Richard Behar
Courtesy: Lizzie Cohen
It’s possible you’ll not have heard of it Bernie MadoffThe identify has been round for some time, however that does not imply The story of a notorious liar It was over, or the ache he had induced.
Court docket-appointed trustee Irving Picard, 83, nonetheless lives a leisurely life Try to get the money back from those that benefited from Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and to cut back the staggering losses of others.
Greater than 100 authorized proceedings proceed over the worst fraud in historical past.
Richard Behar Simply Revealed a New Biography, “Madoff: The Last Word”, nonetheless attempting to grasp how Madoff’s thoughts labored. What allowed a person to blackmail Elie Wiesel, who survived the Holocaust and went on to develop into the primary chronicler of the Holocaust? Or sitting with my spouse, Ruthhaving fun with a film in a theater whereas figuring out that he has worn out the life financial savings of hundreds of individuals world wide?
These questions have dogged Behar, who instructed CNBC he has lengthy been fascinated by scammers. He contacted Madoff, lengthy after most different reporters had turned their consideration elsewhere, and the monetary legal was serving him. 150 years in prison in North Carolina.
Richard Behar’s e book “Madoff: The Final Phrase.”
Behar first expressed his condolences to Madoff, whose son Mark had simply handed away. died He dedicated suicide in December 2010, the second anniversary of his father’s arrest.
Quickly after, an e-mail popped up in Behar’s inbox with the topic line: “Prisoner: Madoff, Bernard L.” The message launched a decade-long relationship that included Roughly 50 cellphone conversations, a whole lot of emails and three in-person visits. When Madoff died in April 2021, Behar was nonetheless writing his biography. Madoff typically complained to Behar that he was taking too lengthy on the e book.
“He as soon as joked that he could be lifeless by the point the e book got here out, which was after all true, though I by no means deliberate it that manner,” Behar stated.
CNBC spoke with Behar, an award-winning journalist and Forbes investigative editor at giant, by way of e-mail this month. (Dialog has been edited and condensed for model and readability.)
“He by no means requested me a private query”
Anne Nova: You write that you’re an investigative reporter with a “explicit fondness for scammers.” Why do you assume that is?
Richard Behar: I’ve all the time been fascinated by how con artists’ brains work. I am notably fascinated with con males who steal from these near them, maybe obsessively – like Madoff.
A con man I visited in jail within the Nineties did one thing comparable. Earlier than Bernie was arrested, this man ran the longest Ponzi scheme ever, for 11 years. He was an orphan, raised by his aunts and uncles however devoured them financially, in addition to his cousins, his spouse’s mother and father, his finest buddies – even his so-called religion in God And the confused nun. I used to be additionally not raised by organic mother and father, I spent my childhood in foster care. I am unable to faux to think about doing that to the individuals who stepped as much as care about me, nevertheless it was endlessly engaging to me. Perhaps that is the place individuals’s love for con males comes from.
Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan Federal Court docket on March 12, 2009 in New York Metropolis.
Stephen Chernin | Getty Photos Information | Getty Photos
AN: Was Madoff fascinated with your life?
RB: In our almost ten-year relationship, he by no means requested me any private questions. It is actually unbelievable. Typically I’d give him alternatives, reminiscent of telling him that I grew up in a small city not removed from his hometown—with an analogous however poorer Jewish subculture—however he would not say something. He could not care much less. I requested a psychologist about this, and her idea was that Bernie was such a malignant narcissist that he could not “keep my actuality, he may solely keep his personal.” It was not possible for him to be a three-dimensional particular person as a result of if he may think about that, he must think about the schoolteacher who misplaced his pension.
AN: What is the best regret you’ve got seen him present for what he did?
RB: I as soon as requested him if he may ever forgive himself for being a Ponzi schemer, and he stated “no, by no means.” He insists he feels nice regret for individuals who stole. However I by no means fairly felt it. There was by no means a tear. I requested him why he did not cry throughout the sentencing, and he snapped: “After all I did not cry. I used to be made to cry.”
‘Jail was an ideal aid for him’
AN: How did Madoff say jail life modified him?
RB: He by no means talked about it. He as soon as described himself as feeling numb. I stated, “I am unable to think about what that might be like.” He replied, “You do not wish to know, you do not wish to know.”
In some methods, I believe going to jail was a giant aid for him. Working a Ponzi scheme for a century and a half can definitely be exhausting. In jail, he normally wakened in his cell round 4 a.m., made espresso in mattress with an instantaneous scorching water machine, and skim or listened to NPR till breakfast. He labored first within the kitchen, then within the laundry room, then managed the inmates’ pc room.
