Madoff's personal items auctioned in NYC

ArticleData Array ( [Article] => Array ( [article_id] => 1132572 [headline] => Madoff's personal items auctioned in NYC [abstract] => Fallen financier Bernard Madoff and his wife's belongings fetched as much as 20 times their estimated value at auction. [keywords] => US Madoff [content] =>

Fallen financier Bernard Madoff and his wife's belongings fetched as much as 20 times their estimated value at auction.

Alan Richardson, a Florida dealer, almost got Madoff's blue satin New York Mets baseball jacket with his surname stitched on the back, valued at up to $US720 ($A781). The bidder lost - just shy of the $US14,500 ($A15,720) final price at Saturday's auction.

Two pairs of Ruth Madoff's diamond dangle earrings sold for $US70,000 ($A75,889) each, against a pre-sale estimate of no more than $US9,800 ($A10,624) and $US21,400 ($A23,200). But the most highly prized item in the sale, Bernard Madoff's Rolex watch, fetched only $US65,000 ($A70,468), paid by an unknown buyer. The watch was valued between $US75,000 ($A81,310) and $US85,000 ($A92,151).

The auction, in the main ballroom of a Manhattan hotel, was organised by the US Marshals Service, which seized the couple's properties - a penthouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side and houses in Montauk, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Victims receive money

Inside the homes were some of the items on the block on Saturday, ordered forfeited as part of Madoff's sentencing after he pleaded guilty in a multibillion-dollar fraud that burned thousands of investors. Proceeds from the auction will be divided among his victims.

The lots ranged from dishes, pens and stationery to decoy ducks, furs and the Rolex, dubbed the Prisoner Watch.

The Swiss chronograph watch was modelled on those made for World War II Allied airmen imprisoned in Germany, who used them to time prison patrols and plan a possible escape. This one graced the wrist of a 71-year-old inmate in a North Carolina prison, serving a 150-year sentence for defrauding investors for decades.

The sale sums up the Madoffs in a nutshell, auction observer Lark Mason said.

"They wanted to show off their lifestyle with big houses, yachts, jewelry," he said. "They didn't buy things they were passionate about - they just wanted more and more."

Golf clubs bought

Excitement filled the ballroom as people participating in the auction, run by Texas-based Gaston & Sheehan, bid for items they could afford without being as rich as Madoff was.

Charlie Blumenkehl raised his hand for a set of Madoff's golf irons, clinching them for $US3,600 ($A3,903), against a $US350-to-$US400 ($A379-to-$A434) estimate.

"I just wanted Bernie's name on the clubs," the New Jersey fund manager said with a laugh, adding, "but I don't want his vibes to be transmitted - my fund is doing better than his."

The nearly 200 lots were an assembly line of conspicuous consumption, fuelled by proceeds from the tens of billions of dollars that Madoff's pyramid scheme cost investors. Some investors were wiped out financially while the Madoffs thrived, buying up watches and jewelry.

Ruth Madoff not charged

Ruth Madoff has not been charged with any crime. But she agreed to give up her possessions in return for a promise that federal prosecutors wouldn't pursue $US2.5 million ($A2.71 million) not tied to her husband's fraud.

The scandal forced her to move out of the $US7 million ($A7.59 million) penthouse where she and her husband lived.

At the auction, a lineup of Rolex and Cartier models filled a giant screen, selling for up to $US30,000 ($A32,524) each. But the couple's tastes could also be downright common; seven Swatch watches went for $US850 ($A922), against an estimate of $US100 to $US150 ($A108 to $A163). There was little of great artistic value in the Madoff homes, Mason said.

"They weren't interested in great art," he said.

The auction house charged no premiums. Buyers, some of whom bid by phone from all over the world, were not identified.

[start_date] => 16 November 2009 | 09:50:00 AM [comments_allowed] => 1 [source] => AAP [commentCount] => 0 [video] => [image] => Array ( [caption] => A ring belonging to Bernard Madoff is auctioned off (AP) [useRegularImage] => 1 [media_library_id] => 133222 [site_id] => 1 [media_library_group_id] => 0 [media_usage_id] => 0 [filename] => site_1_rand_160143646_madoff_ring_belongings_091116_b_ap.jpg [title] => madoff_ring_belongings_091116_B_ap_160143646 [description] => file:site_1_rand_160143646_madoff_ring_belongings_091116_b_ap.jpg [type] => [height] => 338 [width] => 450 [source] => [video_hi] => [video_lo] => [section] => [display_order] => 0 [create_date] => 2009-11-16 10:36:06 [active] => 1 [media_usage] => Article Large [usageWidth] => 300 [usageHeight] => 225 ) [imagePath] => http://media.sbs.com.au/news/upload_media/ [audio] => [reporter] => [relatedLinks] => Array ( [2] => Array ( [id] => 1131912 [label] => FBI arrests Madoff computer programmers [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [1] => Array ( [id] => 1129327 [label] => Madoff riches set for New York auction [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) [0] => Array ( [id] => 1128702 [label] => Madoff's personal effects on the block [display_order] => 0 [type] => Article ) ) [relatedArticles] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [article_id] => 1128702 [headline] => Madoff's personal effects on the block [abstract] => The US Marshals service wants to auction hundreds of pieces of jewellery, clothing and other personal effects once owned by Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth. [content] =>

