Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Bernard Madoff, the Condiment

He’s been bad for the Jews and catastrophic for American capitalism, but perhaps Bernard Madoff might make a good condiment. The world’s most loathed alleged Ponzi schemer — reportedly responsible for losing $50 billion of investors’ money — has inspired a hot sauce in his very own name and image.

Bernie in Hell, a five-ounce bottle of Habanero-style hot sauce, can now be ordered online for $10 a container, and arrives labeled with the face of the con artist – adorned with flames and horns – and instructions urging consumers to “shakedown before using.”

New York City artist Alex Gardega writes on his Web site that he was inspired to create the product after watching a television report about a 75-year-old who lost his entire retirement savings in Madoff’s alleged fraud. At texasketchup, visitors can write in with their own tales of woe at the financier’s hands or purchase a bottle or more of hot sauce.

Filled with Habanero Hell! hot sauce, Bernie in Hell bottles challenge consumers with a question Madoff himself might currently be pondering: “You can take the money, but can you take the heat!?!”

A purchase of five bottles gets the buyer a sixth bottle free — an even better rate of return than the percentages promised by Madoff before his arrest.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.