Fatcat Democrat Contributor Busted in World's Largest Ponzi Scheme

He forked over a lot of money to Democrats, and a sporadic Republican here and there, but he seemed to be particularly enamored with the unctuous Chuckie Schumer, who mysteriously was unavailable for comment. I count at least nine donations to Chuckie, as well as several to the cadaver in formaldehyde, Frank Lautenberg, and everyone's favorite shyster, Charlie Rangel.

Yet you can be sure when you read the fallout of this scumbag Bernard Madoff, you'll hear very little about him being a bigtime Democrat fundraiser.

Bernard L. Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and a force in Wall Street trading for nearly 50 years, was arrested by federal agents Thursday, a day after his sons turned him in for running what they said their father called "a giant Ponzi scheme."

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a civil complaint, said it was an ongoing $50 billion swindle, and asked a judge to seize the firm and its assets. "Our complaint alleges a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions," said Andrew M. Calamari, associate director of enforcement in the SEC's New York office.

In a separate criminal complaint, Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Theodore Cacioppi said Mr. Madoff's investment advisory business had "deceived investors by operating a securities business in which he traded and lost investor money, and then paid certain investors purported returns on investment with the principal received from other, different investors, which resulted in losses of approximately billions of dollars."

Can you say investor bailout, boys and girls? I know you can.

Some of America’s wealthiest socialites were facing ruin last night after the arrest of a Wall Street big hitter accused of the largest investor swindle perpetrated by one man.

Shock and panic spread through the country clubs of Palm Beach and Long Island after Bernard Madoff, a trading powerbroker for more than four decades, allegedly confessed to a fraud that will cost his wealthy investors at least $50 billion – perhaps the largest swindle in Wall Street history.

Mr Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq stock chairman, was apparently turned in by his two sons and arrested on Thursday morning at his Manhattan apartment by the FBI. Andrew Calamari, a senior enforcement official at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, described the scheme as “a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions”.

Update: More on the carnage.

Panicked investors scrambled desperately yesterday to determine whether their life savings had been wiped out after a Wall Street legend allegedly admitted blowing as much as $50 billion in what is emerging as the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

Among several big-name investors who trusted former Nasdaq Chairman Bernard L. Madoff with their cash were New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, who may have lost as much as $500 million in the scheme, sources said.

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg also confirmed he had invested money from his charitable organization through the 70-year-old Madoff's company, though he did not say how much.

Around 20 angry investors stormed the lobby of Madoff's offices yesterday to find out what happened to their life savings - only to be ordered to leave by police.

"When I found about it, I felt lousy, I held my head," said one elderly man, who was too distraught to say how much money he may have lost. "We've got problems."

While the scope of countless other investors' losses remains unclear, it appears that most of the victims reside in New York and South Florida and were among Madoff's closest friends and business associates.

Madoff allegedly told authorities that he estimated he blew through $50 billion in the scheme he called "one big lie."

"This is a major disaster for a lot of people," said investor Lawrence Velvel, 69, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law who said he and friends had lost millions among them.

Just imagine the attention Madoff would be getting if he were a major donor to the GOP.

The Post wonders where Eliot Spitzer was while all this was going on?

The scope of the alleged fraud runs to $50 billion - nearly $20 billion more than was lost in the Enron collapse.

Our question: Where was Eliot Spitzer when Wall Street really needed him?

After all, the former New York attorney general (and now disgraced ex-governor) styled himself the "Sheriff of Wall Street" - using dubious powers to bully executives, even when the evidence against them was scant.

And on those rare occasions when browbeaten company heads refused to cave in, Spitzer almost never won in court.

Meanwhile, real fraud on a massive scale was apparently going on right under his nose.

Warnings as far back as 1999 were ignored. Who was protecting this guy?