Bernie Madoff Taking Palm Beach Down With Him

April 15, 2009 at 11:33 AM | by egw | 1 Comment

Right now disgraced faux-financier Bernie Madoff is cooling his heels in an undisclosed jail (probably to keep the pitchforked masses from descending). But if he were allowed to walk free, he'd pretty much have nowhere to go anyway: Not only is his Manhattan penthouse on sale and several of his toys seized, he's now being blamed for bringing down his second home of Palm Beach as well. It's true, you can't go home again.

The penthouse was quietly put up for sale in January, around the time Madoff was first confined to house arrest there. (Well, that's gotta be awkward!) But his Palm Beach pad has been seized by the feds to help repay the people he swindled, as was a yacht and an Aston Martin he gave to his brother Peter last year. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Florida mansion has dropped some 20 percent in value since being assessed last year, adding untold hours to the time Madoff will spend making license plates in the clink.

One thing that wasn't seized for revenue: A pair of pants the man ordered pre-arrest from the boutique Trillion, one of several places the New York Times included in a story about how the recession is affecting the playground of the wealthy and fabulous. The rich are still rich in Palm Beach, but even they are beginning to make imperceptible cutbacks which have major ripple effects for the not-so-rich in their local economy.

To visit a time in history before the Madoff mess, check out Worth Avenue Historic Walking Tours, which use the city's historic street as a jumping-off point to talk about city founder Henry Flagler and the gentlemen of his day. The next free tour is May 13 at 11AM, stepping off from 256 Worth. Meanwhile, anyone want $2,000 cashmere trousers? You could use them to start your own Recession Museum!

[Photo of a near-empty Macy's in Palm Beach: fatuousbrevity]

Jaunted

Select a Destination:

Tags: Recessionomics / Bernie Madoff / Ponzi Schemes / → All Tags