Bernie Madoff Victims Speak Out (VIDEO)

Vanity Fair is featuring video by Stephen Wilkes of a handful of Bernard Madoff's many victims telling their stories.

There is the "penniless" Maureen Ebel of Palm Beach, who said, "I remember the day he called me and said Maureen, all of your investment worries are over."

Others complain of "the Madoff illness" they've suffered since the $50 billion ponzi scheme was revealed, and even a rabbi who says that "what he did to the Jewish community is the worst damage."

Rose and Jack Less of New York says the worst thing of all is "we have nothing for charities."

Another victim, Donna McBride of Boca Raton, said: "I want to make a point that the government let us down. And if they let me down they can let other people down."

WATCH:

Comments

[RJII]

this proves that america is and has been on the wrong course for a long time:
1. wall street greed is intertwined in almost every life and institution
2. the rich don't go to jail for heinous crimes against society, they first get mansion arrest.

we gave too much of our labor, ethics, souls, futures, country to the rich in the form of special preferential treatment, i.e., trickle down economics. The greedy and unethical raided the treasury and bankrupted the country.

Its time for real change. Obama!

[TotallyAmazed]

We lock up people who hang out in grocery store parking lots with any number of schemes trying to get unsuspecting people (usually Sr. Citizens) to give up large sums of money. Then we're quick to say when we read about someone who lost a lot of money to one of those people preying on the elderly, that the victim should have been smarter. That who in their right mind would just go to a bank and draw out their savings and hand it over to a total stranger. To us that sounds unbelievable.

The Bernard Madoff scheme though - that's something else entirely. Very smart people gave Madoff money in what made perfect sense. I have no reason to believe any of the people in this video haven't got all the right in the world to be livid about what Madoff did to them.

Why are people posting here about some of the victims who did get money back, as if they're some kind of crook, too? They just happened to be lucky enough to be at the top of the pyramid.

The whole thing is nuts; but, I can't see where the investors should be blamed for their losses. Unless I'm missing something that's staring me right in the face.

[skippyB]

They have every right to be livid. They were victims. Here's the thing -- He seduced them with a promise that smacked of something really exclusive, not available to the public, some sort of back door - or should we say right through the front door and not the service door - too good to be true, because they were lucky, in on it, special, smarter, better, more deserving. They'd all arrived.

Diversity is good. Transparency is good.

It's like an "exclusive" golf club ..... all that they were or would be excluding was or would be the best golfer ever- in history - sometimes exclusivity will come back and bite you in the backside.

Smugness bit them in the butt and in many ways it's biting all of us in the butt.
Good lessons.

[TyroneHed]

I have looked with bemusement and then with anger at the people out there whose only goal is to get rich. They major in greed and fight to take it and even if their behavior is morally bankrupt, they have been allowed to get their obscene bonuses and all that.
However, I will also say that all these people with enough money to invest with Bernie Madoff for his "magical" 12% year-over-year gains, were really also just greedy people. Had they just put their stupid money in the bank and given up their 12% gains they would be just fine. Playing the stock market in any form reduces to gambling and greed. Those of you with the need to justify your faith in this form of gambling will be like the woman in this piece who was egging for a government bailout. Like hell, lady. You were gambling and would not have given the taxpayer any of your 12%. If you had just kept your money, you would not face any exposure to Mr. Madoff. In fact, one wonders if he were not acting as some sort of Darwinian Black Window. Madoff used his status to identify the most venal, the most connected, the least deserving of advantage people and those are the ones he admitted to his scheme and those he preyed on. If they sat on their money and didn't squeeze it to the core, they would now be fine. They gambled and lost.

[jaslyn]

Read the Vanity Fair article about him before you become so judgemental of the victims. Some of these people were widows who never handled any money, and when their husbands died, they said go see Maddoff. Some are like you described, motivated by greed, but not all.

