Bernie Madoff Interviewed In Prison
Politico’s M.J. Lee did a prison interview with Bernie Madoff.
Here are the highlights:
- Madoff described in detail the “never ending” fund raising solicitations from politicians, and was harshly critical of President Barack Obama, even though he said he voted for him in 2008. The politician he said he admires the most is Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat.
- He had sharp words for Irving Picard, the trustee charged with overseeing the recovery of lost money, saying, “He’ll take credit for everything.”
- He warned that he is sure there are other “bad players like myself” getting away with another massive Ponzi scheme. And he offered one piece of advice to investors: Stay away from the stock market.
- Madoff expressed no particular remorse for the disproportionate devastation he has caused Jewish clients, both individuals and charities. “I don’t feel that I betrayed the Jews,” he said.
- He said he does not have kidney cancer, contrary to news reports early this year, and that his health problems seem to be under control. He insisted that the adjustment from the high life to prison life was not that bad, though he is constantly bored. “It’s actually very pretty,” he said of Butner. “More like a college campus.”
- Madoff said that while “I miss everything,” the estrangement from his family was hardest to bear, adding that “I don’t have anything to live for.”
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.