Bernie Madoff, Free at Last

Don't shoot the messenger !

Bernie Madoff, Free at Last, is the title of an extensive article by the New York Magazine that is very revealing, I thought the members would like to see how Madoff really feels about having to serve the rest of his life behind bars.

***Warning - Explicit Language in the article***

nymag.com

Last August, shortly after his arrival at the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina, Bernard L. Madoff was waiting on the evening pill line for his blood-pressure medication when he heard another inmate call his name. Madoff, then 71, author of the most devastating Ponzi scheme in history, was dressed like every other prisoner, in one of his three pairs of standard-issue khakis, his name and inmate number glued over the shirt pocket. Rec time, the best part of a prisoner’s day, was drawing to a close, and Madoff, who liked to walk the gravel track, sometimes with Carmine Persico, the former mob boss, or Jonathan Pollard, the spy, had hurried to the infirmary, passing the solitary housing unit—the hole—ducking through the gym and the twelve-foot-high fence and turning in the direction of Maryland, the unit where child molesters are confined after they’ve served their sentences. As usual, the med line was long and moved slowly. There were a hundred prisoners, some standing outside in the heat, waiting for one nurse.

Somehow, I understand what has been through. After a period of lying to live , the lie takes over. It can only get worse.

The stress of getting caught, living a lie is like living in a box. Never a moment of peace. The moment stop watching the confinements of the lie... I can understand why he feels free.

Intriguing character.

Thanks for sharing.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


I thought it was interesting to see how Bernie is held in such high stature amongst his fellow inmates.

For me it just highlights the culture of those who hold money as a status symbol, if you have enough of it, regardless the means to attain it, the time lived with it is worth the time spent behind bars without it?

That's a concept that I gladly have not fell victim to, I would much rather have be wealthy in regards to family and friends, than to hang my hat on a bank book.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Hi I agree.

We have that in common. I don't really care about money. I understand the value attached to it. Normally I just don't care. The only time I do care is when I don't have any.
I do have to eat and pay my bills.

I don't think he is admired because of the money in prison. They admire him IMO because of his con man status. He represents the American dream for any fraud, hustler and thief around. In prison it is not about money, it is about power.

Power can be bought but it can also be earned. Respect for his achievements that's
what they give him.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Madoff may be one of the worst dirtbags to ever walk the face of the earth, but it takes a special person with special talents to steal millions of dollars. Perhaps the other thieves in that prison admire his skill and talent.

They may also admire those aspects of his personality that enabled him to win the trust of all those people he swindled. Madoff may be a charming man, a great conversationalist, or seem like a really great guy if you ever met him in person.

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
reply to post by Sinter Klaas

 

I thought it was interesting to see how Bernie is held in such high stature amongst his fellow inmates.

For me it just highlights the culture of those who hold money as a status symbol, if you have enough of it, regardless the means to attain it, the time lived with it is worth the time spent behind bars without it?

That's a concept that I gladly have not fell victim to, I would much rather have be wealthy in regards to family and friends, than to hang my hat on a bank book.

Not only that, but he stole around $65 billion if I remember right.

I guess its hard to explain my point, but its like not only did his wealth make him elite so did committing an "elite crime".

It's a different level than robbing banks and selling crack.

reply to post by hotpinkurinalmint


May I comment on his defense ?

If I recall it correct he stole a lot of money. ( What is money anyway ? ) From a buch of rich people that are still rich today.

IMO he did not cause even a part the amount of harm the bankers cause.

So why does he have to be in jail for the rest of his life ?
For stealing money from rich people that are still rich and are rich over poor peoples backs. ( maybe not directly )

As I said before I don't care much about money as it corrupts the system and is the chain around peoples neck that imprison them into a life of slavery. As they waste there lives to scrap enough of it together just to be able to by food or loans som smartass bank employee talked them into.

Yes they should have used their brains. Being ignorant is however not a free pass to take advantage of. Which is IMO... worse then what Maddof did.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Maybe there are worse people than Madoff out their like serial killers and child molesters. What he did was still wrong. Sure his victims were rich, but it is still wrong to steal from a rich person. By third world standards, you are probably rich. It would not make it right for me to clean out your checking account.