[JustAThought56]

The returns were not unreasonable. They were not excessive. They were just reliable year after year. Which is what tipped off the whistle blower to the con. That is the irony - they were not, for the most part, going for money they were going for security. It seems like half of the people invested their money with brokers who turned it over to Madoff without them even knowing about it. And a lot of others were just trying to do the right thing and make their savings last.

It is so weird to look at those pictures and know you are looking at a thief and a con artist in action - a complete sociopath.

[nomadicexpat]

the reason people are blaming and looking to teh government is because the SEC is supposed to monitor firms and protect against such crime. an individual investor is not equipped to do the due diligence necessary to uncover a ponzi scheme of this magnitude

the returns mentioned are not outrageous AND saying it's peoples own fault for not putting all their money in the bank is ignorant -- we are a country of investors ... if people had lost in the stock market thats one thing, this is no different than being held up at the ATM by a man with a gun

[totaldisbelief]

If Madoff was financing illegal drug or arms deals with their money and paying them from the profits would they have turned the money down?

[totaldisbelief]

When it was all good they played now it's all bad they cry.
Lot's of working people never had it good they have always struggled ,no one helped them. I hope these people don't have their hand out for a Gov't Bailout.
They should all get together and do a class action lawsuit on Bernie and make sure he's impoverished and does the time he so richly deserves.

[renatam]

And, how about including those at the top of the PONZI - who benefited early on in the 40 year SCAM? Notice how quiet they all are...despite knowing they benefited at the expense of these people down lower on the totem pole. Institutions, mega-Jewish charities, very high net worth individuals, etc. who collected -- as Madoff's own family and bookeeper wife did -- for a generation, at the expense of those lower down -- now KNOW they were complicit and didn't earn their money honestly.

Ms. Goldman of Tel Aviv and the whistleblower TOLD them this...but they didn't want to know. They just wanted to make the money and live their Country Club, gated community lives.

Those at the top levels of the PONZI should also have their returns over the years investigated -- including Judges, D.A.s, Senators, "charities" et al.

[jaslyn]

that sounds fair.

[nogimmicks]

A few things around the Madoff crime remain to be outrageous:

- Madoff is not behind bars, despite the fact that his crime is the largest in history, and his relatives keep the money

- no-one in the SEC got punished for abetting the crime and for ignoring the direct calls to look into Madoff. Moreover, Mary Shapiro, who was overseeing Madoff's firm was chosen by Obama to continue business as usual.

- no regulations to fix the route cause of the problem have been introduced by the Obama government (neither short term, not long term) .

[renatam]

1. Madoff is being accomodated by the powers-that-be that were complicit and helped facilitate his rise, stature and role at NASDAQ et al. We don't know how many accounts of former Presidents, Mayors, Governors, D.A.s, Senators, et al -- and their families -- he managed. THEY are protecting and accomodating him. As the payouts of bailout monies to bankers demonstrate, they take care of their own -- and make their own first in line to be taken care of. There is clearly a double standard - and if you are wondering what Madoff's smirk is all about as he struts down Park Avenue here in Manhattan -- you may find your answer in WHO benefitted by his PONZI for the last 40 years.

2. The SEC will be part of the truth and reconcilliation initiative moving through Congress. Of that you can be sure.

3. President Obama has been in Office for a month, has a list of priorities -- that include investigating the era of cowboy capitalism BEFORE steps are taken that could further compromise the American economy.

[skymuffin]

I think you have a point. He's got some really big names in his pocket. If the criminals are running the investigation, how can anyone expect justice?

[observer007]

Ah - where is citizen Robspierre now that we need him???

[jaslyn]

Obviously the judge who passed this sentence had his investments elsewhere.

[superjules]

It's hard for me to be sympathetic for these people as they sit in their gorgeous homes with their beautiful art work. The lady sitting on her silk couch in front of her Limoges pieces whinging about "how she's going to pay for groceries". My first suggestion would be to sell the Limoges.

[renatam]

A year ago they were "in" and you/I were out. They were comfortably settled in that knowledge and asked NO QUESTIONS about the guaranteed percentages other funds could not provide...even when Bernie Madoff refused to answer any questions and that was publicly known and a CRITERIA for acceptance.

