Barbara Walters interviews Bernie Madoff from jail

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For our interview, I was permitted only to bring in pen and pad. I was also allowed to bring in $20 in quarters since there were vending machines near our meeting room, which prisoners and guests are permitted to use during the visit. As it turns out, Madoff didn’t want anything, but I did mention it during the meeting in case we were hungry.
Barbara Walters • Delivering a first-hand account of her jailhouse interview with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. The interview, which airs on ABC during ‘World News’ and ‘Nightline,’ comes several days after a short segment was released from an upcoming episode of ’60 Minutes’ in which Madoff’s wife Ruth admitted the pair had attempted suicide. source

Posted by Matthew Keys • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Oct 2011 20:45

“It was very, very impulsive”: According to the wife of disgraced, convicted former billionaire Bernie Madoff, the pair attempted to kill themselves about two weeks following Bernie’s confession that he’d been running a massive Ponzi scheme. They both took what they believed would be an overdose of pills before retiring to bed, only to both awake groggy but alive the next day. Ruth Madoff says the pair never again discussed suicide, adding “But I have no idea why he didn’t — I don’t know how he lives with it all.” source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

I would question whether they’d grant him a furlough because of heightened publicity. He could be a target. He could be shot.
Federal Prisons Consultants managing director Ed Bales • On Bernie Madoff’s chances of being allowed to go to his son’s funeral. Madoff has two things against him here: A handbook that generally only allows furloughs for prisoners with two years or less in their terms, and (since that’s usually waived for white-collar criminals) a level of notoriety that would probably mean an appearance like that would endanger his safety. On a side note, this story is from the New York Post, which used an “end of his rope” pun to explain Mark Madoff’s death on its front page recently. We’re sure they’ve hit lower depths, but we can’t remember when. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Their impression almost unanimously was that he landed like a rock star. He was a celebrity, he had groupies, he had people clamoring for his advice, and his autograph.
New York magazine reporter Steve Fishman • Talking about his profile piece on Bernie Madoff, which seems to portray him like a Jay-Z like super-celeb for bilking all those rich people out of their money. Madoff reveled in his newfound infamy, and one inmate puts like so: “If I’d lived that well for 70 years, I wouldn’t care that I ended up in prison.” Let’s face it. Is he wrong? source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink