Madoff’s scam on demand
Investigative reporter Jim Campbell did Eliot Spitzer’s first post-governor interview, did libraries on Russian oligarchs and wrote the 400-page book “Madoff Talks” — now a Netflix documentary.
Campbell: “Madoff’s wife, Ruth, lived near me. We spent time together, had meals, texted and she introduced me to our planet’s then-imprisoned most vilified. Nobody else had such access.
“The guy was worth $3 billion. Wall Street’s biggest criminal enterprise. Imagine what that brain’s like.
“Bernie’s bank was JP Morgan. Its CEO Jamie Dimon called me after watching the documentary. He asked about sordid rumors of a European bank whose feeder fund sent money to Bernie. It delegated custodianship to one Cayman Islands operation, which under the table worked right back to Madoff. People thought that’s where the money was. I was told if I called them I might get killed.”
Listen, when I was married, I knew what my husband was doing and who he was doing it to. You telling me his wife never knew borscht?
“She told me, ‘I came from Queens from nothing and I’m going to just go on.’ She supposedly knew nothing. She said she did not know what a Ponzi scheme was. But, listen, she had some inkling. When he told her to withdraw $10 million once she became catatonic.
“His original legitimate business was based on 20 investors. Then when he lost money and couldn’t deal with it…