Now, one of these women says WE should somehow make her whole "as we always do" in America when something happens.

Lady, I am sorry to say Bernie Madoff was not a natural disaster and -- the Country Clubs where he circulated are off limits to most Americans -- like gated communities to keep most Americans out.

You can't then demand we make YOU whole when one of your own uses your insular world as a poaching ground.

With that said, I feel terrible about what has happened in the same way I felt terrible for Americans stranded (and drowning) in New Orleans.

Nevertheless, there is something suspicious about sophisticated folks who amassed millions -- not having heard of DIVERSIFICATION of their asset portfolios -- and believing one man can guarantee percentages despite whatever happens in the Market and to us lesser mortals who were not privileged to be members of their Country Clubs. Very strange.

[livingontop]

Yes it's called irrational exuberance. Welcome to unregulated capitalism.

[skymuffin]

Live by the free market. Die by the free market. Unless something bad happens, then they frantically scream for the government to help them.

I thought these guys love tax cuts and deregulation? You're on your own. No one helps me if I get swindled by someone. Learn from your mistake. Even I know that you have to diversify.

[notajoiner]

I kind of taken aback by the comments. I am not holding against these people the fact they HAD money, that did not give him the right to steal it. We need Gov. to set guidelines and to enforce them, its not a perfect system butit helps. Sometime Uncle Sam can overdo it, but no regulation means a free for all.......where we are now.

[notajoiner]

I hope for these people madoff will be taken down. take allhis assets liquidate and divide seems only reasonable, this being against the law then you lock the man up. I was taught growing up dont put all your eggs in one basket, needless to say I dont. My baskets are small not many but a few. Take him to the cleaners, the same way he did you...

[ZackShorty]

I think I'll save my sympathy this week for the familiy who lost the local fire -rescue guy. He passed away at 55 as the result of an on the job illness. They lost someone who cared for and helped the community. He actually worked for the few bucks he earned.

You people in the vidio, stop whining and go back to work like the rest of us. All you lost was money.

[macohmz]

The notion that you could let people surrounded by millions and billions of dollars "regulate" themselves is an absurdity of the highest order. It shows the greed and the hope of a payout of those lawmakers who permitted this fiasco.

[dcoxucla]

i feel for these people but did they vote for regulation or did they vote against????

[BenderBot]

"I want to make a point that the government let us down. And if they let me down they can let other people down."

An interesting concept! Most of them are probably republicans (lowercase 'r' is intentional). I wonder what happened to the "government is the problem, government can't do anything right and government needs to be small" rants. There is a saying that even the meat eating lions will eat the grass in trying times. When it hits the pocket book, even the staunch ne0.c0n will come down a notch or two. Issues like g..un..s and ab0rt|0n mean nothing when you can't keep a roof over your head. There is going to be a lot of ne0..c0ns who either switch party or become independent if this economic mess created by the bumbling |D|0T B..u..$..h continues.

The only thing that is stable right now is the "government". No one has any confidence in the free market backed institutions. The government is for the people, by the people and to the people.

[privategirl]

When the Government do step in they are wrong and when they don't regulate they are wrong. I guess it's easy to blame the Government than yourself.

[hu.man]

I am not sure if this is any consolation but based on what I know about this case direct investors may be insured up to 500K per case on this scandal. That is a modicum of recovery to be able to rely on. Plus some 900+ million of the Madoff's assets where recovered. So that can be divvied up as well. There is also the matter of some 100 mil which is his wife's assets that will probably will also be confiscated because it was ill-gotten funds. Also early investors who have recovered their principal will probably get nothing leaving more money for others. The people who are going to hurt the most are those who invested with him in aggregate accounts like IRA's. The only bright side on this case is that Madoff didn't go down to zero before he turned himself in and didn't use his clout to swindle creditors as well. The major down side of all of this is that people have to wait for many months before they see a penny returned to them as the litigation may drag on for a while.