Wiesel to Madoff: This Should Be Your Punishment

Elie Wiesel

Bernie Madoff should spend the rest of his life in a prison cell watching video screen testimonies of the people he has defrauded, bankrupted, ruined.

So says one of his mosty famous victims, Elie Wiesel.  The Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate and moral conscience of Western civilization was mugged by Madoff both personally—he and his wife lost their life savings—and also professionally—his Wiesel Foundation lost its entire endowment.

At a panel discussion in New York City this week, Wiesel spoke about his losses, and his preferred punishment for Madoff:

Asked what punishment he would like to see for Mr. Madoff, Mr. Wiesel said: “I would like him to be in a solitary cell with only a screen, and on that screen for at least five years of his life, every day and every night, there should be pictures of his victims, one after the other after the other, all the time a voice saying, ‘Look what you have done to this old lady, look what you have done to that child, look what you have done,’ nothing else.

Our thoughts: Wiesel is letting the bum off the hook too easily. Is it too late for President Obama to change his mind about torture?

Read the whole article here.

Even better, the brilliant Mark Pearlman at jinsider.com posted the whole transcript here.