Matt Lauer will soon have a new neighbor: The Wall Street Journal reports that Bernie Madoff's penthouse at 133 East 64th Street has gone into contract. The buyer has yet to be identified and it's unclear how much the apartment went for—it had been listed for $8.9 million—but whoever it is, let's hope he/she performs a thorough home exorcism before moving in. [WSJ]
• Joe Roth, the Hollywood producer and former head of Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney Studios, has put his four-bedroom apartment at One Beacon Court on the market. The 3,779-square-foot spread, which Roth purchased for $13 million in 2006, is currently listed for $21.7 million with Corcoran's Deborah Grubman and Carol Cohen. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• In related news, Johnny Damon's former apartment at One Beacon Court is up for sale, too. The baseball player and his wife sold the 39th-floor pad three years ago for $8 million. Now the 2,100-square-foot apartment is back on the market, this time with a listing price of $8.9 million. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
Why was Bernie Madoff admitted to a prison hospital late last week? It isn't because he's dying of cancer. And it isn't because he was assaulted in prison, as ABC News reported this morning. (The story, which the local ABC affiliate has since revised twice, first suggested Madoff had suffered "facial fractures, broken ribs and a collapsed lung" in an incident "consistent with an assault." Then they said he fell off a bed and "a lot of facial bleeding" followed.) Now it turns out he was hospitalized for an altogether less dramatic reason: According to the Bureau of Prisons, it was "due to dizziness and high blood pressure." [WSJ, NYP]
Back in August, the Post reported that Bernie Madoff was dying of cancer. The Bureau of Prisons denied it, but the Journal reports today that Madoff was moved the prison medical center very recently. Could there be a connection? Or is he just experiencing side effects from all those Native American purification ceremonies he's been taking part in? [WSJ]
It looks like Andy Madoff may have figured out his next career move. Last week, the Journal reported that Bernie Madoff's youngest son was planning to get into "disaster recovery." Now word has it Andy and his girlfriend Catherine Hooper are behind a disaster management company called Black Umbrella, which "builds practical, efficient disaster plans for individuals, couples and families." Just so you're aware, the types of disasters Black Umbrella claims to be equipped to handle are along the lines of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. The disaster of waking up to find that someone you'd always trusted stole your life savings? You'll have to look elsewhere for help on that one. [Dealbreaker]
Last month's auction of Bernie and Ruth Madoff's personal property was pretty successful, raising close to a million bucks for the victims of the giant Ponzi scheme. Now there's a fraudster who is looking to make a buck by promoting auctions full of fake Madoff merchandise. A gallery that planned to auction off art work this weekend in Connecticut that it claimed once belonged to the couple—including one that featured phony paintings by Chagall and Picasso—was shut down after the state's attorney general vowed to take legal action. [ConnPost via AMM]
It's been a year since Bernie Madoff was arrested and charged with running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Madoff's life has changed a bit since then. These days he resides in a cell at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina, wears a khaki uniform with a number printed on the front (No. 61727-054), and works in the prison kitchen scrubbing pots and pans. But that doesn't mean he's necessarily unhappy. The Journal reports Madoff spends his free time playing bocce, chess and checkers and has made lots of friends behind bars. And he even likes the food, according to two lawyers who visited him. That's good to hear, isn't it? With 1,795 months of his sentence left to go, he'll have the pleasure of eating his next 166,000 meals there. [WSJ]
It hasn't been all that long since Bernie Madoff was hauled off to prison and the family name remains as tainted as it was when the fraud was uncovered a year ago. But that isn't deterring Andrew Madoff and his brother Mark from looking into potential career opportunities in finance. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mark recently reached out to two contacts to see if he'd be able to find another job on Wall Street and indicated he'd be interested in working on a trading desk or in trading technology. Andrew Madoff is looking for a gig, too.
When Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme was exposed last December, most people were horrified by the massive fraud. Other people, however, took a little bit of inspiration from Madoff's exploits.
Irving Picard, the man in charge of liquidating Bernie Madoff's assets, is asking for $22.1 million in fees for the last five months of work he and his firm have put in on the case, on top of the $14.6 million he's already been paid. But that includes a 10 percent "public interest discount," so don't even think of suggesting Picard isn't generous. [Bloomberg]
Victims of Bernie Madoff have another $2 million to spread around. Three boats owned by the imprisoned fraudster were auctioned off in Florida yesterday and brought in about $1 million; a sport-fishing yacht owned by Bernie's former sidekick, Frank DiPascali, reeled in another $950,000. And Ruth Madoff's convertible found a new owner, too: The 1999 Mercedes with 12,000 miles on it sold for $30,000. [Bloomberg]
Saturday's auction of assorted jewelry, clothing, and housewares that once belonged to Bernie and Ruth Madoff was far more successful than anyone suspected. The sale brought in just under a million dollars, or nearly double what had been anticipated in advance. (That satin Mets jacket with "Madoff" on it? It sold for $14,500, although the pre-bid estimate had only been $500.) But if you missed Saturday's proceedings, there's still time to grab a piece of the Ponzi king's spoils: Three of his boats go up for sale tomorrow. [NYT, NYP]
Bernie Madoff, the most successful fraudster in US financial history, is in jail. Everything he once owned went on the auction block today. Hunter Walker was there to watch people purchase souvenirs of the American financial collapse.
A boatload of Bernie and Ruth Madoff's personal possessions go up for auction tomorrow. And the competition is expected to be fierce. According to the company handling the proceedings, 1,100 people have already registered to submit bids online. (Each had to hand over a $1,000 refundable deposit in order to participate.) And contrary to what you might have expected, Bernie's satin Mets jacket probably won't fetch the most money tomorrow.