That final job made me snicker as a result of he instructed me he may barely activate the pc in his workplace, which was a crimson flag to everybody within the firm that he wasn’t truly buying and selling shares.
AN: You wrote about him seeing a therapist in jail. Do we all know how typically this occurs, or how lengthy it lasts? Does this appear to be serving to him?
RB: He ended a cellphone dialog abruptly as a result of he needed to attend a weekly appointment with a psychologist. Later he known as me and I requested the way it was going. He laughed and stated it was useful, that she was a “fantastic girl” and that he thought he ought to have gone to remedy years in the past. However though the programs have been useful, he stated he by no means discovered the solutions he sought about why he dedicated the fraud and why he damage so many individuals.
NEW YORK – MARCH 12: Financier Bernard Madoff passes by gathered media as he arrives on the Federal Court docket in Manhattan on March 12, 2009 in New York Metropolis. Madoff is anticipated to plead responsible to all 11 felony counts of economic misconduct introduced by prosecutors and might be sentenced to 150 years in jail.
Chris Hondros | Getty Photos
He is upset about information experiences calling him “human” sociopath. He stated he requested his therapist, “Am I a sociopath? Lots of the shoppers are family and friends – how may I do that?” Burney claimed she instructed him that folks have the flexibility to distinguish, Like thugs killing individuals after which going residence and taking their youngsters.
You simply put it out of your thoughts. I requested her if she had a prognosis. He stated, no, only a divider. Perhaps she instructed him this to make him really feel higher since he would by no means have the ability to get out.
AN: It feels like Madoff was ready to be caught for all these years. Is it proper? Did he all the time know he could not escape this? What was it like for him to stay in that suspended state?
RB: Bernie stated he had been below fixed strain from the Ponzi scheme and would generally discuss loudly to himself within the workplace because of the stress. He stated considered one of his largest methods to alleviate stress is to take a seat in a darkish movie show along with his spouse, Ruth, and watch films twice per week. He additionally stated he deceived himself into pondering some “miracle” would bail him out of the Ponzi scheme, however he knew for at the very least a decade earlier than his arrest that he would by no means escape the Ponzi scheme.
He stated the one time he actually relaxes is on the weekends, when he is on his yacht. I interviewed a former FBI behavioral evaluation professional who recommended that Bernie felt protected on the boat as a result of he may see 360 levels round him, all the best way to the horizon, so he would have loads of early warning of incoming threats.
“Not a single investor” complained to the SEC
AN: You paint a really attention-grabbing portrait of Irving Picard, the 83-year-old court-appointed trustee who spent years attempting to get well cash for Madoff’s traders. Is that this the one job Picard has had in years? Why did he make this his life mission?
RB: Picard hardly ever spoke to the media. I used to be simply chatting with John Moscow, the previous chief white-collar crime prosecutor within the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace who labored on among the Madoff circumstances for the trustees. “Owen was a really loyal public servant,” he stated. He was fully targeted on his mission. John’s phrases: “He is not loopy about it, however he is fairly shut.”
In my e book, I quote a former federal prosecutor who stated you can examine this case for 50 years and nonetheless not study all the reality, however Picard wasn’t . That is Bernie’s solely chapter since 2008, 4 days after his arrest. Tender teddy bear. He would possibly make them pay over time, or he would possibly take somebody’s home however depart them a life curiosity.
AN: What do you assume individuals misunderstand most about Madoff?
RB: Many individuals who lose cash make the error of inserting the blame solely on him, as a substitute of trying within the mirror and asking themselves how they may have put themselves in such a harmful scenario. Madoff’s sustained excessive returns have been merely not doable. Even so, many web losers consider the federal government owes them as a result of the SEC did not catch Bernie. However the company’s mission has by no means been to guard individuals from silly funding selections.
On March 12, 2009, financier Bernard Madoff arrived on the Federal Court docket in Manhattan, New York. Madoff plans to plead responsible to 11 felonies, which carry a penalty of about 150 years in jail below federal legislation. (Photograph by Stephen Chernin/Getty Photos)
Stephen Chernin | Getty Photos
I discussed to you that I went to a jail within the Nineties to go to the person who ran the longest Ponzi scheme earlier than Madoff was arrested. Identical to Bernie, this con man could not have carried out it with out the complicity of the large banks. One investor complained to the SEC throughout the 11-year-old Ponzi scheme that he misplaced cash though he was assured ridiculous returns of 20-25%. The scammer was arrested the subsequent day.
In Bernie’s case, not a single investor in his half-century of fraud ever contacted the SEC. They have been busy splashing within the gravy.
