Best selling author loses life savings to Madoff investments.

[Liberal_in_LA]

But she does have 3 homes left. Sell 2 and she'll be better off than most.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/09/madoff.alexandra.penney/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Best-selling author Alexandra Penney lost life savings in alleged fraud scheme

By Christine Romans
CNN


NEW YORK (CNN) -- She used to lunch at the exclusive Four Seasons. Now, the best-selling author jokes that she's inviting friends to Taco Bell. Call it gallows humor, but Alexandra Penney has just lost her life's savings.

Author and artist Alexandra Penney says she lost her life savings investing with financier Bernard Madoff.

She invested every penny with accused Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff. Penney thought she had weathered the bear market just fine, since Madoff put her money in super-safe Treasuries. Then, on December 11, she received a call from her best friend.

"She said, 'I hope this is a rumor, but I've just heard Bernie Madoff's been arrested,' " Penney recalls. "My other phone rang; it was my son. And he said, 'Mom, sit down.' He said, 'Bernie Madoff's been arrested.' And I said, 'For what?' And he said, 'He's a crook.' "

---------------

On the advice of her lawyers, Penney is not saying how much money she lost. She's not penniless, she says. She has a checking account that will last a few months, a West Palm Beach cottage, a Manhattan apartment and a "beach shack" in Wainscott, Long Island. Over the past 40 years, she earned and paid for all of it herself.

Penney is not asking anyone to feel sorry for her, especially after the acid-response to her first-hand account of her financial woes in a blog called "The Bag Lady Papers" on TheDailyBeast.com. In the blog, she talks about selling the cottage and possibly more real estate and taking her first subway ride in 30 years. She's even considered selling some of her expensive jewelry to pay the bills.

Some readers blasted her as a privileged New York princess. They told her to get a job. Others said they didn't feel sorry for her. Penney says she was surprised by the "vitriol."

[EmeraldCityGrl]

1. The investment class finally getting a reality check.

[mitchum]

2. Be a real shame if that grifting bastard met a bad end at the hands of one of his victims

Can't imagine how they could ever seat a jury, though

[Orrex]

5. Yeah--where in the world would they find twelve of his peers?

[mitchum]

6. Under rocks?

[Orrex]

7. Or in Congress. Same thing, really.

[dysfunctional press]

19. if he ever enters a general prison population, he'll be dead.

he probably wouldn't even be safe at a 'country club' fed...rich can people can get pretty pissy about having their money taken from them...someone is bound to put a price on his head.

[Enthusiast]

26. General prison population?

Surely you jest. White collar criminals get special considerations.

[dysfunctional press]

31. even the country club prisons have "general populations"...

they're just normally a little more...genteel. they won't be with bernie.

[merh]

20. I'd rather he live to be tried and convicted.

that way the courts can order restitution and all that he owns be sold off and the victims get some of their money back.

Yeah, I know, they were rich and they were privileged, but they are still victims of his crimes and they did own what he stole from them. It is the american dream to become part of the privileged class, I don't resent it that they lived the dream, some were philanthropist and did good with their money.

[MidwestTransplant]

22. Apparently he ripped off some Russian Oligarchs who in many cases are basically Russian Mob.

[varkam]

3. That's assuming she can sell them.

Some friends of my family have a lot of money, except that it is all tied up in real estate investments. Once a member of the family got extremely ill, medical bills started eating up their liquidity and right now they're basically broke seeing as how they can't move any real estate. I'm sure plenty of people around here, though, would be more than happy to kick them while they're down.

[stillcool]

4. a 'beach shack' in Wainscott?

I was feeling bad for her until my eyes ran over that.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $1,132,556

And I will bet that the apartment in Manhattan is worth more than that and that the 'cottage' is probably worth well over a million.

2.5 million people have lost their jobs. Tens of millions of middle class working families have had 50% of their retirement savings stolen from them. I'm getting tired of the hardluck millionaires ripped off by made-off stories. Who's going to jail for all those lost jobs? Who's getting arrested for stealing our 401k's?

[ORDagnabbit]

8. oh-noes the super elite realize they human too!

[crim son]

9. Just because she had a lot doesn't mean her loss isn't real.

It's real, but not fatal. Perhaps people like her will be reminded what life for the rest is like, and act compassionately.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. She still has over 3M in assets.

She might have to sell one of her residences to 'get by'. Oh the horror.

[crim son]

12. It's not a horror by my standard

but it might be by hers. Are those who are using food stamps to get by not to be pitied because there are people starving all over the world?

I do understand it's a matter of degree, and this woman will not want for healthcare. It doesn't mean she won't suffer nightmares and misery from the stress.

I'm not a fan of the notion that only the poor are worth my compassion. There are good rich people, too.

[Warren Stupidity]

14. I just want to know who is going to jail for stealing 50% of my 401k.

It seems, once again, that the answer is that nobody will be held accountable. Instead, the crooks and liars are getting 'bailed out' with our t-bills that we will have to repay, or more precisely that our children will have to repay. And we will be mollified with stories like this about how the fabulously wealthy might have to sell off a residence or two to maintain their lifestyles.

[crim son]

15. I'm in the same boat.

I'm in the middle of a divorce and the house we are selling has lost forty percent of its value, while the pension fund we've built up has lost about fifty percent. This has huge implications for my (shitty) future as a woman who has been at home with the kids for eighteen years. But the rich woman is not to blame, I know that. The people to blame, I'd like to stand side by side with you while we watch them be strung up by their toenails. :hug:

[Warren Stupidity]

16. I'll drink to that!

And I haven't had a drink in 19 years.

