Legal News

Dozens of Victims (and One Beneficiary) Speak on Madoff

By Ashby Jones

The victims have spoken. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Monday filed with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin statements from 113 alleged victims of Bernie Madoff’s massive fraud. The filing was made in advance of the sentencing for Madoff, slated for June 29. Click here for the filing.

The letters, called “victim-impact statements,” range in length from one paragraph to several pages. Most contain personal tales of loss brought on by Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

The plight of Morton Chalek of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., was typical: “I am 86 years old. I have a broken knee, I have lung cancer and thanks to Madoff, I am now bankrupt.”

Mr. Chalek said he saved money for his seven children's college tuition. “According to Madoff’s last statement for November 2008, I had $2,300,000 in my family account, $1,200,000 of which was mine personally. Two weeks later, I was bankrupt.” Now he says he is forced to live on his social security income.

Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s lawyer, declined to comment.

And what’s with the picture? So glad you asked. According to this article in the Jewish Daily Forward, the man on the left, Paul Cohen, has been chosen to play Bernie in an upcoming feature film called: “Madoff: Made Off with America.”

"Being a salesman all my life, it's like a first cousin to acting," said Cohen, who sells advertising space at the Hudson Reporter in Jersey City. He will begin filming later in June.

Cohen, who will go by the stage name Paul Cole, learned about Edmund Druilhet's movie when he read a Page Six item in the New York Post announcing auditions for Madoff lookalikes. Cohen sent in photos, and he was later called for a screen test in Los Angeles.

Photo: Druilhet via The Forward

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 15, 2009 (boomark / email).