Nobel Laureate Wiesel Was A Madoff Client

(AP)  There wasn't a sales pitch.

When Elie Wiesel met Bernard Madoff over dinner about 20 years ago, the topic of money never came up. They talked about history, education and Jewish philosophy, and the then-revered money manager urged Wiesel to leave his teaching post at Boston University and join a New York college.

Madoff "made a very good impression," Wiesel recalled Thursday. "We spoke about education. ... Not the economy."

The Nobel Peace prize winner and Nazi death camp survivor joined a legion of well-known Madoff clients by investing millions of dollars from his charitable foundation - and his own money as well - with the charming financier.

At a panel discussion in Manhattan, Wiesel recounted how he lost it all in perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme in history, providing a glimpse into how Madoff wooed one of his most prominent victims.

Wiesel, 80, was alternately disdainful and bemused, calling Madoff "a crook, a thief, a scoundrel" and chuckling as he recalled taking up one of his favorite subjects with Madoff: ethics.

"Yes, ethics," he said.

Asked by moderator Joanne Lipman, editor of Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine, how Madoff got the trust of "so many established and intelligent people," Wiesel admitted he bought into the Madoff mystique.

With Madoff, there "was a myth that he created around him that everything was so special, so unique, that it had to be secret," he said.

One wealthy friend who was a "very, very close friend of Madoff" encouraged him to invest. "Years ago he came to us and said, 'You work so hard, what are you doing with your money?"' he said.

At first, Wiesel and his wife only put in personal funds.

But "because we did so well, we said, come on, we have so many projects," he said. "Everybody told us in the field of finances, you can do much more ... because of Mr. Madoff, the savior."

Over the years, he and his wife received monthly statements showing Madoff had made stock trades. Investigators now believe no securities were ever bought or sold.

Wiesel said he ended up losing $15.2 million in foundation funds, plus his family's investment.

"It was a personal tragedy for me and my wife," he said. "Everything was gone."

Looking back, he suspects he was being scammed from the moment he met Madoff.

"Was he already a crook? Probably," he said.

As for a fit punishment?

"I would like him to be in a solitary cell with a screen," Wiesel said. "And on that 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."

[sndkzyaa]

can we have any threads around here wherein people are NOT screaming about Obama/Bush or Lefties/Republiscum??? Not all roads lead to Washintong DC, adn the foaming at the mouth is getting very tired.
Posted by mdalerwill at 11:19 AM : Feb 27, 2009

Except that crooks like Madoff are EXACTLY what the federal government is supposed to catch.

That's what the SEC is supposed to do.

The failure to pursue and stop Madoff - over TWO presidencies - represents a monumental failure of our federal government to fulfill its purpose.


Which makes me wonder, WHY are they getting paid so much not to do their jobs, and WHY do they have more job security than us ordinary folks.


And it makes me think that's why we're in the mess we're in now.

[mdalerwill]

Jeeeeeeez, ppl, can we have any threads around here wherein people are NOT screaming about Obama/Bush or Lefties/Republiscum??? Not all roads lead to Washintong DC, adn the foaming at the mouth is getting very tired.

[everlaw01]

It's Obama's fault....everything is

[babooph]

His cell ,of course,is a lush penthouse-so good to get perks for keeping things quiet.

[miriambk]

Rather than sitting in a cell, why not put him in a prison where he must work HARD every day? Take him out 7 days a week and have him pick up trash along highways, help farms by being forced to clean up barns and stalls, help with harvesting crops, etc. Some may argue that solitary confinement is more suitable; I say, let him end his days doing sweaty drudge work and any money that it is earned, although a pittance, be confiscated.

[opedanderson]

We have heard of Black on Black crime.

I never heard of Jew on Jew crime before.......

[rf35]

When did all the mergers occur that caused this mess?

Let us see. Exxon & Mobil - Clinton. Wells Fargo & First Interstate Bank - Clinton. Norwest Bank and Wells Fargo - Clinton. Citigroup & Smith Barney & Travelers - Clinton. Texaco & Chevron - Clinton.

WOW! All of these mergers which reduced competition and caused consolidation of power all happened by Bill.

I know your reply, so please save it. Blame Bush. I knew this was coming next libbie's.

Posted by independenti at 8:42 PM: Feb 26, 2009


So you?re saying that Clinton forced these companies to merge? He nationalized them, merged them, and then released them back to the free market? How does that work? Should he not have allowed the mergers? Come on Mr. ?Free Market Solves Everything.? Explain how the Clinton caused these companies to merge!

[rat_cheer]

"I would like him to be in a solitary cell with a screen," Wiesel said. "And on that 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."

-------------------------------------------

The faces would have no effect on him, because clearly he has no shame.

If he felt anything, he would feel proud of himself, and he would feel contempt for the "suckers" who were so completely taken.

Just solitary would do the job.

[rat_cheer]

he recalled taking up one of his favorite subjects with Madoff: ethics.

"Yes, ethics," he said

----------------------

And to think, Madoff was turned in to the SEC in 2000, but they did nothing.

How things could have been different if he wasn't just doing the same thing as everybody else was in the Clinton years. The years when rampant accounting fraud was considered "normal and accepted practice."

Enron Worldcomm Andersen Accounting. Madoff was just another face in the crowd.

No wonder nobody thought twice about him in 2000.

[sockpuppet4]

"I would like him to be in a solitary cell with a screen," Wiesel said. "And on that 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."

A hanging would be more suitable.