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Ear to the Ground

An Insanity Plea for Madoff?

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Posted on Dec 28, 2008
Madoff
AP photo / Jason DeCrow

Bernard Madoff returns to his Manhattan apartment after making a court appearance on Dec. 17.

It might seem a stretch, but fallen financier Bernard Madoff’s legal team may be “exploring an insanity defense,” according to the New York Daily News.


“Rush & Molloy” in the New York Daily News:

“Bernie’s family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break,” says a Madoff acquaintance. “They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder.”

Madoff’s grip on reality does show signs of slipping. The 70-year-old financier, now a prisoner of his East Side penthouse, wore a weird smile when he was photographed shortly after his Dec. 12 arrest. He’s also said to be taking a heavy dose of anti-anxiety medication.

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By hippy pam, December 29, 2008 at 5:23 pm #

Some one should just shoot the bast*rd…...Save us the money of a trial and the cushy jail/medical/dental/law library/etc…that he WILL BE ALLOWED…..cuz his sons turned him in-I’m sure-so THEY COULD AVOID PROSECUTION…..I can hear “ole made-off” now…..“you boys turn me in.Then it sounds like you did not know about the scam.That way you can avoid prosecution”....To bad I can’t get the job of CLEANING OUT THE PRISONS….Death row inmates+DNA=DEATH..Pedophiles+DNA=death….1 criminal=1 bullet…....no more wasted health care and cushy facilities with gyms-TVs-free educations…..And I BET-IF THE PENALTIES WERE REALLY STIFF-PERPS WOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE RAPING AND KILLING A CHILD OR SENIOR CITIZEN-YOUR SON OR WIFE-ROBBERY-etc…..We allow victims to become the losers…and the perps are the winners….THAT IS JUST WRONG…....

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By Eric L. Prentis, December 29, 2008 at 5:09 pm #

Mr. Madoff’s alleged $50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme lasting for 20-30 years, makes Bernie a big time con man but not a genius as so many have intoned. Mr. Madoff simply understands human nature, we all want something for nothing and if we feel we are the chosen ones, so much the better. If Bernie can convince America that he was insane during his decades-long financial swindle, I will then consider him a genius and the aggrieved marks, too stupid for words.

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By mud, December 29, 2008 at 3:52 pm #

Yes, fine, he must be a nut. Just like VP Dick and cheerleader W..

No contest. Give all who choose this plea the choice of a lobotomy or life behind bars with no hope of parole, or both.

Problem solved. Now wasn’t that easy.

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By squeaky jones, December 29, 2008 at 3:33 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

So Bernie Made-Off with da monay, what else is new? He lounges in his East side Penthouse while he awaits his fate. It won’t be harsh to be sure. There is a class war, and what is happening on Wall street is a good example. Squeaky

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By Grousefeather, December 29, 2008 at 2:54 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Fine, no problem, I think we should accept the guilty by reason of insanity plea, and then pack this crook off to a nice secure, but not too comfortable prison where there’s a special lock-down lunatic/crook wing.

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By RickinSF, December 29, 2008 at 2:18 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Fortunately for the highly-placed persons who knew, or should’ve known, about Madoff’s scam, anything he now says will have the “reasonable doubt” of his sanity attached.

That’s the real story.

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By pathwhisperer, December 29, 2008 at 12:55 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

His personality disorder is sociopathy, imo.  This has never been considered grounds for an insanity plea, afaik, since they know exactly what they are doing (except for the consequences part, which they have trouble with) and actively seek to defraud and “fleece the suckers”—which is how they view all of us.  http://pathwhisperer.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/bernie-madoff-probable-sociopath-following-in-the-footsteps-of-charles-ponzi-definite-sociopath/

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By cyrena, December 29, 2008 at 5:47 am #

I don’t think this is gonna fly, particularly since it could be a problem seating a jury of his ‘peers’. (Ultra-wealthy New York Jews) How many of his ‘class’ do jury duty?

What an ironic reversal. The US courts have been putting black folks under the jail for centuries, based on the decisions made by juries of their NON-peers. (for centuries, blacks couldn’t even serve on juries).

So unless somebody like Mukasey can ‘fix’ a jury of his peers in New York, (and I wouldn’t put it past him) Madoff is going down, crazy or not.

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By Willpen, December 29, 2008 at 3:26 am #

WOW !!!  This is a real dilly if I have ever seen one…

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By nahida, December 29, 2008 at 2:04 am #

How very convenient


The Madoff Double Bluff

by Muhammad Rafeeq


Global Research, December 24, 2008
Rense - 2008-12-18


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11488

At first sight it was extremely refreshing. A white-collar financial crook raising his hands and pleading guilty to his financial crime. This has to be almost a first. Usually financial criminals when caught in the most obvious of wrong-doing plead ‘not guilty’. The criminal can be caught boarding the plane, with a suitcase containing US$100mn of someone elses cash, with his mistress holding on to his arm, he will look into the camera with his most genuine ‘Tony Blair look of sincerity’ and say “What we have here is a misunderstanding…. ” You make up the rest of the excuse, there is a million of them.

So yes, an outright confession, “It was me, I chopped down the apple tree” is so against the current socio-political culture it was almost too good to be true. Especially given the pedigree of this perp, the CEO of one of the busiest and most prominent financial exchanges in the world. After his confession the world goes into shock, especially the Jewish world, since affluent members of this community had previously flocked to his door, seeking his world famous high returns. Since his arrest the press is full of people extolling his virtues as a decent human-being and “who would ever of believed it?”. It would be so easy for this man to deny any wrongdoing because he could bring out an army of good character witnesses and he could just point at some suspect-looking goy in his hedge fund organisation to lay the blame on.

So a truly heartwarming confession. And it was apparently made to his 2 sons, both of whom who worked for the fund and who had absolutely no idea that this fraud was being perpetrated, until such time as this astounding confession.

But then I sta rted to look more closely at the mix of investors who have lost money. About half of them are professional investing institutions. Look at this quote from the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper (online http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/art…-lawsuits.html <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1096228/Lloyds-London-braced-claims-Madoff-meltdown-makes-directors-targets-lawsuits.html> )


rest of article is here:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11488

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By guest, December 29, 2008 at 12:19 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I can’t believe this man is trying to garner sympathy from the court.  Oh wait, yes I can.  I forgot, he’s first-class con-artist.

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By mmadden, December 28, 2008 at 11:14 pm #

He should liquidate all of “his” assets and then go to jail. The man is not crazy. But if it would help keep Madoff out of jail his lawyer is saying he is crazy.

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By Margart Currey, December 28, 2008 at 8:04 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The reason if he is insane is the fear of jail which would cause anyone to take anitdepression medication.

The man is not crazy, maybe stressed but not crazy, he caused one man (indirectly) to take his own life.

I think the man should be in jail not under house arrest.

If a person robbed a bank they would go to jail, even if they did not use a gun.

Seems as though there is two kinds of justice, white collar crime hurts a lot of people just as much as if someone broke into your house and stole something.

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