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Ponzi Travel: Visit Bernie Madoff's South Florida Stomping Grounds

April 4, 2009 at 2:30 PM | by Victor Ozols | 1 Comment

The gig is up for Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, who is currently in a lower Manhattan jail awaiting sentencing for defrauding investors out of billions of dollars. Unfortunately for his victims, most of the money disappeared into thin air, but authorities are doing what they can to identify and liquidate his remaining assets. The action last week centered on south Florida, where marshals seized his yacht, "the Bull," from Roscioli Yachting Center in Fort Lauderdale, and entered his $10 million Palm Beach Island home to inventory its contents.

I can't speak for the house, but the yacht seems pretty crappy for a guy who was once worth more than $100 million. Sure, it's a decent boat by little-people standards - a 55-foot customized Rybovich yacht with plenty of whistles and bells - but it's not even worth a million bucks. And it's from 1969. He couldn't afford a new yacht? The big boys of the superyacht world would probably laugh and call him names if they ever saw it, which would really get under the skin of a guy like Bernie.

Palm Beach certainly is a ritzy place where a silver-haired huckster like Madoff would fit in well, but I've always found it rather dull, a parade of Bentleys, ladies with pearls, and guys wearing pleated khakis and polo shirts talking on their cell phones through dinner. If that's the good life, they can have it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check my lottery numbers.

[Photo: New York Daily News]

Related Stories
· Marshals Seize Madoff's Mansion, Yacht [Daily News]
· Roscioli Yachting Center [Official Site]
· Yachting Coverage [Jaunted]
· Palm Beach Society Tour Gets New Stop: Madoff Mansion [Jaunted]

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Return to » Ponzi Travel: Visit Bernie Madoff's South Florida Stomping Grounds

  1. Victor Ozols

    Jaunted Editor

    A Lot of Bull

    So now French authorities are saying *they* just seized Bernie's yacht, Bull, from Cap d'Antibes on Friday. And according to a report in the Guardian, the yacht is worth $7 million. Could Bernie have had two wildly different yachts with the same name moored in two different countries? More likely, somebody's reporting is incorrect. Of course, whether it's worth $800,000 or $7 million, it's a mere tin can to the super yacht set. Conflicting story here: http://tinyurl.com/d7ch2u
    April 6, 2009 at 2:23 PM
    #Permalink

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