The last of Bernie Madoff’s ill-gotten gains that remain in the hands of the U.S. Marshals Service will go on the auction block next week, authorities said Friday.
A diamond watch, platinum diamond rings and artwork belonging to Madoff and his wife, Ruth, will be up for grabs on June 4, the Marshals Service said.
Proceeds from the auction will go into a U.S. Department of Justice fund and be used to compensate the victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, described by authorities as the largest in history. He cheated thousands of people out of billions of dollars.
Auctioneers in Miami will sell off 276 lots of property taken from the Madoff residences in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, the Marshals Service said. The auction will also be simulcast online, authorities said.
Madoff was known as an aficionado of fine watches, and the auction will include a men’s Audemars Piguet watch with a diamond dial.
Other items will include an English rosewood apothecary; a carved wood bull sculpture; and a John Wootton oil painting, authorities said.
The auctioneers are also putting 262 bottles of fine wine and liquor on the block, though some of the alcohol is more valued because of the scandalous background of its owner.
“As artifacts of history they are unique, which is why we have chosen to offer all of the bottles seized, including those which normally wouldn’t pass muster and make it into our auction,” Morrel Wine Auctions said in a news release. “Some of the bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces rather than valued for their contents, but conversation pieces they are.”
To date, about $23 million in property sales and $80 million in cash assets from the Madoffs have been recovered, the Marshals Service said.
(Source: CNN)
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5 Responses
Did anyone notice a Bible (Chumash) or Kitzur Shulchan Oruch in the auction? Or any Jewish literature?
Just wondering.
So non-Orthodox Jews tend to spend much of their excess income on wasteful consumption. There’s a hidush there?????
#1, Do you know how many Jews there are that don’t even know what a Chumash is?!? MILLIONS!!!
Dear YW Fan;
In my international business, I come across many yidden. I realize that my attire attests to my being Jewish (and yes, Chassidish). They don’t have to look at my name-card.(“Oh, you must be Mr. XXXX!). I try to make a Kiddush HaShem at all times. Occasionaly, I have the opportunity to discuss Yiddishkeit. And in fact, look for it.
Now; I’m happpy that you realize that there are ‘millions’ of ours out there who don’t know what a chumash is. Or Tfillin, or Chometz. Some have never even met a ‘Fruma Yid’ before.
But Madoff lived in New York. He surely had contact with Yidden, either through business or leisure.
If all of us YW’ers try to be mekarev even 1 Yid a month (or Year) by examplary behavior and example, it will make a difference.
#1 Yoin in BP. Although I may not be considered frum by your standards, I was always taught that a Jewish “Bible” is a Tanach, not a Chumash.