[crim son]

17. Good for you!

I hope we see the day, Warren Stupidity, though I'm not optimistic.

[malaise]

28. 100% correct

Madoff is great diversion from the other Wall Street crooks.

[girl gone mad]

21. I think she's judged harshly in part because..

people perceive her to have been grossly overcompensated for her work. She's written several corny books on relationships and sex. The stuff wouldn't sell at all in today's market, but she was lucky to be around and have good connections in the publishing industry back when that was the only means of getting in print. If she were just getting her start today, she might have a blog that a few hundred people would read, at best.

Also, the things she complains about are incredibly petty, like having to start ironing her own sheets and take the subway.

[crim son]

25. I think you're right.

that is, people judge her as somebody who "got lucky" and who ought not to complain when luck turns. But I know a fair number of middle-class idiots who have survived or thrived without having any outstanding personal qualities. I guess what I'm thinking is, human pain is human pain and what hurts one person may seem like a boon to the next. Would I rather be in her shoes than mine? Probably. But I don't really know, and unless I'm pretty certain I cannot judge & I'm especially unwilling to judge a person simply because they have fared well economically. That's just stupid, IMHO.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. and a bunch of expensive jewelry. Time for a yard sale

[Lil Missy]

18. He stole from rich people! Man, he's totally fucked now!

[Vickers]

23. I wish *I* had a beach shack in Wainscott, Long Island to fall back on...

:eyes:

and

:nopity:

[bermudat]

24. Whatever happened to not putting all your eggs in one basket?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

27. Then she proceeds to whine about how she may have to sell her jewelry...

...in order to keep up her posh lifestyle. Oh how I don't give a shit. And then she whines that she doesn't understand why people think she's a whiny brat. "I made all that money myself. It wasn't given to me." That's all well and good, but she's looking down her nose at people because they don't feel sorry for her? Oh my God. She needs to get a clue. This is why if we ever lose technology or if our money becomes worthless, the rich will not be the fittest in the survival of the fittest.
Duckie

[rvablue]

37. And in her previous writing, she whine about not having anyone to iron her collection of

"classic, crisp, white shirts," because she had to let her maid go, with ZERO mention that now her poor maid was without employment.

Sorry, but if you've got two "beach shacks" (which are probably both worth more than $500,000 in that market) and a bunch of baubles to sell, you are not BROKE.

[KharmaTrain]

29. She "Thought" She Was Safe

Sounds like she broke rule number one about protecting one's investments...diversify. Not just in where your money is invested, but who you invest it with. But then, she's like many others who got the pitch on the double digit returns and couldn't resist...once they were in, they doubled down again and again...as long as the monthly statement showed gains, that's all that mattered...and if wasn't broke, why fix it?

She's yet another victim of what is sure to be labeled as the "Ultimate Era of Greed". She's surely not alone, and Madoff wasn't the only one playing these games. No pity on this end and the signs of how detached the markets had become were readily obvious to anyone who did their homework and saw the bubbles for what they were. I'm more amazed at how long these ponzi schemes lasted rather than how quickly they came crashing down.

[NNN0LHI]

30. She contributed to the Obama campaign so she has that going for her

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Penney&fname=Alexandra

[mascarax]

32. Good point, but (sorry, there's a "but")...some of us contributed more!

Who aren't wealthy...

I can't believe some of these people who entrusted so much to one man (a.k.a. crook).

But at least she gave $610 to the right candidate.

[NNN0LHI]

35. But (yea, there is always a "but"), if she had donated to McCain she would've been a dead duck

Around here anyway.

Don

[jmowreader]

33. I don't think I've ever heard of someone in Club Fed getting shanked...

there's a first time for everything, though.

[dkofos]

34. Time to write another "best seller".

[madrchsod]

36. the rich take a hit just like the rest of us....

she could write another book...

http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Alexandra+Penney&source=an&sa=X&oi=book_group&resnum=5&ct=title&cad=author-navigational

or sell some more prints

http://www.julielavinfineart.com/index.php?mode=gallery§ion_id=115

[johnlucas]

38. I laugh at her claims of poverty

Maybe we should thank this Madoff cat. He suckered a bunch of a hoity-toity insulated pampered know-nothings & brought them a little closer to the orbit of Planet Reality. Now granted there were good people taken in by this crook too but I'm referring to people like her who have become so far removed from real life because of their wealth that they can claim to be broke & still own multiple houses/assets...and actually talk about getting rid of a maid.

Madoff was a straight hustler and an equal opportunity one at that. He hit everybody on all points of the economic class hierarchy. Little money, big money, it didn't matter just as long as he kept collecting.

People in this very thread are talking about losing everything due to what's going on with the economy but you don't see their stories plastered everywhere talking of their hardships which, believe me, are much greater. No, we gotta listen to some spoiled pampered ninny whine about losing some portion of money which still doesn't hamper her ability to live and even thrive. No sympathy and she's so insulated she actually wonders why.

This is the very problem with our government. They are not poor and don't know what it is to live like most Americans which is part of the reason why they pass such ineffective measures (the other part is that they are not & will not be in any motivation to).

Schadenfreude running wild with this poster here. I laugh at her misfortune & I have the 'testicular fortitude' to say so. These people's stories should never get this much spotlight. People who REALLY have problems should be getting the attention when things fall apart.

Bernard Madoff may have been a crook but something good came out of his misdeeds. That's the way I see it.
John Lucas

[earth mom]

39. Yep-no one cares when the peons lose everything they've saved their entire lives for.

:grr: