Bernie Madoff has to forfeit $170 billion, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Prison wages being what they are, it would take this mad Ponzi schemer several times longer than the age of the universe to make full restitution.
This is a cosmic amount of bad karma to work off. If there’s such a thing as reincarnation, Madoff is going to be busy for millions of lifetimes. And if instead there’s a Hell, Satan’s going to have to hand over his pitch fork for at least half of eternity.
This massive debt – though largely symbolic – is bigger than the market cap of almost every company in the world. Procter & Gamble’s market cap, for instance, is about $154 billion. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s market cap is at $141 billion. Google is $134 billion.
Meanwhile, Madoff’s poor wife – who Madoff argued deserved about $70 million of assets he claimed were not connected to his fraud - agreed to give up almost everything, including boats, cars, exquisite properties in Florida and New York. All she’ll be left with is about $2.5 million, practically destitute by Madoff standards.
I am flying to New York this weekend and hope to attend Madoff’s sentencing hearing on Monday. It promises to be quite a scene with hundreds of victims left far poorer than Mrs. Madoff.
Let me know if you have any ideas about what I should write about this spectacle. I keep wondering: What’s left to be said, that hasn’t already been said?
(Photo: Madoff trading card by Topps Co.)
