October 22, 2009 | 1:55 pm

Madoff + ponzi + fights + cocaine + sex = Tony Soprano?

Posted by Jay Firestone

CNN has recently reported that a new lawsuit alleges that Bernard Madoff used funds to finance “a cocaine-fueled work environment and a “culture of sexual deviance,” [while] he diverted money to his London, England, office when he believed federal authorities were closing in at home.”

Between $50 million in embezzlement, fights in prison, and now the alleged use of funds for drugs and sex, there’s really only one questions left to ask…

Is Madoff a Jewish Tony Soprano?

It’s not like waste management is that different from running a hedge fund.

From CNN.com:

A new lawsuit alleges that convicted swindler Bernie Madoff financed a cocaine-fueled work environment and a “culture of sexual deviance,” and he diverted money to his London, England, office when he believed federal authorities were closing in at home.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in New York’s State Supreme Court, was brought on behalf of former investors and seeks unspecified punitive damages and compensation.

Beyond that, it offers a look at what the plaintiffs’ attorneys say was once Madoff’s multimillion-dollar empire and what is now his world in a federal prison in North Carolina.

Among the allegations in the 264-page lawsuit are that during the mid-1970s, Madoff began sending employees to buy drugs for company use.

The complaint alleges that some employees and investors were aware of the drug purchases, and that BMIS [Bernard Madoff Investment Services] was known by insiders as the “North Pole” in reference to the excessive amount of cocaine use in the work place.

Read the full story at CNN.com.

October 16, 2009 | 1:32 pm

Madoff Son Goes AWOL

Posted by Rob Eshman

The New York Port reports today that Bernie Madoff’s son Mark went missing last night after a fight with his wife Stephanie.  After a worried Stephanie called police, they launched a search that ended when the son, who had been the charismatic front man for his dad’s firm, reappeared.

He citred stress as a cause… and he has reason to feel it: 

The incident comes two weeks after Mark, younger brother Andrew, their uncle, Peter Madoff, and cousin Shana were sued for nearly $200 million by Irving Picard, the federal bankruptcy trustee overseeing the breakup of Bernard Madoff’s firm, where they all worked.  Securities front man

 

Sources said Mark had a bitter argument with his wife, Stephanie, in their SoHo apartment Wednesday night.
At about 8 p.m., Mark stormed out of the Mercer Street apartment. He returned an hour later and resumed the verbal sparring, sources said.

But Mark again stomped out and stalked across the street to a parking garage, where he hopped on a Vespa scooter he keeps there and sped off, sources said.

Hours later, at about 1:30 a.m., a worried Stephanie called cops to report him missing.

When Mark reappeared at his SoHo residence yesterday morning, he told Stephanie he had spent the night at the nearby Soho Grand Hotel after checking in under a different name and paying cash, according to sources.

Madoff then called police and said that he was OK—but also that he has been under a significant amount of stress recently, sources said.

The Ponzi son then told cops he planned to visit his doctor at Weill Cornell Medical Center on the Upper East Side.

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October 13, 2009 | 1:48 pm

Madoff gets in prison brawl

Posted by Jay Firestone

With all of his assets seized by the government, it appears Bernie Madoff has learned a valuable prison lesson about property.

Either own or be owned.

NYPost.com has the story.

Bernie “The Bruiser” Madoff got into a prison-yard tussle with a fellow inmate over—of all things—the stock market, eyewitnesses told The Post.

And, by inmates’ accounts, the 71-year-old Ponzi schemer came out the winner.

Madoff, serving 150 years at the Butner, NC, federal prison, was heard last week getting into a heated debate over the state of the market with another senior-citizen jailbird.

The shouting match got so heated that the inmate pushed Madoff, who shoved back harder with both hands, causing his attacker to stumble.

As the attacker tried to stand up straight, Madoff hovered over him red-faced and glaring, eyewitnesses said.

The stunned attacker went chicken and took off—allowing Madoff to collect some “cred” among his fellow prisoners.

Fortunately for Bernie, the brawl was nothing like this one…

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October 13, 2009 | 1:38 pm

Bernie Bests Butner Bruiser

Posted by Rob Eshman

The New York Post headline today screamed, “Bernie’s Bruising Battle—Over Stocks!”

Seems convicted swindler Bernard Madoff got into a prison yard scrap when a fellow inmate and he got into an argument over the stock market.

The shouting match got so heated that the inmate pushed Madoff, who shoved back harder with both hands, causing his attacker to stumble.

As the attacker tried to stand up straight, Madoff hovered over him red-faced and glaring, eyewitnesses said.

The stunned attacker went chicken and took off—allowing Madoff to collect some “cred” among his fellow prisoners.

“I didn’t think Bernie had it in him. He got the best of him; he was really aggressive, and the other guy was in shock that he fought back,” an inmate said.

Any number of Madoff bios have remarked upon his pent up, passive aggressive temper—maybe prison is where the true Bernie can come out.

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