“You have a lot of wealthy people who made a lot of money on handshakes,”-Madoff

[underpants]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/business/18brokers.html

“You have a lot of wealthy people who made a lot of money on handshakes,” said Mark S. Weiss, a commercial real estate broker at Newmark Knight Frank, where several brokers had invested heavily with Mr. Madoff. There was “something about this person, pedigree and reputation that inspired trust,” he said.

“They knew him from golfing in the Hamptons. They knew him from the locker rooms,” Mr. Reisman said. “He was considered a wizard.”

“Many of these developers, their resources are all with Madoff,” Mr. Reisman said.

“People used to brag how they were getting these great returns when everybody else was struggling,” he said. “They thought Bernie Madoff was a genius, and anybody who didn’t give them their money was a fool.”

I posted this on Monday.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x409166