Lawyers for the accused scammer, Bernard Madoff, are reportedly mulling over an insanity defense.Posted on 12/30/2008 12:16:46 PM PST by BGHater
While Bernard Madoff is being investigated for his alleged $50 billion fraud scheme, a report says he is considering an insanity defense.
"Bernie's family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break," a Madoff acquaintance told the New York Daily News.
"They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder," the source added
Madoff's business began to collapse this fall as investors, hit by the financial crisis and seeking cash, started taking money out faster than Madoff could bring fresh cash into the country.
A quiet force on Wall Street for decades, Madoff was arrested on December 11 after confessing to his two sons that his entire business was "a giant Ponzi scheme."
The case is still viewed more with mystery than clarity and regulators have not yet verified the scale of the fraud, which may rank among the biggest scams ever.
The FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Wall Street regulator, are investigating Madoff and individuals who may have helped him overseas.
Meanwhile, Madoff's family fears that he may follow suit in the footstep's of Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a Madoff client who slit his wrists last week.
"He has a very low affect. Bernie barely speaks," the Daily News quoted a source as saying.
Madoff's attorneys are expected to argue that he committed the fraud during manic and euphoric periods or that he was so delusional that he convinced himself the investment returns were real.
Authorities say thousands of people are caught up in the apparent multi-billion-dollar scheme.
According to Times Online, the federal investigators believe Madoff would not have been able to pull off a fraud of such magnitude without significant international assistance.
The 70-year-old financier, the former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, is currently under house arrest in his $7 million New York City apartment.
Lawyers for the accused scammer, Bernard Madoff, are reportedly mulling over an insanity defense.
Give new meaning to “MAD money”!
He was invited to my sister’s wedding back in the late eighties. She said he couldn’t make it, which didn’t matter as long as he sent a check.
He can have 50 different personalities. But as long as one of them knew his actions were wrong then he's going to jail.
Did the check bounce?
When I see Bernie Madoff, I cannot help but think of Ed Wynn.
I don’t think so. It was someone else’s money, afterall.
RICO this clown.
“I’m surprised he is still alive at this point.”
Yep. How long do you think he’d live if he were acquitted?
You just KNOW he had some money from people who would kill him just for fun, no other reason necessary.
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