New York fraudster Bernie Madoff reportedly enjoys his ‘special celebrity’ status behind bars and personally picked his Mexican drug runner cellmate, a new book claims.
Ralph Griffith, 66, who served seven years of his prison sentence in the same unit as Madoff, detailed his time with Madoff in his self-published memoir, Monkey House.
Madoff, 79, is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence for orchestrating the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, which bilked investors of an estimated $65billion when principal and lost interest are counted.
New York fraudster Bernie Madoff (pictured in 2009) reportedly enjoys his ‘special celebrity’ status behind bars and personally picked his Mexican drug runner cellmate, a new book claims
Ralph Griffith (pictured), 66, who served seven years of his prison sentence in the same unit as Madoff, detailed his time with Madoff in his self-published memoir, Monkey House
Griffith said he was serving time for bank robbery when he met Madoff at North Carolina’s Federal Medical Center, a special health needs facility, in August 2010.
‘We both were there because of heart conditions,’ Griffith told The Hollywood Reporter.
The pair met in the prison’s library where Griffith worked. He claims that Madoff hand-picked his own cellmate by the name of ‘Bulldog’.
Griffith, who met Madoff in 2010, details his claims in his book, Monkey House (pictured)
Bulldog, a Mexican drug runner from Texas, ‘wasn’t that intellectual’ Griffith said.
‘Bernie didn’t want anyone trying to pick his brain. That gets old after a while.’
It took some time for Madoff to warm up to Griffith, but when he did, they reportedly had a long talk ‘about his son committing suicide’.
His son, Mark Madoff committed suicide on December 11, 2010. His body was found hanging from a ceiling beam while his son slept in the other room.
‘He said, “I have no idea why he did that.” That was his exact quote,’ Griffith recalled the financier saying.
Griffith told the Hollywood Reporter that he believes Bernie Madoff enjoyed his ‘special celebrity’ status, which allowed him freedom to roam the halls of Butner Prison beyond the allowed 15 minutes per day.
Madoff’s daughter-in-law, Stephanie Madoff Mack, made a similar claim in 2010.
She said the convicted fraudster sent her letters from prison in which he spoke of his ‘celebrity status’ and being respected ‘like a mafia don’.
The repulsive boasts also described his life at Butner Prison – where he was sentenced to 150 years in June 2009 for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in American history – as having a ‘college campus feel’.
According to Griffith’s book, Madoff also spent time with a group of African-Americans ‘watching rap videos’.
He also claims that Madoff also resented sharing a bathroom with transgender prisoners.
‘With four or five queens in front of two little sinks, it was tough for Bernie to brush his teeth.’ Griffith says Madoff’s nemesis was Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who was released in 2015.
According to Griffith’s book, Madoff (pictured in March 2009) also spent time with a group of African-Americans ‘watching rap videos’. He claims that Madoff also resented sharing a bathroom with transgender prisoners
‘You’d think they’d have gotten along,’ Griffith told the Hollywood Reporter, but it seemed to him that ‘Bernie thought Pollard was a whiny son of a b**ch’.
He also claims that ‘Pollard thought Bernie was evil personified.’
Victims of Madoff’s multi-billion-dollar fraud, who lost their savings and were ruined when the investment scheme collapsed in 2008, are receiving additional compensation, US officials announced Thursday.
The Madoff scheme was revealed during the financial crisis in 2008 when he was unable to satisfy growing client demands to withdraw their investments.
The Madoff Victim Fund paid out another $504million to 21,000 victims of the scam, bringing the total payout so far to $1.2billion of the $4billion expected, the Justice Department said in a statement.
‘In one of the most notorious and unconscionable financial crimes in history, Bernie Madoff robbed tens of thousands of individuals, pension plans, charitable organizations and others, all the while funding a lavish personal lifestyle,’ Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in the statement.
The fund, established by the Justice Department to handle victim complaints, was tasked with returning $4billion seized by authorities.
It has received 65,000 complaints from investors in 136 countries who lost a total of $40billion to Madoff.
‘We cannot undo the damage that Bernie Madoff has done, but today’s distribution will provide significant relief to many of the victims of one of the worst frauds of all time,’ Sessions said.
The Madoff scheme was revealed during the financial crisis in 2008 when he was unable to satisfy growing client demands to withdraw their investments.