More in ‘Bernard Madoff’

Some historical personalities lived so long and ranged so widely that they pose unusual challenges to biographers. Take Moses Montefiore, who lived from 1784 to 1885 and was among the most prominent men, let alone Jews, of his era. An Italian-born British banker, he made a fortune working with the Rothschilds, was knighted by Queen ...

• The New York Daily News editorializes against Brooklyn’s Mile End and its preference for Montreal bagels: “this is a crime against the culture of your city. One punishable by flogging with hard salamis.” Maybe this will be a central plank of News publisher Mort Zuckerman’s Senate campaign! [Daily News]
• Syria symbolically reaffirmed its membership ...

South Florida attorney Scott Rothstein has been accused of masterminding a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, and plans to plead guilty. Should he allocute, and name names of co-conspirators or other complicit parties, this provincial small-time crook (well, small-time compared to a Bernard Madoff, anyway) could make national political waves.
That’s because, according to Time, plenty of ...

When Bernard Madoff was moved to his prison’s hospital yesterday, a spokesperson at the federal North Carolina facility would not say why, although she did deny that Madoff was either terminally ill or had cancer. Today, we still don’t know for sure, but reportedly his injuries include broken ribs, a collapsed lung, facial fractures: in ...

• Bernard Madoff was transferred to his North Carolina prison’s medical center. A federal spokesperson denied that Madoff is terminally ill or has cancer. [NY Post]
• New documents obtained by Israeli human rights groups show that when West Bank settlement Ma’ale Adumim was first conceived in 1975, the government planned to eventually annex its land. ...

• West Bank settlers vandalized and then set fire to a mosque in a Palestinian village south of Nablus. [JPost]
• The White House Hanukkah party, scheduled for December 16, has been the subject of controversy over its guest list, its self-declared status of “holiday party,” and other issues, much to the consternation of administration officials. ...

• Waiting for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg when he arrives in Copenhagen for the U.N. climate talks will be protesters from Brooklyn angry about a supposedly green politician taking an anti-bike lane stance. [Vos Iz Neias]
• A new trend has been detected, of Gaza Palestinians faking cancer in order to gain passage out ...

We noted earlier today that l’affaire Madoff continues to have an adverse effect on philanthropy. And today brought news of another apparently hard-hit Jewish donor: David Gelbaum, a major clean-tech venture capitalist who has invested in several Israeli start-ups, has withdrawn his annual $20 million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union. (Actually, Gelbaum is ...

One year ago today, the sons of asset management whiz Bernard Madoff informed legal authorities that their father had confessed to running a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. A central point in the financial web of Jewish-American personages and institutions, he was arrested the following day, and the rest is history. The Forward has a retrospective package, ...

• Google co-founder Sergey Brin donated $1 million to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which helped his family escape the Soviet Union 30 years ago. [NYT]
• Jeffry Picower, a billionaire thought to be the biggest beneficiary of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and a friend of the conman, was found dead at the bottom of his ...