NEW YORK—In what might be their first large public events, members of Bernard Madoff’s family publicly shared their stories of what happened after Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme was exposed to the public.
A book by one of Bernard Madoff’s sons, Andrew Madoff’s, “Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family,” is slated for released by Little & Brown, and is expected to contain more detailed reports of the Madoff family and events surrounding the Madoff scandal.
Bernard Madoff’s second son, Mark Madoff, committed suicide in December 2010, leaving behind his wife, Stephanie Madoff Mack.
During a “60 Minutes” episode, which aired on Oct. 30, both Ruth and Andrew Madoff reiterated their lack of knowledge of Bernard’s involvement in the Ponzi scheme, saying they only heard about it when Bernard Madoff confessed to them in late December 2008 after the financial crisis hit the Madoff company.
In a “60 Minutes” interview, Andrew Madoff said his father told him “Everything I’ve been doing is all a big lie.” He added, “The business is, is a Ponzi scheme, and it, the firm is completely insolvent. And I’m broke.”
Andrew Madoff said his father “just started sobbing. And I was, I, I was shocked. I, it was—I felt like my head exploded.”
In an interview with the New York Times, also published Oct. 30, Bernard Madoff’s wife, Ruth Madoff, mentioned the couple’s suicide attempt, saying, “I don’t know whose idea it was, but we were both so saddened by everything that had happened.”
CBS News reported that Madoff’s sons, Andrew and Mark, called the FBI about their father’s Ponzi scheme. Bernard Madoff was arrested the next day. He confessed, and three months later, pled guilty. Bernard Madoff is now serving a 150-year sentence at a federal prison in Carolina.
