Bernie is the man behind a Ponzi scheme that suckered “investors” from around the world, from all walks of life, to the tune of $50b. As is the way of such things, the media seems fascinated by relatively minor details. The fact that Madoff now shelters in a New York City penthouse– before he’s sent to The Big House– is only important on a symbolic level. Even if the digs were worth $50m (hardly likely in today’s market), that would be point one percent of the amount Bernie bilked. Now walk it down to his cars– which are leased. The autoblogosphere’s gossip girls are all a twitter (in some cases literally) at Bernie’s whips. Even The New York Times. “The vehicles include a 2007 Land Rover Range Rover, a 2008 Cadillac DTS, a 2009 Mercedes S550 leased last October, a 2007 Mercedes S550, a 2008 Mercedes GL450 sport-utility vehicle and a 2006 Lexus, according to the court filing in Manhattan on Wednesday.” The guy cleaning-up Bernie’s mess has asked federal bankruptcy court to cancel the leases. Big friggin’ deal. bernie could have bought GM with his ill-gotten gains. Which would have served him right, as far as I’m concerned.
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I wish he had bought GM. I’m sure he could run it better than the current board – even from prison!
Indeed, this “news” is trivial and the crook deserves to go three rounds with Kimbo Slice.
However, one thing puzzles me, “…a 2008 Cadillac DTS, a 2009 Mercedes S550 leased last October, a 2007 Mercedes S550,…” and, “…a 2007 Land Rover Range Rover…[and]…a 2008 Mercedes GL450 sport-utility vehicle…”
What the hell is the point? Three of the same kind of car and two of the same kinds of Lux-UVs? And I have a sneaking suspicion that Lexus is not an IS either.
Because its a reminder just how SCUMMY the IRS rules are on business vehicles.
That S-class, for $1700 a month, is almost ALL deductable as a business expense.
So we were subsidizing the F-head to drive it!
@ RF
There seems to be worldwide agreement this thief should receive his infamy; no longer to be Ponzi, but simply Madoff Schemes.
And who cares what cars he drives! What does the still Governor of Illinois drive?
The one article I read about the canceling of the leases implied that this would save a lot of money. It may be a lot of money for us folks down here on planet earth, but it won’t get you much of the $50B that was stolen.
The selection of autos wasn’t particularly interesting but Bernie wasn’t a gear-head.
I’d like to see the government give Madoff one of these vehicles free of charge. Just as long as he promises to promptly strap himself in and drive it off of a cliff.
So in other words I was dead right yesterday when I said about the postponed CTS coupe …who’s going to buy this ‘nother fugly Caddy? Some 5′2″ Madoff-type scammer?
Oh, yes, they will do. :D
Ummm, actually no, not anymore – scammers like him ran all the way down to the Bahamas recently, it’s unlikely they would import CTS Coupes from here…
BTW I don’t really see why people are so pissed by this Madoff guy – take him as Robin Hood: he sccrewed a few very wealthy people, there’s nothing wrong with that… :D (jk)
Instead of throwing Bernie into a cage at taxpayer expense…Give him GM with no taxpayer money as punishment.
It’s a morbid fascination with wealthy no-gooders, similar to not being to avoid watching a train wreck. News about John Thain’s $1.2 million office renovation came out about the same time.
@k.amm: a lot of charities got hit big time. Some had to close their doors entirely, others have had to scale back operations.
Well, if you can pick up the car(s) for cheap, they’re probably a good deal.
The JT office renovation was actually two executive offices, a conference room, and a reception area. He said he’d done that when times were good (not exactly true—December 2007 was after the October 2007 start down hill we’re still traveling.) Also said he’d reimburse the company for it.
His excuse was that he found his new office “was completely unfunctional for his needs.” Decorated in the Elvis “Jungle Room” motif was it?
Any hints what “NSFW” is?
BTW, $50m is 0.1% of $50bn.
Just sayin’
If I was Madoff my primary car would have been a Veyron with the license plate “PYRAMID”.
As for “Who Gives a NSFW What Bernie Madoff Drove?” Well, there are a lot of pissed off investors looking for him.
He messed with a lot of effete old money, but he also screwed over some questionable characters. I’m a bit surprised he’s still alive.
It is interesting to contemplate who has done more damage to the economy Bernie or Rabid Rick. They both evaporated billions of dollars. Bernie is going to the Big House. Why doesn’t Rabid Rick have an ankle monitor?
One of these corporate/bank/Wall Street type thieves needs to be hung on national television as a warning to the other cooks in the executive suite.
Operative sentence in this story is the one about media fascination with the small details. As long as the press can keep the rest of us focused on Bernies cars or his swindling some 90 year old never was they don’t have to dig in on who had his back with the SEC or who got in and out early and made a killing.
What I find interesting about this Madoff thing is that people are talking about the value of their investment as their loss.
E.g. if I invested $1M with him 20 years ago and he ‘earned’ me 10% pa, then have I lost $1M or $6.7M? Most people would say I lost $6.7M, but that extra $5.7M probably never existed, except as a number on my annual statement. Also I may have drawn $2M out over the years. Whose money was that?
I wonder how much of the $50B was paper money.
Except for the ‘profit’ and running costs, a Ponzi scheme seems like a zero sum thing. What goes in, comes out. So it’s interesting to read about everyone who lost money with him, yet I don’t read any stories entitled “I invested with Madoff 20 years ago; cashed-up last year and made a killing”. :-)
NSFW = not safe for work. But at TTAC it means ****
cheers
Malcolm
@ Richard Chen:
Some of them were even Holocaust charities.
No further analysis is necessary.
Lets just hope his new temporary whip is a white bus with a short trip up the river.
Hanging is too dramatic and the Ivy League jerks would be unable to process it.
Sentence them to Acura TLs. Satan, too, while we are at it – anything less than “Ferrari Cake” (‘South Park’ reference) is basically live burial.
I’m thinking he deserves something along the lines of salad t0$$1ng and the like, by a friendly prison gang.
What a piece of work this guy is, can someone please give these people some justice, this is so retarded.