Madoff Investors' $10 Million Save?

One family may have really lucked out in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme mess. Newsday reports, "The trustee overseeing the dismantling of Madoff's businesses said he would put aside $10 million, the amount being sought by the Rosenman family's limited liability company." Apparently the Rosenmans, who have an home oil delivery business based in the Bronx, had sent Madoff $10 million right before he was arrested; after his scheme was revealed, they sued his estate.

Trustee Irving Picard has "segregated" the $10 million (in a Chase account) from other assets and the Rosenmans' lawyer said, "We did this as a way to preserve assets." The family must go through a court hearing for the money. However, not all victims will be as fortunate: The SIPC's reimbursements top out at $500,000. Zsa Zsa Gabor and Larry King have recently stepped forward to add their names to the long list of victims, big and small. And one 60-year-old investor with an estimated $7.3 million in Madoff's funds has taken work as a caretaker and maid while she awaits getting re-certified as a nurse. When asked what she would do to Madoff if ever alone with him, Maureen Ebel said, "You can't print it."

In other Madoff news, Picard has cancelled the leases for Madoff's luxury cars—he says over $173,000 can be saved. And the NY Times has a lengthy feature on Madoff titled "The Talented Mr. Madoff"; a former FBI agent says, "Some of the characteristics you see in psychopaths are lying, manipulation, the ability to deceive, feelings of grandiosity and callousness toward their victims."