The US Marshals service wants to auction hundreds of pieces of jewellery, clothing and other personal effects once owned by disgraced financier Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth.

The items range from a New York Mets baseball jacket to a Rolex watch worth up to $US87,500 ($A93,995). The auction, which will raise money for Madoff's victims, will be on Saturday at a midtown Manhattan hotel.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme that spanned decades. His punishment included a forfeiture order that stripped the Madoffs of nearly all their wealth.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 10 November 2009 [articletime] => 10 November 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [article_id] => 1129327 [headline] => Madoff riches set for New York auction [abstract] => The trappings of Bernard Madoff's once luxurious lifestyle - jewels, furs and trinkets - will be auctioned off to benefit victims of the Wall Street swindler. [content] =>

The trappings of Bernard Madoff's once luxurious lifestyle - jewels, furs and expensive trinkets - will be auctioned on Saturday in New York to benefit victims of the Wall Street swindler.

The catalogue contains almost 200 lots reflecting the gaudy life enjoyed by Madoff and his wife Ruth as a result of his decades-long, multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

That includes no fewer than 17 Rolex watches, diamonds, fur coats, Hermes and Louis Vuitton handbags, crocodile-skin belts, golf clubs and numerous items of jewelry.

On a more personal note, there will be a blue satin Mets baseball team jacket emblazoned with "Madoff" on the back. Estimated price: up to $US700 ($A751). The Madoff name appears on many other goods, ranging from beach boards to personal stationary.

Gaston and Sheehan auctioneers are handling the sale at a Sheraton hotel in New York, but the goods were seized by the US Marshals Service to raise compensation for hundreds of investors cheated by Madoff.

Pre-auction estimates by Gaston and Sheehan predict sales of about $US500,000 ($A537,000) Properties, including a Manhattan penthouse and Palm Beach retreat, have also been seized. A Long Island beach getaway sold for $US8 million ($A8.59 million).

Madoff, now serving a 150-year prison sentence for fraud, claimed just before his arrest last December to have been managing $US65 million ($A69.82 million). However, much of that appears to have comprised phony funds.

The court-appointed liquidator says that investors lost $US21.2 billion ($A22.77 billion) cash.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 11 November 2009 [articletime] => 11 November 2009 [display_order] => 0 ) [2] => Array ( [article_id] => 1131912 [headline] => FBI arrests Madoff computer programmers [abstract] => Two computer programmers have been arrested by the FBI for allegedly cooking the books for Wall Street conman Bernard Madoff. [content] =>

Two computer programmers have been arrested by the FBI for allegedly cooking the books for Wall Street conman Bernard Madoff.

Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, who worked for Madoff from 1990 and 1991 respectively, were arrested at their homes on Friday.

They have been charged with conspiracy and falsifying accounts, the federal prosecutor's office in New York said.

O'Hara, 46, and Perez, 43, are accused with being core players in a scheme that defrauded thousands of investors, fooled federal regulators, and illicitly earned Madoff billions of dollars.

"Jerome O'Hara and George Perez allegedly helped construct Bernie Madoff's house of cards," said US Lawyer Preet Bharara.

According to a statement from the US attorney's office for the southern district of Manhattan, the pair ran programs on an IBM server known to employees as "House 17".

They allegedly generated false accounts and records, which fooled at least five probes between 2004 and 2008 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The statement also detailed an apparent rebellion by O'Hara and Perez against Madoff in 2006.

"They met with Madoff and told him, in substance, that they would no longer lie for him."

According to prosecutors, Madoff told his right-hand man: "to pay O'Hara and Perez whatever they wanted in order to keep them happy".

O'Hara and Perez are believed to have each received pay increases of about 25 per cent and net bonuses of approximately US$60,000.

Madoff was arrested in December 2008 and sentenced this year to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty to the Ponzi scheme in which existing investors were paid returns stolen from new investors' capital.

O'Hara and Perez face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if found guilty on all charges.

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