Columnists, Wronged Investors, Anti-Semites All Off Leash After Madoff Fraud

The Bernard Madoff fraud looks like it’s leaving the initial “shock” phase, and moving towards the “rage”, “guilt” and “gloating anti-semitism” zones.

First, the rage. As Clusterstock notes, its a bit weird to see the red mist descend over Business Week columnist, and see her barking like a starving hyena, but that’s what happened! In her piece “Why I Hate Bernie Madoff” she describes her sleepless nights boiling with anger at Madoff, before applauding one reader’s suggestion to “Take him and the people he ripped off out where nobody can hear the screams and let the bunch of them work things out”, saying “I like Dingbat’s suggestion the best!”

Meanwhile Donald Trump got a chance to practice his role as mixed-martial-arts mediator, as some post-Madoff beef was aired at a party he held in Palm Beach this week. Bob Jaffe, a philathropist who channelled investors’ money into Madoff Securities and received a cut for his trouble, got a tongue-lashing from Jerome Fisher, who lost $150m in the fraud, before some “pushing and shoving” went down. All the stress of the last couple of months is coalescing into a Madoff-shaped Wicker Man, and we’re prancing around it like pagan loons.

In the face of such anger and human misery, the head of the SEC has been frightened into saying what you must never say in America, “sorry”. Litigation beatdown to follow! “Credible and specific allegations regarding Mr. Madoff’s financial wrongdoing, going back to at least 1999, were repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, but were never recommended to the Commission for action…I am gravely concerned by the apparent multiple failures over at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any point to seek formal authority to pursue them”. In short: “we dropped the ball”.

But while that might hearten those who lost big, its not the same as money in the bank. Bloomberg has the headline “Madoff Scandal Seen As Biggest Setback for Jewish Charities Since 1930s”, which sounds like a crass joke when you first read it but it’s actually pretty serious. A quick glance over the names of the big losers from the fraud and its not too hard to determine the geneology of the charitable foundations: Zuckerman, Spielberg, Lautenberg, Julian Levitt, Elie Wiesel, Carl Shapiro, Robert Lappin. The FT has a sad story today of the Chais Family Foundation, a programme to help poor Israelis get to university, having to close down after being defrauded.

No matter what your stance on Zionism or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there are innocent people being royally shafted by this whole thing. Not if you’re a rabid anti-Semite though, and they’ve come out in force after the Madoff scandal. Over at anti-Zionist blog Wake Up From Your Slumber, the writers overlook how Jews are losing the most from this fraud, instead saying that Yeshiva University “should certainly be investigated as possible recipients of stolen money”. Right, Madoff stole from Jews to fund a “Zionist criminal structure” via a Jewish university. Hey and don’t forget Jews did 9/11! “The Zionist criminals involved in 9-11 and the cover-up of the truth are all tied to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, which is a similar Zionist institution.”

More Jew-bashing here, here, here and here. The general tone is a muddle-headed mixture of gloating at the downfall of Jews while still maintaining a massive Jewish conspiracy. But when you’ve got blogs devoted to exposing ”conspiracy nuts, and anti-Semites, especially the Jewish anti-Semitic variety”, then you know this kaleidoscopic strain of hatred isn’t going anywhere.

But to lighten the mood, check back soon for our guide to Madoff-branded Christmas gifts! No, really.

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Hot Money | December 17, 2008 1:26PM |