Madoff - by Julian Kossoff

The epic con involved burrowing into the very arteries of American Jewish life - the great hub of world Jewry.

Starting with the well-heeled Jewish country club circuit in New York and Florida he was entrusted with entire family fortunes. Around the putting greens and card tables the seemingly high returns from a Madoff investment was dubbed "the Jewish bond" - the shakedown had begun.

"The guy was totally respected. He was a heymishe (folksy) Jewish guy. He had sweet old ladies and he let their children in," said a Manhattan lawyer who invested with Madoff.
His villainous treachery was completed with his swindling of Jewish charities out of at least $2 billion, blowing a massive hole in the educational and welfare provision for millions of people. (In fact, some experts suspect that Madoff specifically targeted charitable foundations to keep his scheme going.)

In the words of prominent educator Avraham Infeld, he "obliterated" long-standing charitable foundations for Jewish causes in Israel, Eastern Europe and North America.

SHOOT: One of the comments that caught my eye was this one, from Debunker:

What point is Julian Kossoff trying to make here. That this sort of thing never happens? Jews just don't do this sort of thing?
Ever heard of Robert Maxwell?

SHOOT: And this one:

Alex123: If you wish to describe Madoff as a Jewish crook, then that is up to you. As far as I am concerned he is just a crook.

clipped from blogs.telegraph.co.uk If a year ago you'd asked what or who was poised to strike a body blow against the Jewish Diaspora, informed opinion would have speculated about the threat from Islamic extremism, wrung its hands about anti-Semitic enclaves in Eastern Europe, pointed at galloping assimilation, or rued the growing schism between traditional and progressives Jewish strands. But as it squinted out on the horizon the enemy was already within the citadel - in the shape of an arch-villain worthy of Marvel comics. Even the name 'Madoff' sounds like an ironic wordplay, for a sociopath who is to financial investing what Harold Shipman was to general medical practice. We now know Bernard Madoff's $50bn swindle evaporated life fortunes, wiped out charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide. Central to Madoff's Empire State-sized impudence was the bamboozling of fellow Jews, some of them his closest friends.