Madoff Auction Nets Over $2 Million
The NY Daily News reports:
The way his stuff was selling, you'd think people actually liked the guy.
Despised Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff's bling went under the hammer in New York yesterday, and hundreds of buyers swapped their hard-earned cash - more than $2 million in total - for the thrill of owning a piece of the swindler's home.
"I was going to buy another piano, so why not buy one with a little history to it?" said John Rodger, 81, of East Islip, L.I., who paid $42,000 for the majestic grand piano from Madoff's Manhattan living room. "It makes it kind of interesting. It's a conversation piece."
The contents of the luxury upper East Side penthouse and Montauk beach house where Madoff and his wife, Ruth, lived were on the block, and everything from Madoff's velveteen slippers embroidered with his initials to the couple's swanky jewelry were up for grabs.
Hundreds of buyers flocked to the Sheraton Hotel and Towers on Seventh Ave., and more than 1,000 online bidders drove up the price of the goods.
Items that likely once held emotional significance were auctioned off without much sentimentality, like Ruth Madoff's 10.5-carat diamond engagement ring, which sold for a cool $550,000.
"It has zero significance to me," said the buyer, who didn't want to be identified. "This has notoriety because it came from a huge crook. But once this huge crook sells it, it's just another diamond."
A lot containing Madoff's slippers went for $6,000, while a batch of Bernie's unused boxers and socks were scooped up for $1,700.
"If [they were] used, I wouldn't even touch [them]," said the buyer of the undergarments, a middle-aged man from Manhasset, L.I.
Auctioneers Gaston and Sheehan handled the sale of the 489 lots, which were seized by U.S. Marshals after Madoff, who is serving 150 years in prison, was arrested for swindling investors out of $65 billion.
Some of the proceeds go to a fund for the victims.
