Commit one of the largest financial crimes in history, continue to live in your $7 million apartment
As our friend Bernard Madoff waits around for the wheels of justice to move in his “alleged” $50 billion Ponzi scheme… he’s been a busy boy.
No, he’s not sitting in jail, where a fraudster of his magnitude deserves to be. Instead, he was allowed to post a $10 million bond, and is nice and cozy in his $7 million Manhattan apartment. What a hardship!
Oh, that’s right. He hasn’t been convicted yet. Innocent until proven guilty? Madoff could make this simple. Show me the money. If the $50 billion is produced by him and turned over to his clients, then I say we let him go free and consider him innocent. If he can’t show us the money, then we can draw the logical conclusion.
As if it’s not bad enough that he’s living in the lap of luxury instead of a jail cell, Madoff and his wife seem to have engaged in a bit of shenanigans.
The government is (naturally) concerned about preserving the Madoff’s assets so that victims might get at least a little of their money back.
The prosecutor is asking to have Madoff’s bail revoked as he and his wife were caught mailing valuables to friends and relatives:
Specifically, the defendants sent a package containing a total of approximately 13 watches, one diamond necklace, an emerald ring, and two sets of cufflinks. The Government has been informed that that the value of those items could exceed $1 million. Two other packages — containing a diamond bracelet, a gold watch, a diamond Cartier watch, a diamond Tiffany watch, four diamond brooches, a jade necklace, and other assorted jewelry — also were sent to relatives. . . the defendant and/or his wife sent at least two additional packages (contents unknown) to the defendant’s brother and an unidentified couple in Florida.
Whose idea was it to let Madoff sit in his plush home while he waits out the Feds?
