6/03/09 (NY):
Madoff Sons - 'The Biblical Betrayal'
|
|
One of Bernard Madoff's sons is obsessed with his father's crime and the other is still in shock over the $65 billion Ponzi scheme, according to a new exposé on the convicted fraudster.
In the new edition of Vanity Fair, the magazine reveals the torment of Mark and Andrew Madoff, who both worked for their father's securities business but have not been accused of wrongdoing connected to his giant investment scam.
Andrew, 43, described his father's crime as "a father-son betrayal of bibical proportions".
The sons' spokesman confirmed that neither had seen or spoken to their father since he confessed his Ponzi scheme to them on December 10.
Madoff was arrested on December 11 after the sons alerted the authorities and was convicted in March. He will be sentenced this month.
Mark and Andrew have had no communication with their mother, Ruth, either, because they believe that her unwavering support of Madoff allowed him to commit his $65 billion rip-off, Vanity Fair said.
According to the report, Mark, 45, was furious when his father admitted that his investment business was a 20-year scam in which he had used new customers' investments to pay returns to existing clients.
Andrew, however, fell to the floor of the kitchen in his parent's Manhattan penthouse and sobbed.
Mark remains obsessed with the scandal, scrutinising every media report and web posting about the events.
Andrew, who split with his wife the day the scandal broke, has, however, "completely shut down".
Andrew's friend Alexandra Lebenthal, who has visited him on a few occasions since the scandal broke, told Vanity Fair that Madoff's son discusses his father "unemotionally, devoid of feeling, which I take to be a way of protecting himself from this monster".
"I do think he's still in some form of shock. He's gotta be," Ms Lebenthal added.
Both sons have received hate calls to their homes over the fraud and acquaintances are split over whether Mark and Andrew knew of their father's activities.
Deborah, a 24-year Madoff employee who asked that her surname be withheld, told the magazine: "They wouldn't have been able to do what Bernie did: they just didn't have the evilness in them."
But Deborah admitted that other former employees disagreed. "If I were to say that Mark and Andy are innocent, I'd get people looking at me like I'm absolutely nuts," she said.
© X-Pro 2009
|
|
