Bernard Madoff

Cheaters, Scammers, Fraudsters, Insider Traders: A Financial HiJinks Roundup

Oh fraud, how could we live our lives without it! Here now comes a list of financial crime cases out of federal court in Manhattan and Brooklyn that we have had the keen pleasure to follow so far this year. And as we read, we must pause from time to time in awestruck admiration at the inventivenes ... More >>

Unraveled

Ruth Madoff's Back In Town -- Should She Still Be Villainized Because Of Her Dirtbag Husband?

​Are your torches and pitchforks handy?As you may have heard, Ruth Madoff, the wife Bernie Madoff, one of the most hated men in New York, is back living in the Tri-state area -- and none of her neighbors can muster a kind word about her.Ruth Madoff has moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, reportedly t ... More >>

Bernie Madoff Employee Pleads Guilty In Massive Fraud; Five More Madoff Employees Face Likely Charges

​Another one of Bernie Madoff's employees has pleaded guilty, the feds are saying. Eric Lipkin pleaded to six conspiracy and fraud counts, and agreed to cooperate in the ongoing investigation of the Madoff scam. The Lipkin case demonstrates that Madoff wasn't the only person aware of the scam; ... More >>

Bernie Madoff Speaks From Jail; New York Times Gets No Love From New York Post

​Bernie Madoff gave his first interview for publication since December 2008 to the New York Times, published in today's paper, but you wouldn't know it was an exclusive from reading the New York Post, which also happens to include a curiously similar Madoff interview today. Then, of course, it ... More >>

If Mets Go Under, Who Pays for Citi Field?

​If the last ten days in the life of Mets owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon were a baseball game, they would have been shut out, made 17 errors, and hit into a game-ending unassisted triple play. (That last feeling, admittedly, is one that they're already familiar with.)

Ruth Madoff Shunned at Son's Memorial

​When Mark Madoff, son of disgraced Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff, killed himself in December, his mother Ruth traveled to Greenwich, Connecticut for the memorial service, but was not allowed in by Mark's widow Stephanie, according to a report by People appearing in today's New York Post. Instea ... More >>

Bernie Madoff Distraught Over Son's Suicide, Pissed at Family, According to Inmate

​The New York Post spares no vitriol in their Saturday report about Bernie Madoff's reaction to the suicide of his son Mark. "Now he knows how it feels," the article begins. One inmate describes Madoff as appearing "like someone had shot him in the stomach" when he found out. "No one was messi ... More >>

The U.S. Is More Corrupt Than 21 Other Countries, Which Is All Bernie Madoff's Fault

​The most and least corrupt nations have been "diagnosed" by Transparency International in their 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the "perceived levels of public sector corruption" in 178 countries around the world. Corruption levels go from "very clean" to "highly corrupt" an ... More >>

Anti-Flag

Michael Musto's Top Three Top Ten Lists, Because Why Not?

Crime Beat: Bernie Madoff Breaks Hearts -- He's Cited in Split of Uma Thurman and Her Rich Fiance Bilked by Bernie

HarkavyLosing his ass: Uma Thurman reportedly splits from fiance Arki Busson over money issues. Busson was bilked by Bernie Madoff to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars. Will the flood of Bernie Madoff victims never stop? The latest casualty may very well be the relationship of New Yorker U ... More >>

Getting the Full (Yes, Full) English Breakfast at Brooklyn's Black Horse Tavern

Don't forget the fried bread​ When New York magazine published a photo of what it labeled an English breakfast without fried bread, beans, or black pudding, the Guardian's Tim Hayward got his panties in a bundle. The carb-less plate caused him to huff: The nation that convinced itself that Be ... More >>

We've Bailed out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind our Financial Collapse?

GreenBox to Revolutionize Pizza; Bill Owens Hasn't 'Got Milk'

​The GreenBox is a new pizza box that allows you to rip off the top and separate it into four plates, while the bottom folds in half and becomes a container for leftovers. The GreenBox was invented by William Walsh, who came up with the idea in college. [NY Daily News] Certain "Smart Choices" ... More >>

Will You Be Jacko or Madoff For Halloween?

