It is a rare case when I have the opportunity to write an essay on love, lust, and $65 billion in larceny. There is also the element of infidelity in an extra-marital affair in this essay.
According to the New York Times, the Bloomberg News, and several other publications which appeared on August 14th, a woman named Sheryl Weinstein announced that she had a book that would be published shortly. It is reasonably clear that Mrs. Weinstein is a scorned woman who wrote this book in an effort to recoup her financial situation. Even though the book has been authored by a ghost writer, I have no trouble with her efforts to restore the family finances. As you may have guessed, Mrs. Weinstein was one of the many people who were bilked by Bernie Madoff. But that is only the beginning of this tale, because Mrs. Weinstein, according to her book, was Bernie Madoff’s mistress and lover for more than 20 years. Affairs of the heart that last for two decades must have some kind of meaning. But in the end, Mrs. Weinstein comes across as a scorned woman. For that, I am sorry for her.
It is clear that the Weinsteins took a heavy hit from the Madoff scandal. On the other hand, it should be noted that Mrs. Weinstein is a certified public accountant who should have known that no stock or collections of stocks return an 11% dividend every month for years. I suspect that greed and lust had much to do with Mrs. Weinstein’s current dilemma. On top of her qualifications, her son worked for Bernie Madoff during one summer and should have been familiar with his operations.
According to the story, Mrs. Weinstein was the Chief Financial Officer of Hadassah, which is of course a Jewish organization for women. In the end, Mrs. Weinstein not only committed $40 million of Hadassah funds to Bernie Madoff, but she and her husband as well as her son also invested with the king of Ponzi schemers.
When it was disclosed that Bernie Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, Mrs. Weinstein and her husband concluded that they had better sell their real estate, which was located on the upper east side of Manhattan, in an attempt to recover their financial losses. Both of the elder Weinsteins now appear as publishers of a newsletter involved in the laundry business.
Those are the facts. Mrs. Weinstein, a Certified Public Accountant, was seduced by the 11% returns on money invested with Bernie Madoff. As everyone knows, this story ended tragically for the investors and Bernie Madoff is now serving 150 years in jail.
But those are only part of the story. According to Mrs. Weinstein, she will recount in her book that she was Bernie Madoff’s lover for the past 21 years. In all of those long years of love and lust, Mrs. Weinstein failed to detect that Bernie Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme. Quite to the contrary, she refinanced her house so that she would have more money to invest with good old Bernie. I suppose that love and lust blind us to human failings. But for 21 years, Mrs. Weinstein accepted Bernie’s love and collected her dividends. As we say, love is blind.
I have great trouble buying this story. In 21 years of infidelity it is absolutely certain that someone else, some other employee, must have wondered what Bernie and Mrs. Weinstein were doing. My statistics tell me that much of an extra-marital relationship is usually carried out in the afternoons. This of course would permit the participants to go home as though nothing had happened. Are we to believe that no one in the Bernie Madoff organization noticed that the boss was missing on so many afternoons? Secondly, if Mrs. Weinstein was the Chief Financial Officer of Hadassah, she must have had an office from which she was missing on the afternoons of the engagements.
And then there is Ruth Madoff, Bernie’s wife. When Bernie came home each evening after spending time with Mrs. Weinstein, I am certain that his wife would ask him how his day went. In 21 years, Bernie Madoff must have been a very inventive fellow to keep Ruth in the dark. As you can see, I am a skeptic and I either believe that this did not happen or that it was done with the full knowledge of Ruth Madoff.
And then there is also Ronald Weinstein, the husband of Sheryl. Do you think that, when he got home from editing the laundry newsletter, he might not have questioned his wife about where she had been all day?
If my assumption is half-way true about affairs of this sort being carried on in the afternoons, I am certain that members of Bernie Madoff’s organization and of the Hadassah organization would have noticed that their bosses were missing. I believe that my skepticism is well-grounded. However, the fact of the matter is that Mrs. Weinstein has said that she was a participant with Bernie Madoff in lovemaking. So who are you going to believe, my skepticism or a witness with first-hand knowledge? On the other hand, Mrs. Weinstein cannot look to Bernie Madoff as a corroborating witness. If he agreed or disagreed, with a 150-year prison sentence hanging over him, who would believe him? So we are left to buy the book which will appear shortly with a cover price of $23.
I had planned to end this essay by using a line from a Broadway show, slightly twisted. The quotation would be, “Love, lust, and larceny, all the things that make life worth living.” But Miss Chicka, my wife, produced a better line. She said that Bernie was not only screwing his investors, but also his mistress/lover. I think that captures the whole affair.
Old Bernie was an equal-opportunity cad. And I cannot say that Mrs. Weinstein, who had an extra-marital affair of 21 years, deserves many plaudits either. So boys and girls, Mrs. Weinstein’s book will be out next month. She not only promises details of this relationship but also photographs. I can only say, as a grizzled veteran of such accounts, “Who would have thunk it?”
E. E. CARR
August 17, 2009
Essay 407
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Kevin’s commentary: Maybe it was a late-night affair instead. Perhaps Ruth is a very, very sound sleeper. Who knwos?
Big news for the blog: We’re departing from this silly schedule and resuming real-time posts. I’ll still be catching up to attempt to average 1 post per day by the time this blog gets finished, though!