Inside Bernie Madoff's $7.5-million Ponzi pad
To think, in 150 years Bernie Madoff will have no place to call home.
Finally, after months of packing and cataloguing the arch-fraudster’s possessions and personal affects, Ponzi master Madoff’s $7.5-million-plus Manhattan penthouse is now for sale.
And come on inside. The U.S. Marshals invite you to take the guided tour.
Deputy Marshal Roland Ubaldo takes the New York Post on a trip through the Upper East Side apartment, which comes off exactly like you’d imagine an episode of MTV Cribs: Mothball Scammers and Their Old Furniture should.
Still, the place is pretty elegant and – despite the $8.75-million asking price for his Hamptons beach house – is billed as the “crown jewel” of Madoff’s four properties.
As for the mystique of the penthouse, there is that too. “He lived his life out this apartment and probably did his scheme out of this apartment,” Ubaldo offers during the video tour.
Indeed, if you’ve ever wanted to live like Public Enemy No. 1, this is your spot.
While Madoff stayed under house arrest in the Ponzi Penthouse after his December bust, he’s been out since May when he was sentenced to 1.5 centuries behind bars in a North Carolina prison.
But he left behind 4,000 square feet of luxury, and if you’ve got a few spare mil and a stomach for the Ghosts of Fraud Victims Past, you could soon call this baby home.
You can watch the tour on the Post’s website, but here’s what you’ll find:
-7 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 1 master bedroom
-a modern kitchen -- marble/stainless steel countertops, solarium windows, breakfast nook overlooking Manhattan’s east-side
-four working fireplaces
-his/her kitchens, bathrooms and offices
-12 foot ceilings
-at least two dozen old man artefacts that will make you say, “Yikes, who lived here, Orville Redenbacher?”
What’s also worth mentioning is Madoff comes off in the tour as kind of a dork. All his hundreds of pairs of shoes were meticulously organized, he had “fifty to sixty” suits only all of them were dark, and he had all of his shirts custom-made with the initials BLM monogrammed on them.
But most of all that has been packed away and is ready for auction. Will the place sell? Yeah, of course, it’s New York City. For how much, though?
U.S. Marshals are hopeful they can nab the $7.5-million asking price and it's good to root for that happening. All the money from the sale of Madoff’s estate will go in a fund to partially reimburse the investor’s victims of fraud.
“We believe the dark cloud has lifted, and we’re going to get prospective buyers for this apartment,” Ubaldo says.
“Unfortunately, (everything in here was) purchased based on lies and deceit, but again we hope that dark cloud has moved on.”
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: George | Sep 17, 2021 8:47:56 PM
When are all the other shysters going to join Madoff? He really didn't do anything that many of the other big time "investors" have been doing ofr years and getting away with it.
How much money did the so called victims actually make before the hous of cards came tumbelling down?
The main thing that they are victims of is their own greed.
Posted by: Scott | Sep 22, 2021 6:26:31 PM
They should make him live in some cheap ass slum apartment complex and force him to work some dead end crap job. Sieze every cent he has, his wife too, and give them both a damn good taste of reality. 150 years of jail is pointless. He's gonna be dead in another 20 years or so anyhow. Might as well make him live like a poor person so he might learn to appreciate what it is to have to actrually WORK for money instead of having people give it to you.