Bernie Madoff Wasn’t As Bad As People Think — He Was Much Worse

The Wizard of Lies, HBO’s Emmy nominated film about Bernie Madoff, ends with —SPOILER ALERT— Bernie in jail, musing on the choices that got him there. He concludes by asking aloud, “Lemme ask you something. Do you think I’m a sociopath?” Given the previous two hours of the film, not only can we resoundingly answer yes, but viewers conclude that Bernard Madoff wasn’t as bad as people think: He was much worse.

One of the first misconceptions that took hold in the public’s consciousness about Madoff’s crimes was the idea that only very wealthy investors were among his victims (a group that, let’s face it, doesn’t really engender the most sympathy). The reality of the situation, however, was that Bernie demonstrated how truly callous he was by targeting foundations and charities to invest with him, who he then stole hundreds of millions of dollars from. Among his victims was Elie Wiesel, noted humanitarian and Holocaust survivor, whose Foundation for Humanity focuses on helping needy children, lost nearly all of its assets to Madoff’s ponzi scheme. Beyond his charity, Elie Wiesel and his wife had their personal life savings stolen by Madoff as well. Think about that for a moment — Madoff not only robbed a charity, he robbed the Holocaust survivor who started it.

At one point during The Wizard of Lies, we see Madoff (Robert De Niro, giving an Emmy nominated performance) hosting a lavish party in Palm Beach, where Bernie is scrambling for cash as redemptions at his fund are rapidly accelerating. His wife approaches him saying her sister is worried about how safe her money is and if it would be okay for her to give all her money to Bernie to manage. Without hesitating, Bernie agrees. Without a second thought, Madoff gladly robs a family member. Madoff is in a frenzy as Frank, an employee of his that’s in on the fraud, keeps calling him and updating him of clients pulling their money to offset their losses at other funds. This party has now turned from a social event into a hunt for Bernie as he looks for targets to defraud. He sits down with Carl Shapiro, a mentor of Bernie’s who was among his first investors, and lures him to eventually invest another $250 million, on top of the $300 million he already had given Madoff. Imagine that, robbing your mentor for hundreds of millions of dollars! No one, friend or family, was safe from Madoff’s greed.

A side of the Madoff ponzi saga that had rarely been touched upon before The Wizard of Lies was the effect his fraud had on his family. As the film shows, it’s hard to sympathize with the wealthy family of the man who had defrauded thousands of people for billions of dollars. Many people who followed the Madoff story in the news were skeptical that the family neither knew about nor participated in the ponzi scheme themselves. This perception in the public, as well as the subsequent backlash against Bernie’s wife, Ruth (Michelle Pfieffer), never really changed, even after we learned that Bernie’s sons were the ones who turned him in once they learned of his crimes (likely preventing hundreds of more millions of dollars from disappearing). Neither son was charged with any crime but both were vilified in the court of public opinion to such a degree that Bernie’s son, Mark Madoff, eventually hung himself.

Mark (Alessandro Nivola) was no longer willing to live with being wrongly seen as a villain, living in the shadow of his father’s crimes. Already, Mark had become somewhat estranged from his brother and both had already stopped speaking with their mother. In fact, the first call Ruth Madoff received from a son after being shut out was from Andrew to tell her that Mark was dead. Not long after, Andrew would be dead from lymphoma. The entire family was now totally shattered, with Bernie’s sons dead, and his wife no longer speaking to him. Bernie’s greed had completely ruined the lives of those that loved him most.

Perhaps what struck me most as I watched The Wizard of Lies was seeing Bernard Madoff blaming his victims for his crimes. While being interviewed by Diana Henriques of the New York Times, whose book the film is based upon, Bernie says something truly shocking. Discussing his victims, Madoff says, “These people had a little bit of greed in them, they didn’t look close enough… they were accomplices in a way with an unwillingness to take responsibility for their behavior.” The film then segues into a montage of his victims, including a retiree in Boca who lost it all and a money manager who lost the client money he invested and then committed suicide. Literally thousands of lives were ruined by a single man’s avarice.

Bernie claims to have empathy for his victims, but just a few moments later, he claims he told people not to invest over half his money with him, that they were to blame. When Ms. Henriques points out that if something happened to Bernie before his sons turned him in, they would become culpable for their father’s crimes and likely to go to prison. Bernie remains in denial, unshaken in his belief that those he ruined were partly to blame while he himself a victim.

So when Bernie Madoff asks, “Do you think I’m a sociopath?” after we have just watched him ruin charities, Holocaust survivors, friends, his sons, his wife, everyone who cared for him, and with no remorse, it’s easier to answer him. Yes, Bernie, we do.

Comfortably Smug is a government relations professional with a focus on the financial services industry. He can be found on Twitter with his musings on all things finance and politics at @ComfortablySmug

Watch Wizard of Lies on HBO Go