Yesterday in court, prosecutors revealed that after Bernie Madoff’s arrest, they found $173 million in his office in the form of checks that were signed and waiting to be delivered to friends and family. District Attorney Marc Litt argued that this, plus the jewelry kerfuffle, indicated that unless Madoff was confined to jail he would continue to shed assets and cause “economic harm” to investors. “This defendant has shown that, at this point, he cannot be trusted,” he said. Now that’s an understatement! [WSJ]
Jeffrey Katzenberg, whose philanthropic work took a hit because of Madoff, thinks he should be in the slammer, too: “That this man is walking free is a disgrace.” [Business Sheet/CNBC]
We could learn today if Bernie’s bound for jail. [Newsday]
“His last words on his deathbed were ‘Bernie Madoff, trust Bernie Madoff.’” Madoff investor Norman Levy’s son told Fox Business News. Apparently they were a close and loving family. [Reuters]
Madoff investors who withdrew profits that turned out to be false face a dilemma: Go after the money they had left in the fund, and risk having to give back the money they made? Or keep quiet and sit on what cash they have left? [AP]
The Madoffs’ apartment in the French Riviera’s Cap d’Antibes is “surprisingly modest,” and he cut an unassuming figure on vacations there. “I would see him holding hands with his grandchildren. He’d wave and say hello, and if he’d asked me to lend him 50 euros I probably would have done it,” says a neighbor. “If he’d looked like Bruce Willis, people probably wouldn’t have trusted him. It’s silly, I know, but true.” [Bloomberg]
