Life

Inside Madoff’s ‘Penthouse Prison’

By Allison Gaudet Yarrow February 21, 2009

On Friday, the ABC News show “20/20,” aired videos of a polo shirt-clad Bernard Madoff, holed up in his Upper East Side “penthouse prison” — using his MacBook laptop computer, a bottle of sparkling water at his side.

In the segment, former Madoff employee Nader Ibrahim said Madoff’s sons and brother ran the business while Madoff traveled the world for months at a time via private jet. This statement contradicted Madoff’s account that he acted alone in perpetrating the multibillion-dollar fraud of which he stands accused.

Also on Friday, Irving Picard — the court-appointed trustee responsible for liquidating the assets of Madoff’s company — spoke before a group of Madoff investors in Manhattan. The New York Times reported that Picard told the group of creditors that there is no known documentation that, during the 13 years leading up to Madoff’s arrest, the trader bought or sold any of the securities or Treasury bills reflected on clients’ statements.

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