Ruth Madoff, wife of disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff, says the couple attempted suicide on Christmas Eve 2008, shortly after he confessed to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. "We were both so saddened by everything that had happened," Ruth Madoff said in an interview with The New York Times. "It was unthinkable to me: hate mail, phone calls, lawyers." Diana Henriques, reporter for The New York Times and author of the Madoff book, "The Wizard of Lies," interviewed Ruth Madoff, and tells The Takeaway what they discussed.
Bernie Madoff was sentenced yesterday to the maximum term of 150 years, but what happens to any remaining wealth, and what can his victims do to get some of their money back? Diana Henriques, a senior financial writer for The New York Times has been following this story and joins The Takeaway.
At this point everyone has heard of disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, but the name J. Ezra Merkin may still be unknown. That is about to change. In a lawsuit filed Monday by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, it is alleged that Mr. Merkin convinced his clients to invest with him and then funneled all their money into Madoff's scheme. Mr. Merkin's private clients lost over $2 billion in the collapse of Madoff's Ponzi scheme and most did not realize they had ever invested with him. New York Times reporter Diana Henriques is covering the story and she joins us now with the details on these new "feeder fund" lawsuits.
The man who committed perhaps the largest fraud in the history of Wall Street could now spend the rest of his life in prison. Bernard L. Madoff will likely plead guilty tomorrow to all the criminal charges filed against him by federal prosecutors. After nearly 20 years of running a Ponzi scheme that consumed billions of dollars of other people's money, those spurned want their day in court. The Takeaway talks to Diana Henriques, New York Times senior financial writer about the new details that have emerged in the case and what victims want.
For more, read her article Madoff Will Plead Guilty; Faces Life for Vast Swindle in the New York Times.
What lessons have investors learned from Bernie Madoff? And what repercussions are still to come in the largest Ponzi scheme in history? Diana Henriques is the senior financial writer for the New York Times. She talks with John and Adaora about the state of the disgrace, the global finance markets, and how one gets away with global fraud.
Most Ponzi schemes are short lived. Financial watchdogs, investors or the FBI normally sniff out the crook and the scheme collapses. But that's not the case with Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff, who was arrested late last week and accused of putting on one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in the history of Wall Street. Diana Henriques of The New York Times wrote Sunday's piece, "The 17th Floor, Where Wealth Went to Vanish"
He put the losses at $50 Billion. Forensic accountants are still trying to confirm both the scale of that and how he did it. — Diana Henriques
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