The Smile of Bernard Madoff
Take a look at the NYT photo of Bernard Madoff arriving at court to hear a Federal judge uphold a lower-court decision that he may stay in his splendid apartment while out on $10 million bail.
Why wasn't Madoff jailed in the first place? This Propublica piece gives a legal answer. Surprise: the system is rigged for white collar crooks.
It's his triumphant smile that interests me. Most Madoff photos display that same smile of controlled geniality. He knows all the angles. He knows how the game is played, that is, rigged. This is the smile of a man who knows. He knows the game. He knows you and he knows me. When he was ahead of the game, he basked in the glow of esteem. He relished the chance to grant favors. He prided himself in making his friends richer. When the house of cards collapsed, he was left standing. He believes that he will remain standing. He knows his good fortune has been to live in the right place at the right time to get his name engraved in cornerstones. He has probably worked out a way to feel like a martyr. Losers are schmucks. What he knows is what George W. Bush knows: God bless America, a country where he's going to land on his feet.
Isn't his smile uncanningly similar to Charles Ponzi's?
http://www.twilightzonemuseum.com/show/images/5ninetyyears.jpg
January 14, 2009 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
What? How could you think that Madoff's smile is a smile of contentment or self congratulation? He knows he is going to jail. I think his smile looks nervous and scared. His world has fallen apart.
You stated that the system is rigged for white collar crooks? Bail is usually granted for all crooks. The criteria is that the accused not be a flight risk or a danger to the community. Innocent until proven guilty.
I doubt Madoff set out to be a crook. He made some very poor decisions and got behind the 8 ball.
Personally, I feel sympathy for Madoff. He was a guy on top of the world and he has fallen into the deepest gutter. His own fault? Of course. He will go to jail. He has nothing to be happy about.
January 14, 2009 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Help me out here, Faroff.
When exactly did Madoff get behind the 8 ball? Was it after the first, second or thirty-third billion he stole.
If you want to feel sympathy for anyone, start with the potential beneficiaries of the foundations he raped.
To address Todd's point:
To be a thief of any kind requires being two faced, and that is just what Madoff's visage demonstrates.
Take an index card and hold it horizontally beneath Madoff's beak. Then use it to cover his eyes.
You'll find his lips are smiling but the eyes are not.
The same hold's true with Ponzi. Although I believe his eyes show contempt. Madoff's seem to reflect unfocused fear.
For comparison, Ed Wynn's entire face is smiling in the Twighlight Zone photo shared by Buonasera.
January 14, 2009 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
John, you advise me to change for whom I feel sympathy. Sympathy is an emotion, it is not something one chooses. I am sympathetic to the man because I can see his pain, and my emotional response is to feel pity. You also see his pain, in his eyes. The smile is obviously forced. Madoff would never make a good poker player, because his emotions are written all over his face. That I feel sympathy does not interfere with the other side of my brain. I agree, send him to jail, only not until he is convicted. Question: Why were so many people duped by Madoff? Why didn't they ask more questions? Why could they not read his face, like you and me? The answer is another emotion: greed. Many/most of them thought Madoff was doing something illegal (trading with inside knowledge, gained through many contacts) and they didn't want to ask too many questions. And, incidentally, though there are a few exceptions, the rule is that Madoff's victims were very wealthy people, who quite simply, will lose a lot of money, but not enough to change their lifestyle one iota.
January 15, 2009 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
I suppose sympathy is in the eyes of the beholder, Faroff. Many feel sorry for George W. these days. Go figure.
My sympathy was not for those wearing greed goggles. It was for those who would have benefited from the foundations that Madoff calculatingly stole from.
January 15, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a reader of the Boston Globe and have seen that tiny smile often in photographs. It's a mini-smirk. He knows where the money is hidden.
January 14, 2009 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
He will get about 20 years. That makes him about 90 when he gets out. You think he is smirking/smiling about all the money he will dig up and spend when he is 90?
January 15, 2009 8:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
His is the face that got people to trust him - the genial guy they felt they could trust. Yup, he's still the con man, even though now he's conning the feds.
January 14, 2009 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here are more pictures of Bernie Madoff: http://www.zimbio.com/Bernard+Madoff/pictures/pro He looks like a scared puppy to me.
January 15, 2009 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, it's the smile of someone who knows that his wife, children and grandchildren will still be rolling in the lap of luxury even if he goes to jail. Isn't that rather obvious?
January 15, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
He'll probably be found "dead" in his apartment (except it will be some homeless man) like Ken Lay No one will have any recourse, just as the Enron people didn't. Mrs. Madoff will be able to go to a little island somewhere and enjoy her billions, befriending a beach-bum who remarkably resembles her deceased husband, but not one reporter or government official will be there to catch them.
See, if he was in jail the scam would never work.
Look out, homeless New Yorkers who resemble Bernie!
January 14, 2009 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
You've got me convinced now!
January 14, 2009 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.cinemarx.ro/poze/albume-actori/2007/11/Ian-Holm-1195562527.jpg
just casting for the movie here
http://brianmpalmer.com/blog/braff/gs3.jpg
January 14, 2009 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's after the verdict:
http://www.imdb.de/media/rm3390937088/tt0078748
January 14, 2009 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Fracture/fracture_movie_image_anthony_hopkins__2_1.jpg
January 14, 2009 9:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bernie Madoff, chased into exile by his creditors
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a44/moxievision/deMille.jpg
January 14, 2009 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is part of class warfare. A swindler finacier that rakes off 50 billion remains free until trial and will likely receive a few years of time at some upper middle class ping pong and golf farm while the poor schmuck that is caught with a few grams of crack will be locked up until trial and then be sentenced for decades at Sing Sing. When will this injustice end?
January 15, 2009 1:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Financial Times has an article up saying that there is no evidence Madoff invested ANY of the funds he had under management. No records of his using his own Brokerage Business to invest the funds, no records of his using other Brokers. In otherwords, all the records his customers received quarterly, listing trades, buy and sell orders, interest and dividends, even required reports for State and Federal Taxes, and all -- All Fiction.
One of the programs which took a hit on this was the Voter Registration Campaign Training piece in the national program offered by Wellstone Action -- the memorial to Paul Wellstone. It was fairly small -- about 65 thousand per year, but training people in many states to set up and run efficiently and very legally Voter Registration was just one small element in the training programs they do all over the country. It was supported by one of the foundations that just closed up, and went out of business.
January 15, 2009 7:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can you link? I know much of their stuff is subscription only, but I would love to read this. Thanks.
January 15, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink