Legal Commentary

Inmate Accuses Madoff of Defrauding Prisoners

By Jeralyn

A federal prison inmate in South Carolina has filed a motion seeking to intervene in a Securities Investor Protection Corporation lawsuit against Bernie Madoff. He accuses Madoff of promising inmates a 16.9% return on their investments, but instead sending their money to Switzerland.

Even stranger, the inmate claims he had an intimate relationship with Madoff and that they met at Harmony.com.

That claim, of course, raises a bit of a flag, since eHarmony has refused until this year to match same-sex couples.

But never mind that little fact. Mr. Riches says in his motion that Mr. Madoff was attracted to his identity theft skills and that he schooled the former Nasdaq chairman on how to commit fraud for two years. Mr. Riches also claims he has “documents, photos, exhibits and phone transcripts” that contain “juicy details” about Mr. Madoff, now 70, that he wants to share with the court.

The motion was denied by a bankruptcy judge who told the inmate to file a claim in bankruptcy court like everyone else. He also noted that this particular inmate has filed over 1,000 lawsuits in the past 3 years, mostly against famous people.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).