The convicted American fraudster Bernie Madoff has told the news website 'Politico' that in his view he does not owe any specific debt to fellow Jews, many of whom – both individuals and organizations – were devastated by his actions. “I don’t feel any worse for a Jewish person than I do for a Catholic person,” Madoff said in the interview conducted last week. “Religion had nothing to do with it.”
Madoff was interviewed at the Butner prison in North Carolina, where he is serving his 150-year sentence. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to massive investment and securities fraud, admitting to a years-long deception that shattered the lives of thousands of clients — a list that included millionaire investors, middle-class retirees, college endowments and philanthropic organizations.
Madoff was well-known within New York’s Jewish community, and his multi-billion fraud was a particularly deep betrayal of charities, groups and individuals he had access to through Jewish circles.
Pressed on the issue of his debt to the Jewish community, Madoff said: “I don’t feel that I betrayed the Jews, I betrayed people. I betrayed people that put trust in me — certainly the Jewish community. I’ve made more money for Jewish people and charities than I’ve lost.”
Asked whether he was afraid of dying, Madoff answered "No. I don’t have anything to live for.”
“The thing that was important to me was family, but that’s all gone,” he said. “That’s more punishment than being incarcerated.”