​Halloween approacheth and I'm finally ready to leave the house again to enjoy it after suffering last year's scary array of Sarah Palins. So what will the most prevalent costumes be this time? I'm guessing that, since it was the year of dead celebrities, the streets will turn into a veritabl ... More >>

Millionaire Investors Sue Madoff Clean-Up Team for More Millions

Let's say you invested money with Bernie Madoff. With that monthly account statement appearing to steadily grow fatter over the years, you had no reason to think that your money was fraudulently invested. But now, along with everyone else, you are aware that the money came out of, and vanished into ... More >>

Cuomo's Pension Investigations Catch On in 30 States

The New York Times today examines the pension fund investigations that have spread since New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo (pictured) started digging into the scandals involving such funds in this state. The notion seems to be spreading that "placement agents" who intervene between fund manage ... More >>

Rod Blagojevich is Not a Celebrity...Get Him Out of Here!

Erik AbderhaldenNow that impeached Illinois gov Rod Blagojevich's plan to join the D-list cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here has been viciously denied by a judge, I have to say this is a gross miscarriage of justice and a national tragedy! A degrading reality show is the perfect place for ... More >>

Rich Actually Doing Pretty Well in New Depression

Ward Harkavy's The Smart Asset got there first, noticing the Times profile of a laid-off $240K/year (base pay!) lawyer and her upcoming world tour assisted by a paid sabbatical and "Lonely Planet travel guides." (Ward observes that, unfortunately for the rest of us, "No such guides exist yet for 'be ... More >>

Real Dives: Smolen Bar and Grill

Real Dives: In which we recommend authentically divey dive bars. A real dive bar may be characterized by low prices, clientele over 60, trucker hats only on actual truckers, a long history, lotto, lack of ironic PBR, and a sense that it is not trying to impress you, or anyone else, ever. The kind of ... More >>

Cheek, in Review: 7 Days of Runnin' Scared

Where the magic happens. As Mom used to say as she filled our juice glass with Four Roses, what a week! The Go John Galt nuts threatened a "wealth producers" strike, though some of their numbers seemed not to have much wealth production to speak of. (Many other Americans scaled back their produc ... More >>

Bernie Finally Wipes the Grin Off His Face

New York magazine, by comparing him to Heath Ledger's Joker character, captured what many had noticed about Bernie Madoff -- that in his comings and goings to court, the Ultimate Swindler continues to wear what can only be described as a slight, inscrutable grin.There's a reason for that subtle rict ... More >>

Bernie Madoff Mocked at Party!

Fortunately, lots of people—well, gay people—still care about Broadway.

Weekend Art Shows: Madoff, Clinton, Queer Batman

From the Scope Art Fair, photo (cc) artcomments. There were some art shows in town this weekend, most notably the Armory Show at Hudson Piers 92 and 94. Vulture said that political art was "missing, by and large, from the booths," though seen a certain way Yan Pei-Ming's Bernie Madoff portrait m ... More >>

NYU Caf Occupation Covered Live by Floor-Cam

Just weeks after the student occupation drama at the New School, NYU has an occupation of its own, in the Kimmel Center cafeteria. The occupiers' demands start with amnesty, but generally have to do with financial transparency for the university -- not a bad idea, considering how badly it was burne ... More >>

Buffalo plane crash kills 49 on board, one on ground; cockpit audio tape

Cockpit tape from Buffalo plane crash. Plane horror this morning outside Buffalo. A Continental commuter plane from Newark smashed into a house, killing one person inside and all 49 on plane, according to reports. Additional info: One of the victims was a 9/11 widow. See earlier links. Now, th ... More >>

Gary Ackerman's blast at SEC? Just theatrics from AIPAC loyalist who once took cash from Bernie Madoff.

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah: Ackerman at last shows interest in the SEC's operations. Congressman Gary Ackerman's rip-snorting attack on the SEC for not catching Bernie Madoff's scam is good entertainment, but it's only bluster to impress his constituents who got took. Still, it's not a bad dog-and-po ... More >>

Tom cries 'Uncle'! Daschle's exit an embarrassing end to Obama's embarrassing decision to pick him

Obama tells a surprisingly blunt Katie Couric, "I messed up." Tom Daschle's quick exit from the health-care Cabinet job is just proof that he was a poor choice for the job. If the guy can't get it together enough to wipe his nose clean after rubbing it against the rear of society schmuckettes li ... More >>

Markopolos bombshells: 'I'll deliver a mini-Madoff tomorrow!' and 'Arm SEC with Bloomberg machines!'

After only part of this morning's House hearing starring Harry Markopolos, there's little doubt that Bernie Madoff's true identity is Dr. Evil. What else can one think when House members wondered aloud whether there are "mini-Madoffs" or "medium-size Madoffs" lurking in the Wall Street wastelan ... More >>

Obama to bankers: 'It's a shonda!' (Or words to that effect.)

