When one is serving a 150 year sentence for running a massive Ponzi scheme, he tends to find himself with time on his hands to think about things. Take Bernie Madoff, for example. He has a job in the joint (working in the commissary) and he gets in daily walks on the track but other than that, the hours are usually spent reflecting. His reflection time over the last couple years has lead to a few big conclusions and chief among them? That he’s been on the receiving end of a bum rap, in more ways than one, which he’s mentioned during several stops on his Legitimate Years Tour. In February, he griped to New York:
“Does anybody want to hear that I had a successful business and did all these wonderful things for the industry?” Bernie continued. “And got all these awards? And so did my family? I did all of this during the legitimate years. No. You don’t read any of that.”
Last month, he reminded New Yorker reporter Jeffrey Toobin that he “was worth a billion dollars before any of this nonsense started” but does anyone ever mention that? No they only care about the net worth accrued from his ill-gotten gains. On the same tour stop, he also suggested that he should be getting credit for his later work (the legitimacy of which is still an open-ended question in his mind), if only for the fact that its complexities could only be understood by the most sophisticated of investors (him).
Still, he speaks about his financial acumen with unmistakable pride. “The strategy that I was using for them, whether it was real or not, was not something that anyone would understand if you were not an expert,” he said. As he put it in an e-mail, “Fred was not [at] all stock market savvy and Saul was not really either. They were strictly Real Estate people. Although I explained the Strategy to them they were not sophisticated enough to evaluate it properly, nor were most of my other individual clients. They were not in a position to perform the necessary due diligence and did not have access to necessary financial info or records.”
Which leads us to Berns’ latest. In an interview with the Times he reasons that he got such a raw deal because the judge, like all of his feeble-brained haters, doesn’t understand how “the industry” works.
Mr. Madoff, in a recent series of interviews and e-mails, took issue with the judge’s description. To characterize him as “this monster and this evil person,” he said, “I just think that was totally unrealistic and unfair.”
“In my mind, Chin was anything but fair, with zero understanding of the industry,” Mr. Madoff added. He said the judge had made him “the human piñata of Wall Street,” while financial firms and government officials “walk away free.”
“Remember,” he said, “they caused the recession, not me.”
Anyway, it’s not all bad. Bernie finally has the time for leisure reading, which is great and something he couldn’t enjoy while running the most next level series of fake trades the world had never seen.
Mr. Madoff, who did not appeal his sentence, said he worked most days in the commissary and spent recreational time walking on a track and reading books, from junk novels to biographies. He made it clear that he had not been much of a reader previously. “Now, I literally read two books a week,” he said. “I’m reading all the James Michener books.”
Wow, everything from junk novels to biographies? Plus all of Michener? Clearly an advanced mind at work.
Dear Bernie,
You were recognized for the good you did. You got the “Awards” you said so yourself. You were also recognized for the bad you did. You got 150 years in jail for that. What those awards arent enough for you anymore? I think you’re just bitter that you werent as smart as you thought you were and you got figured out by those “feeble-brained” haters.
Enjoy your time,
Feeble-minded hater
I know how you feel Bernie.
Your friend,
Charles Gasparino; Misunderstood equinox steam room philosopher and genius
Pinata is kind of terse considering how they found his son, right?
The Bernaissance at work.
They found his son painted all kinds of colors and stuffed with candy?
i see what you did there.
I can’t
-Ray Chalres
If you want to avoid feeling like a pinata, stay off the phone when your Latin King cellmate is awaiting word on the birth of his 13th kid.
Yeah, one would think with all this time for reflection he would be more bothered by the fact that he was in some way responsible for his son’s death and the destruction of his family and others that resulted from the “illegitimate” years, versus not getting credit for the ”legitimate” years. It’s the sign of a psychopath.
Better feeling like one than looking like one.
-The Noel Sisters
Is pinata jailhouse slang for fuck-doll?
I’d hit that
-DSK with a big rubber d*ldo
OJ Simpson won awards prior to his crime spree and then plead not guilty twice. He won one, lost one & will be out before Bernie. So who is the smartest dumb criminal? Maybe Bernie should of plead not guilty. Best behavior would of been following the rules he certainly knew.
He wasn’t smart or honest enough to manage money, and therefore needed to commit fraud.
If by colors you mean varying shades of blue, red, and black, and by candy you mean juicy juicy maggots, then, yes.
Too much? Probably.
Who are you, Bear Grylls?
“Should of”?
“Would of”?
Leave. Now.
I feel like a round hole stuffed with a square peg.
-Bernie’s acehole
Do not tempt me with such enticing images Ms. Levin, me and The Closer will be at this party with our own bats.
Kevin Bacon
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Here´s Bernie with the daily headline:
Watch out for Bernaissance Technologies, BenTec, traded on NASDAQ.
Bernie “BigDeal” Madoff from Federal Prison Butner, NC ouuuuuuuuut
I like the Bernie Madoff as colorful Mexican centaur picture.
7:05. Suns going down. Better drink my own piss.
Don’t they teach you kids English at CCNY anymore?
Whenever I meet anyone who feels like a pinata, I smash their backdoors in
I totally understand, Bern. Nobody can reach my prowess in riding unicorns, whether they are real or not. I mean, Britney Spears, Bono, Snooki and that lowlife Frog from the IMF- I tried to show them that the key is holding onto the horn – HOLDING ONTO THE HORN, BRITNEY.
Whether this was real or not, not for this discussion. Whether the unicorn granted me three wishes, yes it is.
“Remember,” he said, “they caused the recession, not me.” Well, since I am sure Mr. Madoff’s list of unacknowledged virtues includes a command of good grammar, I find this sentence very enlightening. Until now, I had thought the bankers caused Mr. Madoff, rather than a recession.
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