Home Pop Culture THE MEDIA’S IN-COMPLETE NARRATIVE OF THE MADOFF FRAUD

THE MEDIA’S IN-COMPLETE NARRATIVE OF THE MADOFF FRAUD

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contrast that with how the more optimistic Andrew is simply looking forward to new frontiers under the Black Umbrella, a disaster planning concern founded by his glamrous entrepreneurial fiancé, Catherine Hooper.

Ok, I get it, this falls under can’t a fraudsters son (who was an officer for nearly 20 years in the criminal family enterprise and who faces indictment for criminal fraud and civil lawsuits) catch a break man and move on in life? Turns out he may not have committed any crimes other than simple tax fraud or at least any that dead men can no longer testify to. You will have to forgive me if I do not sit around pondering “How Madoff’s son handles grief and scandal”. But I do understand that pieces which focus on “how to explain Mark Madoff’s suicide and Andrew Madoff’s post scandal survival” are in effect trying to cajole the general public to move beyond their focus on Andrew.

While they are subject to Trustee’s lawsuits seeking forfeiture of their ill gotten gains, to date, many in the Madoff criminal enterprise are still in possession of most of their trinkets, homes and accounts and apparently under no risk of criminal prosecution but have restricted use of their personal assets (or the personal assets of their victims). Maybe that will change after a decision is made that most of the funds that can be retrieved have been secured. However, one must consider the risk of the class rage that may fuel vigilante justice being pursued against insiders of the Madoff criminal family syndicate. As much as many in the upper classes may have concerns at digging too deeply and thereby opening a Pandora’s Box and risk igniting or stirring class rage which may spread like wild fire across a burning field and potentially ensnare other fraudsters who are currently hiding in plain view, doing nothing is more dangerous. Like a boiling tea kettle left on a hot stove, the risk of doing nothing is a bigger stain on all of our houses, undermines trust of Wall Street and the financial markets and the perceived standing of the non-guilty. There are in fact honest and competent money managers. As long as the guilty roam free with millions in their accounts and walk freely around in their luxury homes at 433 East 74th Street on the Upper East Side, at 57 Tomac Lane in Old Greenwich or in Palm Beach we will never have total security or tranquility in our society again. Candidly, I did not lose any money but its not like I would not cheer if a few more in the Madoff clan“heroic” fashion as Mark Madoff, even if that means Narcisco Rodriguez would lose a big shopper or that attorney Mark Smitha client. Ok there so I said it.

If you have a conversation or two in this town at a not so random watering hole or in the homes of friends, you will learn as I have that many people are truly and deeply concerned about financial fraudsters and their accomplices and the threat they present to our security and financial welfare (See: Hurt on the Madoff Victim Narrative). And truth is that many folks might be safer walking after dark in Central Park than they might be in a

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