"Affinity crimes" are an economic form of crime that is the exact opposite of Randy Newman's modern standard—prosecutors say they are on the rise, and are warning that while you should keep your enemies close, maybe you should start keeping your so-called friends at a secure distance. "It's someone saying, 'You can't trust Wall Street, but you can trust me. I'm one of you -- I'm from your church, I'm from your neighborhood, I'm from your same ethnic background,'" explained Micki Shulman, deputy chief of the Manhattan DA's Major Economic Crimes Bureau. more ›

Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of returning the money lost to Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme, is getting ready to write a whole lotta checks. A judge has given his approval for Picard's request to make his first payments to Madoff customers with approved claims. He'll be cutting 1,224 checks this quarter, worth an average of $222,551, from a fund of $2.6 billion dollars. The news comes two-and-a-half years after Madoff's monumental scheme was revealed. more ›

Besides ruining the Mets and their fans' retirement funds, Bernie Madoff may cause divorces to go on forever. In a lawsuit that has reached the New York Court of Appeals, a man is seeking to revise the terms of his divorce because he lost a considerable amount of money after Madoff's pyramid scheme collapsed. more ›

Considering how well the auction of Bernie Madoff's junk went last year is it any surprise that his wine collection did boffo business on the auction block as well? Yesterday's auction of more than 250 bottles of wine and liquor in 59 lots sold for $41,530—$20,000 dollars more than the highest pre-bid estimate for the set. Somebody even spent $300 to buy four airline-size bottles of booze! more ›

After years of silence, Bernie Madoff has been giving a very few select interviews the last couple months. We've learned that he thinks the banks were complicit with his massive Ponzi scheme, he feels terrible about what he's done to his family, and he's not quite sure if he's a sociopath or not. In a brand new, intense interview with the Financial Times, Madoff retold the whole twisted story of his rise and fall in the money world, and also claimed to possibly have a new job opportunity: developing ethics courses for some of the elite businesses schools in the country. more ›

Settlement negotiations between the owners of the Mets and the trustee who is suing them, alleging that their company was a “net winner” in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, ended acrimoniously today. It seems the talks broke down because the Wilpons were upset over details of the lawsuit leaking to the press, which resulted in a pretty lousy week for the Wilpons and the Mets organization. "Defendants cannot cry confidentiality to this court while publicly attacking the complaint and continuing to frustrate the public's right to know the contents of the same complaint they disparage," said the trustee's lawyer, David Sheehan. more ›

The Mets organization has endured a bad week, gracing the Daily News back cover several times with the unfortunate turn of events surrounding the announcement that the Wilpon family, who owns the team, are looking to sell part of the team to offset a lawsuit against them involving their dealings with Bernie Madoff. Fred and Jeff Wilpon met with MLB commissioner Bud Selig yesterday to discuss the worsening financial state of the team, and it seems he's been watching their backs for awhile; Selig reportedly encouraged Sandy Alderson to take the job as GM of the Mets, one he wouldn't have accepted without his encouragement. So how much are the Wilpons financial troubles going to cause for the team? more ›

On Friday, the Wilpons announced that they were looking to sell a part of the Mets, in order to offset a lawsuit brought upon their company because of their dealings with Bernie Madoff. Yesterday, liquor distributor and Georgi Vodka owner/provocateur Martin Silver said he was interested in buying into the team; today, the latest person to throw their hat into the Mets ring is Martin Luther King III. "It's fitting with the legacy of Jackie Robinson essentially transferring to the Mets; what better place to have African-American ownership than with the Mets," said TV executive Larry Meli. more ›

Yesterday, the owners of the Mets, Fred and Jeff Wilpon, announced that they intended to sell part of the team, in order to offset a lawsuit brought upon their company because of their dealings with Bernie Madoff. By seeking to sell off 20-25 percent of the ball club, the Wilpons tacitly admitted how shaky things are financially for the Mets, who they said they want "to have the necessary resources to fully compete and win." And now we have our first serious bidder: Long Islander Martin Silver, liquor distributor and owner of the Georgi Vodka brand. more ›

Expect to hear a bit more about Bernie Madoff this week. Under federal bankruptcy law Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of tracking down Madoff's many missing assets, has two years from the initial bankruptcy filing to file claims for recovery. Since Madoff's filing date is considered December 11, 2008, that means we should have a busy few days ahead of us. In the past week Picard has already sued JPMorgan for $6.4 billion, UBS for $2 billion and, yesterday, HSBC for another $9 billion bringing the total he is claiming on behalf of victims to more than $32 billion (including the 19 suits he's already filed). more ›

At this weekend's Madoff auction, one lucky Long Island man, Steve Chow, walked away with a lot of socks and boxers for $1,700. At first we thought he was crazy, but what we didn't realize that he was making a killing. Chow told the Post, "They retail for $60 a pair [the Charvet socks], and I got about 100 pairs now!" Can someone please explain how a pair of socks gets to be $60? more ›

Yesterday, buyers spent over $2 million at an auction of ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff's stuff. Ruth Madoff's 10.5-carat diamond engagement ring went for just over half a million, a lot containing those sweet monogrammed slippers went for $6,000, and for some reason a middle-aged man from Long Island paid $1,700 for "a batch of Bernie's unused boxers and socks." He told the Post, "They are brand new so I don't have to buy socks for the next two or three years. I don't really know about the boxers. I just bought it for the socks." In case you were wondering, yes, all those boxers are monogrammed. more ›

On November 13th, The U.S. Marshals Service ("America‟s Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency!") will auction off over 400 pieces of personal property, jewelry, and antiques that once belonged to Bernard L. Madoff and his wife, Ruth. They're pushing jewelry, they're unloading silverware, they're dumping furniture, artwork and even Madoff's beautiful black velveteen slippers, seen here. We bet they're so comfortable that Madoff never even felt the jagged shards of all the broken dreams he clambered over on his way to the top of the pyramid. more ›

Besides the thousands of people he cheated, Bernie Madoff has a secondary set of victims—the innocent folk how share his now-notorious last name. Madoff’s daughter-in-law is trying to change hers, and now others Madoffs are coming out of the woodwork. One says the family moniker has become a daily burden: “I eat out a lot, but I stopped using the name Madoff for reservations altogether,” Harriet Madoff told the Times, adding that “My last name has become ‘Madoff-Not Related.’” She’s not the only one to repeat that refrain. more ›

A group of Brooklyn homeowners say they've fallen victim to a Park Slope Ponzi-schemer who convinced them to pay up-front for kitchen and bathroom repairs—then delivered sub-par work, if he did any work at all. At least eight victims are pursuing legal proceedings against Brooklyn Kitchens and Baths owner Brian Ackerman, who allegedly owes the customers about $60,000 for unfinished or unsatisfactory work. more ›

Is common sense coming to Queens? Not yet, but at least Citigroup is considering terminating the naming-rights deal it signed with the Mets in 2006. While no official decision has been made, the fact that this is even under consideration represents a dramatic change in thinking. The deal has been under attack for the past few months as Citigroup has been forced to rely on taxpayer money to stay in business. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, two Congressmen called on the bank to end their deal with the Mets saying, "Citigroup is now dependent on the support of the federal government for its survival as an institution. As such, we do not believe Citigroup ought to spend $400 million to name a stadium at the same time that they accept over $350 billion in taxpayer support and guarantees." The Mets are still planning on keeping the deal, "The Mets are fully committed to our contract with Citi." If the deal is terminated, it would be the second big financial blow that the Wilpons, owners of the Mets, have suffered. They also lost millions in the Bernie Madoff scandal. more ›