When Bernard “Bernie” Madoff swept into Palm Beach homes, businesses and private clubs — some of the most exclusive rooms with some of the wealthiest people in the world — he brought with him promises of big returns on exclusive investments.
Those promises proved too alluring for some — leaving many on the island devastated both finally and personally in the wake of Madoff’s 2008 arrest for charges including wire fraud, money laundering, securities fraud and investment adviser fraud.
Until recently, the story of Madoff’s $68 billion fraud was told in piecemeal form, said Richard Behar — which is why the investigative journalist dedicated 15 years to researching and writing “Madoff: The Final Word,” released in July by Simon & Schuster’s Avid Reader Press.
Behar will discuss his book, which brings to light new details about the scope of Madoff’s crimes, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, during a book signing at the Palm Beach Book Store, 215 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach.
“We are looking forward to hosting author Richard Behar here at the Palm Beach Book Store,” store owner Candice Cohen said. “So many people in Palm Beach were impacted by Bernie Madoff, and this book is important because it includes new pertinent information that will be published for the first time.”
Behar has worked for publications including Forbes, Time and Fortune. He turned his investigative eye to Madoff’s story after discovering that his aunt, Adele, had lost all of her money in Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.
Madoff died in prison at age 82.
His list of victims features celebrities and socialites including director Steven Spielberg, actors Kevin Bacon and John Malkovich, Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel, and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax — and many Palm Beachers.
Madoff owned a home on North Lake Way, and he was a member of the Palm Beach Country Club, where he played golf and met people who would be among those who lost billions to the man.
After his arrest, Madoff’s Palm Beach home became a target for vandals, with one incident in January 2009 leaving the massive tree in front of the home’s gate draped with toilet paper — the work of teen boys who told the Daily News at the time that they lost their trust funds to Madoff.
In the course of Behar’s decade-and-a-half digging into Madoff’s crimes, he said he uncovered information that revealed that the fraud extended back toward the beginning of Madoff’s career in the 1960s. He said he also found evidence that Madoff’s family was far more involved than previously reported.
The type of long-term journalistic investigations to which Behar is accustomed led him to become “hooked” on certain stories, and he said that is what happened as he delved deeper and deeper into Madoff’s crimes, for which the con man was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009.
Decades ago, Behar met in prison with the person who, at that time, was considered the king of the Ponzi scheme, Dennis Helliwell. Behar was tried to understand how Helliwell — who grew up in foster care, as did Behar — turned into someone who “took his whole family to the cleaners,” Behar said.
“And then Bernie comes along,” he said. “I just wanted to get into his brain as much as possible and probe it.”
Behar was especially shocked that his aunt fell victim to Madoff’s promises. “I thought she was so savvy,” he said, adding that he couldn’t believe “she was invested with this guy.”
After years of having her business-reporter nephew look into possible investments for her, Behar’s aunt had kept mum about putting all of her money into Madoff’s so-called investment fund.
“That was part of the mentality of dealing with Bernie,” Behar said. “You kept quiet. It was like a club. I likened it to standing outside of velvet rope in New York at a nightclub and hoping you get picked.”
Behar’s aunt spoke with her nephew for “Madoff: The Final Word,” providing insight and humor into the mindset of those who gave the man their money.
Behar also had the benefit of hundreds of hours of interviews with prosecutors and investigators close to the case — along with access to confidential FBI documents that revealed the never-before-reported depth of Madoff’s fraud, he said.
Those confidential documents included summaries of interviews with the man Behar called Madoff’s “deputy in crime” — Frank DiPascali Jr.
“Frank just shed enormous light on the evolution of the fraud,” Behar said.
According to the documents, Madoff confessed to DiPascali that the fraud extended back to the 1960s, Behar said, adding that Madoff also shared that information in two meetings with federal investigators.
But Madoff reversed himself on those admissions, Behar said, adding that he suspects that one of Madoff’s attorneys warned him that any profits from before the 1990s, when prosecutors said the con began, would not be able to go to his wife, Ruth.
Behar visited Madoff three times in prison, spoke to him over the phone 50 times and sent hundreds of emails back and forth, Behar said.
The writer’s first attempts to reach Madoff were met with silence. It was after Behar sent a heartfelt condolence note to Madoff following the suicide of Madoff’s son, Mark, in 2010 that Madoff finally responded.
“He said, ‘You know, this story has not been told. Come on down,’ ” Behar said. “That was Bernie’s way.”
As Behar began to uncover new information, he came across additional evidence that Madoff’s wife, Ruth, who FBI agents nicknamed “Ruthie Books,” had a much larger role than previously reported.
“She was the bookkeeper for decades, reconciling the money in, money out of the Chase checking account that was used for the Ponzi,” Behar said. “But she claimed on ‘60 Minutes’ (in 2011) that she worked only two years at the company, in 1961 and ’63. And that is absolutely false.”
Ruth Madoff’s work reconciling that account continued until the year before “it exploded,” Behar said.
Behar decided to take his time with his research and not rush it, even as about a dozen books about Madoff and his crimes were published within just a handful of years of Madoff’s arrest.
“I wasn’t going to jump into that mess,” Behar said. “I’d rather pick the bones, see what was missed and develop relationships with FBI and prosecutors, and just sort of methodically try to do something definitive to the best that I humanly can.”
The result: a nearly 400-page tome that has received rave reviews, with Kirkus Reviews calling it, “A penetrating account of the web of lies that won the late con man Bernie Madoff his billions.”
How was Madoff able to scam so many savvy people out of billions of dollars?
A Ponzi scheme typically begins as affinity fraud, which is a type of investment fraud that targets a specific group of people, Behar said.
In Madoff’s case, Behar said that was the Jewish community.
Madoff was Jewish and was able to endear himself to members of clubs in well-heeled communities, including Palm Beach and Long Island.
“But then it grew like a tsunami, and he had to increase it to keep the Ponzi going, and that’s when big feeder funds started getting involved and he took it overseas,” Behar said.
Also Jewish, Behar said there is an element of Jewish culture where Jews tend to trust each other. “You don’t think you’re going to be burned,” he said.
Wiesel is a perfect example of that, Behar noted. Wiesel’s best-selling book “Night” was based on his experiences in concentration camps during the Holocaust. Before his death in 2016, Wiesel won a Congressional Gold Medal in 1984, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and a National Humanities Medal in 2009.
He also lost millions to Madoff. The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity lost $15 million — one of many Jewish nonprofits bilked by Madoff — and Wiesel’s personal accounts also took a hit. In a 2009 New York Times interview, Wiesel said that “psychopath” was too nice a word for the man who nearly put his foundation out of existence.
Madoff told Behar that he didn’t pursue Wiesel. Instead, Behar told the Daily News, Madoff claimed Wiesel’s friends “pressured” Madoff to accept Wiesel as a client.
When Behar saw Wiesel at a charity event during his years of research for his book, Behar asked the Nobel laureate if there was any healing for the Jewish community in the wake of Madoff’s crimes.
“No,” Behar said Wiesel told him. “But we’ve been through worse.”
If you go
What: Book signing with Richard Behar, author of “Madoff: The Final Word”
Where: The Palm Beach Book Store, 215 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach
When: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Nov. 20
Information: thepalmbeachbookstore.com, richardbehar.com
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at [email protected]. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
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