You won't see edgy Bernie Madoff-related work like this in U.S. mainstream papers, but New York's own Jewish Daily Forward, as always, is up to the task of covering Jewish politics and news with a minimum of politically correct tiptoeing. Above, an excerpt from Eli Valley's "The Shonda!" in the F ... More >>

Wall Street's bonus army pulls bank robbery; Al Jazeera's Josh Rushing joins his U.S. mates in Afghanistan

In "Taliban resurgence pushes troops to change tack,"

From baseball to hardball: George Mitchell lands in Mideast to probe the deadliest beanball war -- Jews vs. Arabs

The Wall Street Journal, reporting from Davos, asks (gulp), "Is Capitalism, as We Know It, Dead?" Pumped up from his experience as chief investigator of steroids abuse in baseball, George Mitchell is now in for some really heavy lifting: the testosterone-laden, rage-filled Arab-Jew death dance i ... More >>

What Cooked the World's Economy?

It wasn't your overdue mortgage.

Rejecting Allah-like powers, Obama vows end to 'dictating' in Mideast

Al Jazeera's morning report, proving once again that it's ridiculous censorship for U.S. cable outlets to not carry the Arab world's most powerful news outlet. Dick Cheney's dream of an imperial vice presidency lording over all the world's oil fields is now officially dead. President Barack Obam ... More >>

Caroline Kennedy and 'Daily News' columnist Michael Daly: The princess and the pea-brain

Michael Daly's column has to be a put-on. If it's not, then give him an "F" for fatuous. In "Let's make Caroline Kennedy our special envoy to Washington," the self-serious Daily News scribe fights back his tears about Caroline Kennedy's withdrawal from the Senate appointment race and opines: Ma ... More >>

Entering a new phrase: Barack Obama's inaugural address

Eire on the side of the new president: There's no one as Irish as Bearach O'Bama. Too short to be an oratorio, Barack Obama's inaugural speech (video) proved nevertheless that as an orator he's got handle. That guy can speak. Notwithstanding our gratitude to George W. Bush for the past eight yea ... More >>

On track: Barack Obama's conjunction junction

Can't get enough of Obama's January 17 train ride. Here it is again. Even before today's inauguration, Barack Obama's whistle-stop trip to D.C. brought the best of two worlds to America. Besides being just a really cool thing to do — complete with speeches by the mellifluous new president t ... More >>

MONEY TROUBLE

A study in the art of survival

Shana Madoff "Reserved" -- But Only After a Fashion

from New York Social Diary Bernie Madoff's niece Shana is "reserved," according to the Wall Street Journal. What the Journal fails to mention is that Ms. Madoff was less reserved when it came to exhibiting her expensive taste for high fashion. Back in 2004, the then 33-year-old Madoff, who work ... More >>

Jews v. Arabs: It's war, even if the 'Times' tries to avoid calling it that

Al Jazeera reporting on the war in Gaza Will somebody please call this a war? You won't find the word "war" in this morning's lede story in the New York Times on Israel's bombardment and invasion of Gaza. Is the Times afraid of offending New York's Jews, especially the right-wing Jewish establ ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg launches preemptive trip to Israel; invasion of NYC unlikely

Waltz With Bashir, a movie that sprang from a previous Israeli invasion of Lebanon, won Best Picture from the National Society of Film Critics. A free Madoff Watch T-shirt to the reader who suggests the best title for the first movie spurred by Israel's current invasion of Gaza. On an overseas t ... More >>

Drop a ball on Times Square! Drop a bomb on Gaza!

An agitprop video from the Israeli government. See the Forward's "YouTube Yanks Israeli Army Videos." Who would have guessed that, with the end of the disastrous Bush regime in sight, we would have been so gloomy on New Year's Eve 2008? You'd think this would be a time of celebration, or at lea ... More >>

A run on New York City's banks -- with guns. A run on sex manuals -- with guns in your pockets.

Tell me it's a coincidence that five banks were robbed in New York City in a single day, while banks overall reported rare quarterly losses. Even the New York Times notes the eerie connection. You mean that all-time schemer Bernie Madoff isn't the only crook in town? (See above video, because it ... More >>

We're saved! Yankees bail out New York City!

Fellow Arabs honor journalist's feat

Caroline Kennedy in the Senate? Gag me with a silver spoon.

Madoff sets Rolex back

The man who knew too much ... about Madoff

Bush makes Iraqis want to hurl