For Madoff Victims, Tax Breaks and Osso Buco

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

The Department of Justice released Bernard Madoff’s mug shot this week, following his guilty plea to 11 charges related to his multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Now living at the Metropolitan Correction Center in Lower Manhattan, the disgraced financier wears a conservative blue-and-white striped shirt and, at least in the mug shot, a grim expression. “After scamming $64 billion, he should have at least had to hold one of those silly little signs,” Gawker commented.

Meanwhile, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service testified Tuesday morning before a Senate committee that the I.R.S. will allow Madoff’s victims to claim a generous tax deduction related to their losses.

In other silver-lining news for Madoff victims, one New York restaurateur is offering them free meals, The New York Times reports:

“All this week, Nino Selimaj is promising free meals to victims of Mr. Madoff at Nino’s 208, on East 58th Street a few blocks from the Lipstick Building, where Mr. Madoff kept offices. To be entitled to the normally pricey grub — $9 daily soups, $19 spaghetti, $25 osso buco — at no charge, people must mention their victimhood when making reservations, then discreetly show the restaurant’s manager a monthly statement from Madoff. Libations are extra.”