What’s $50 Billion Among Friends?

Bernard Madoff defrauded investors out of an unprecedented $50 billion, in a massive Ponzi scheme that was perhaps the vilest swindle of the century.  But a judge has let him await trial in his cushy $7 million Park Avenue home, bought no doubt with the proceeds of fraud.  And that’s even though he failed to meet the conditions originally set for bail.  You can thank U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein for this outrage.

Here is a partial list of Madoff’s biggest victims, which included many charities for the needy.  He didn’t deserve bail of any kind.  The death penalty is insufficient punishment for what Madoff did, and the countless lives he ruined.