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Madoff Unsure He's A Sociopath, Sure He's A Good Person
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 28, 2011
Modified Feb 28, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 28, 2011
Modified Feb 28, 2011
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Bernard Madoff is on a roll! After recently chatting with the NY Times about his multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme, Inmate #61727054 at Butner Federal Correctional Complex collect-called New York magazine writer Steve Fishman and said, "I don’t have that much money in my commissary account," before railing, "Does anybody want to hear that I had a successful business and did all these wonderful things for the industry? And got all these awards? And so did my family? I did all of this during the legitimate years. No. You don’t read any of that."
He's also angry at the media, "What’s most upsetting is the way the media blasted my wife and family," and said that wife Ruth "is angry at me. She tries not to be, but it's not to be. I mean, you know, I destroyed my family." Madoff's son Mark killed himself last December, apparently under the stress of being unable to rebuild his life, and referring to the suicide, Madoff said, "Let me tell you, I cried for well over two weeks. I cried and cried. I didn’t come out of my room. I didn’t speak to anybody, and so on. I have tears in my eyes when I’m talking to you, even. Not a day goes by that I don’t suffer. I may sound okay on the phone. Trust me, I’m not okay. And never will be."
Madoff also told Fishman a little more about the Ponzi scheme—"he parked their billions in treasuries earning 2 percent a year, while generating statements that maintained they were earning about 15 percent—fantastic money in a slow market. He couldn’t bring himself to tell them that he had failed," and recounted conversation with his therapist: "Everybody on the outside kept claiming I was a sociopath. I asked her, ‘Am I a sociopath?’ She said, ‘You’re absolutely not a sociopath. You have morals. You have remorse.'" Madoff emphasized, "I am a good person."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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