to put people outside his residence means that they are taken away from some other beat; thus, putting people from said route at risk ( ;
haven’t been to market table. is that the place that is supposed to be another pastis type spot? just got the ’09 zagats will look it up. btw, have you been to bagatelle for brunch on saturdays? I’ve got satellite radio in the car and heard them playing “live from bagatelle brunch nyc” – dj was pretty good, just not sure about scene.
new topic – I’ve got a few friends coming to town for NYE. I personally think it’s amateur hour, but I need to please the masses. not excited about having 30 people in my place, any thoughts on bars?
@43, Ponzi is a subset of fraud, not the only kind. Ever wonder why institutions threw more than $20b at RIEF? Hmm, maybe it has something to do with the impossibly high returns, Sharpe & autocorrelation of Medallion in the decade between “closing” it to outside investors and launching an institutionally-appealing equity product…
boring day…miss Bess
hedge fund redemption song good for a chuckle…
http://thereformedbroker.com/2008/12/29/hedgies-still-hearing-redemption-song/
Shal
Who the hell is paying his atty fees?
They found out he has already wired to offshore bank accounts so there isn’t any way to get it back.
If investors sue the SEC then taxpayers will be resposible for reimbursing rich people who knew that they were investing with someone who was doing something illegal – although they don’t like to call it insider trading.
Also why didn’t Bank of NY do anything when he wired massive amounts of money to offshore accounts? They’re supposed to track that.
@41
I worry more for Andres’relatives than his own family which is most likely in hiding. However his parents, cousins, siblings,that’s another story….
@41
I worry more for Andres’relatives than his own family which is most likely in hiding. However his parents, cousins, siblings,that’s another story….
GAnalYst-
Carmines is sweet, loved that place. Took a 2 day dip back in the NY and went to Del Posto on day one and Ono (at Gansevoort) on day 2.
Happy Kwanzaa!
47 – His wife is, for now.
-mrp
His best defense: he’s a schizo, vacillating between fear of getting caught and greed.
If he gets off, it will make the U.S. courts a total mockery and encourage others to copy him.
Wasnt Bernie madoff the host of “fast money”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
@53
kind of funny. in a 2006 way.
@Cluzo
Have the people to your place. Seriously far more fun and amateur night is a much bigger pain in the ass than an overflowing party at your place. Bars won’t be as bad as normal this year, but still too much attitude and ridiculous attempts to fleece the amateurs.
If your guests want a real NYC NYE experience, make them each give you $200 and then force them to wait on the sidewalk for 3 hours!
I’m pretty shocked that you’re using Zagats. Blogs like eater and chowhound are better, more honest, and more up to date while not being mediated if you want the opinion of the masses, or just rely on Michelin and NYT for a curated list. Zagat’s combines the worst of both worlds, charges you for it, and sends you to TGIFridays cause it’s highly rated!
oh and 3:42 is Bulging Bracket
I’m visiting family and can’t remember my log in details
@55 – ahahaha! so true. problem with people at my place is that there’s always one straggler who won’t let the party end, then I’m stuck (unless she’s cute).
zagat’s came free from the financial printer. it’s more of a quick reference guide, but point taken.
Bernie’s personalities:
Crook
Liar
Thief
Stealer
Dungeon Master
Cross Dressing Sissy
Slave
Evidence of insanity – stealing Colombian money.
That angle is really not a laughing matter. What’s more, Andres is Colombian so he damn well knew better.
The entire Noel family better be going into hiding.
#60 You think stealing Colombian $ is insane??
Try Iranian money losses as well…another son-in law
I would want to be within 50 miles of these folks
#60 You think stealing Colombian $ is insane??
Try Iranian money losses as well…another son-in law
I wouldnt want to be within 50 miles of these folks
“Well, when you steal $600, you can just disappear.
But when you steal $600 million, they will find you… ”
Die-Hard
A mental breakdown that includes running a Ponzi scheme for 30 years without ever coming to his senses and yet he was sane enough to be on the board of the NASDAQ and was capable of aiding the SEC in defining securities rules.
I can’t wait until this defense is used in a court of law and the jurors puke (all at once) when they hear it.
BTW…Did this insane individual lose the bank account numbers he is hiding the funds in or is this likewise selective memory where he can spend from an account he can’t find.
I’m sure the Colombians can extract that information from him with power sanders.
Multiple personality disorder?!? Only in New York!
Too blind from the long term effects of syphilis. Didn’t read.
All those personalities and not one could trade worth shit. Where’s the hedge?
- Fixed Income
ahhhhhhhhh that’ll work…
Try stealing Iceland money. Way worse than these stereotypical Columbians that are suddenly gonna wipe out all the Noel derivative family units.
Icelandish folks throw fish and whatnot.
Or are we all watching too much tv.
@68
I think we all just want to see the _bad_ side of Columbian life live up to its billing. No more no less.
What is truly wierd is that he knew the wolves were circling, yet he sat there, passive, waiting for them to bite. He had money – he could have made a run to someplace without an extradition treaty. Plastic surgery. A canoe in the amazon. He obviously got trapped into his own game, and had no exit strategy. Did he hope the grim reaper would take a swipe at him before the investors wanted out? Surely, this is some suggestion of madness in all of this (though a sense of unreality is not a legal defense)
I went to prison for SEC rules violations for 8 years. I repaid all the lost money and aplogized. I did not make excuses. One thing though I was never given a bond and no money was lost in my case.
beware the boastfulness and then sudden sense of morality of an 8 year term felon!
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