You said that many of his victims are still rich, but this might not be the case. Many people lost a substantial portion of their net wealth as a result of the Madoff scheme.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


He committed 11 different crimes, I don't know they typical sentence per crime but I'm sure like with any crime the severity plays a part in the range of sentences. $65 billion is pretty severe.

But in the end a crime is a crime is a crime. He didn't really get life he got 150 years which for any age is the same as a life sentence. At his age, 3 years might be a life sentence.

Not all of the people he scammed were "rich and are still rich today", they were people who saved some money and thought they would be able to turn it into more and in turn probably ended up with nothing.

Nonetheless, he' no robin hood giving money to the poor. He was a symbol of the greed and corruption thats destroying this country and this world.

I think he got what he deserved.

[edit on 6/8/2010 by ThaLoccster]

www.freerepublic.com...
bernie made off with the loot's victims

Ira Roth's family. WSJ: Ira Roth, a New Jersey resident, who says his family has about $1 million invested through Mr. Madoff's firm, is "in a state of panic." He said his 86-year-old mother-in-law has been living on the investments' returns, and he has been using the funds to pay college tuition

Elie Wiesel's Foundation For Humanity. Total assets of about $10 million
...the guy who won't show his tatoo...

Wunderkinder Foundation, a Steven Spielberg charity
etc etc

[edit on 8-6-2010 by Danbones]

Don't get me wrong here. Stealing is not a good thing.

What I'm saying here is that he gets jail time. While a banking cartel gets away with it.
He gets to spend the rest of his life in jail. But... Governments involved in the Iraq war even admitted it was an illegal war, which makes them personally responsible for the death of unknown Iraqi men woman and children . Countless of American , British soldiers. Devastating the Iraq economy exponentially increasing the nations debt what makes their citizens slaves cause they will be the ones that got to pay it all.

Yet... They walk free... I do not even think they are worthy of the air they breath.


So much for perspective.

65 billion huh... well what does it matter if were 10.000 Dollars or 65 billion.



Why so much ? Why should anyone need more then a million dollars ? It's a ticket if you don't want to work and at the same time the reason we are destroying others, ourselves, the world... How much money is it worth to make our own home a desolate place ?

I'm sorry it makes no sense to me no sense at all.

Maddof is only human so is Bush. Why isn't he sharing that cell with him ?

What Mr. Madoff did was reprehensible and his punishment was justly deserved.

However, others in the financial world have done, and continue to do, things that are orders of magnitude more destructive. And yet they walk around as free men and women, at least in part because attention has been diverted by high-profile criminals like Madoff.

The swift justice metted out to Madoff, while deserved, unfortunately gives the illusion of motion, and the illusion that "crimes are being punished," when in actuality Madoff is less than the tip of the iceberg.

Never forget this.

Originally posted by silent thunder
What Mr. Madoff did was reprehensible and his punishment was justly deserved.

However, others in the financial world have done, and continue to do, things that are orders of magnitude more destructive. And yet they walk around as free men and women, at least in part because attention has been diverted by high-profile criminals like Madoff.

The swift justice metted out to Madoff, while deserved, unfortunately gives the illusion of motion, and the illusion that "crimes are being punished," when in actuality Madoff is less than the tip of the iceberg.

Never forget this.

This is important to remember. Madoff had no pedigree, no blood line, no international political connections, and no spider web of vast corporations to put a front to his crimes.

He was for the most part, a shrewd genius emulating the tactics and the strategies of the elites, without actually being a part of the ‘club’.

The elites may have in fact even assisted in some ways, and helped him to grow, knowing all along, he would be the high profile sacrificial lamb when it was time to take the money and run, and collapse the pyramid.

Chances are a large portion of the investor money Madoff lost, was to schemes the elites suckered him into, all the while using him as a funnel and inflating his ego and stature.

No one will feel sorry for Bernie, except for those few like minded larcenous souls, who view it all as a great game too. Yet I am relatively confident that while Madoff has no shortage of people he victimized, he likely was a victim himself to parties far greedier and better connected than he was.

It’s a dog eat dog world, and life is short, you only get to live it once!