As Bernie Madoff gained a reputation as a Wall Street savant, he also acquired an unusual nickname: “The Jewish T-Bill.” The moniker referenced not only the United States Treasury bill — widely seen as a can’t-miss investment — but also Madoff’s heritage. At one point, around 85 percent of his investors were also Jews, aka Members of the Tribe, and included well-known individuals, charities and institutions — from Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to the Hadassah women’s organization.
As it turned out, Madoff was actually running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. On December 11, 2008, he was arrested by the FBI, with his investors collectively losing nearly $65 billion — the largest scandal ever on Wall Street.
That scandal is the subject of a new book, “Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History,” by nationally syndicated US business radio host Jim Campbell, who gained rare access to Madoff and his family. Interest increased when Madoff died in April, with the book published several weeks later.
In a phone interview with The Times of Israel, Campbell called Madoff “a serial financial killer” who “wiped out a lot of people — a lot of Jewish charities, in particular.”
Yet, he said, “When I do interviews, I’m asked how should the world view Bernie. The key takeaway from the book is that the system failed. It enabled him to go on. To the extent we’re saying, ‘This one guy did this…
