Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

When someone sees another person break the rules and get away with it, does that inspire them to commit wrongdoing themselves? When people like Allen Stanford or Bernie Madoff are arrested, does that encourage people to play nice? These were the sorts of questions that a group of researchers at the University of North Carolina and Duke set out to answer.

So you stop off at your money manager's office atop some gleaming Midtown office building and you find him in a vast office filled with priceless art work, sitting behind an antique desk dressed in a $10,000 custom-made suit, and fingering photos of a new beachfront estate in East Hampton he's had his eye on. Should that be a warning sign you've invested your money with the next Bernie Madoff? That's what the Wall Street Journal's Wealth Report wonders today, pointing out that the recent crop of fraudsters all seemed to very much enjoy parading around their riches: More

Nadel Turns Himself In | Arthur Nadel, the Florida-based money manager accused of defrauding clients to the tune of $300 million and then suggesting he'd committed suicide when he was first indicted, is now in custody. Nadel surrendered to the FBI today in Tampa. Yea, sure, we were hoping for a more exciting conclusion to this story, too, but we'll cut him a break since he's 76. [Bloomberg]

How many financial fraudsters are on the run, or at least appear to be? At least two as of this afternoon! There's Marcus Schrenker, the financial adviser accused of defrauding investors through three of his companies, who tried to fake his death over the weekend by bailing out of his plane (which crashed in a Florida swamp) before taking off on a red motorcycle. Schrenker remains missing—some suspect he may have fled the country—but if he gets caught, he'll have quite a movie to sell to Hollywood, won't he? Schrenker isn't the only crook to have mysteriously disappeared. Robert Jaffe, the Bernie Madoff middleman from Palm Beach, who, last we heard, was selling off his wardrobe to a consignment store, failed to show up at a meeting with Massachusetts regulators today. There isn't an arrest warrant for Jaffe yet. ("What happens now is yet to be determined," says an official.) Let's hope that changes. It isn't every day that you get to see a police car chase a vintage green MG through the streets of Palm Beach.

It looks like Robert "Bob" Jaffe, the Palm Beach social fixture and Bernard Madoff middleman now under investigation by the FBI, could use a couple of bucks. Palm Beach Post gossip columnist Jose Lambiet reports that Jaffe recently turned up at a consignment shop in town with some of his jackets. "We're selling Mr. Jaffe's things right now," says the store manager. "We've got some nice Kiton jackets and sportcoats that belong to him. New, they're about $5,000. I've got one on sale for $895." From Jaffe's skeleton-filled closet straight to you!

Bernie Madoff is facing a long stretch in prison for bilking investors out of $50 billion, and plenty of theories have been batted around as to what might have motivated Madoff to carry out his devious scheme. Was it just about the money? Did he feel any sense of shame as he ripped off hundreds of investors and non-profits? And will there be any sort of redemption for Madoff at the end of the day? To get a little perspective on what it's like to carry out a massive financial fraud, keep the scam going undetected for years, eventually get caught, and then account for the wrongdoing, we turned to someone who's been through all that (and more): Sam Antar, who, along with his cousin Eddie Antar, built Crazy Eddie into a electronics powerhouse in the '70s and '80s until the company came crashing down and the Antars were indicted on a variety of charges.More

Bernie Madoff has been sequestered in his apartment since his bail conditions were modified on Friday, but that's hardly put a damper on the media frenzy. Over the weekend, the Post was kind enough to tally the funds lost by members of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue (or the "Temple of Doom," as the Post describes it), a $2 billion sum that includes a $200 million investment by Ira Rennert, an amount that is about twice what he spent on his house in the Hamptons. The Times offered up an extremely detailed look at Madoff's rise over the years, and revealed that Walter Noel, who runs the Fairfield Greenwich Group, collected more than $500 million in fees from the $7.5 billion he steered into Madoff's hands, a good portion of whuch was rustled up thanks to the efforts of his globetrotting sons-in-law.More

Bernie Madoff won't be seeing much sunlight for the forseeable future. A judge modified Madoff's bail conditions late this afternoon and ruled that unless he has to make an appearance in court, he'll be subject to round-the-clock home detention in his Manhattan apartment. He'll also required to pay out-of-pocket to have a security firm keep watch in order "to prevent harm or flight" (which may be tough for him to do considering his assets were frozen earlier today), and "video monitoring" of his apartment doors was also imposed. He is, however, still free to sit in front of his TV set. And, naturally, he's more than welcome to call us if he's in the mood for Chinese food.

You know this Madoff thing is out of control when you have socialites huddled outside Bernie's apartment waiting for him to make an appearance. Peter Davis (Tinsley Mortimer's honest-to-God half-brother in law!) reports that he's "obsessed" with the case—"It's all I can read or think about"—and says he turned up at 8:45 am, coffee in hand, hoping to get a glimpse of Bernie leaving his building when his 9 o'clock curfew expired. Unfortunately, he came up empty, but he did get a chance to talk to the owner of a local newsstand, who revealed to Davis that Madoff occasionally stopped by to pick up a copy of Forbes. (We're sure the staff of Forbes will be thrilled to hear the news.) Davis also says that he plans on "staking out" Madoff's building "all weekend." So if you have nothing better to do, you can head over there yourself. You might get lucky and meet both Peter and Bernie in person! [Paper Mag]

As if it wasn't bad enough that Bernie Madoff is accused of carrying out the biggest financial fraud in the history of the world, there's evidence that he may have cheated at golf, too. "They say you can tell a lot about a businessman from his golf game," explains Catherine Rampell on the Times' Economix blog. "Perhaps golf partners should have paid more attention to Bernard Madoff's handicap." What does Madoff's handicap tell us? Well, it seems his scores were "eerily consistent," even after he took a year off in between games. But there's more to chew on, conspiracy theorists: His handicap was a 12, which correlates to the 12 percent annual return that he promised many of his investors. On a related note, we've been informed he had precisely 12 candles on his birthday cake the year following his 11th birthday. Just so you know.

Bernie Madoff: The Silver Lining | Bernie Madoff ripped off dozens of wealthy investors, hedge funds, schools, and non-profit institutions over the years (and his elaborate scheme has also helped sap what little confidence remains in the financial markets at large). But there's some positive news for his victims, people like Mets owner Fred Wilpon and real estate tycoon Mort Zuckerman. It turns out that "investment losses that result from theft" are fully tax-deductible, according to experts. [Financial Week]

Mark Cuban Charged | Mark Cuban, the loud-mouthed tech entrepreneur, short-lived reality TV star, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and occasional blogger, has been charged with insider trading by the SEC. [WSJ, NYP, Dealbreaker]

Kozlowski Still Guilty | Remember former Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski, the face of corporate greed circa 2004? An appeals court this morning upheld the convictions of Kozlowski along with his former financial chief, Mark Swartz, both of whom remain in prison serving out sentences for fraud. [Reuters, WSJ]

Sometimes there's the chance for a comeback following a spectacular fall from grace. That doesn't look like a likely scenario for Adam Hochfelder. The erstwhile property mogul, who once controlled as much as 8 million square feet of property as part of his company Max Capital, counted billionaires Richard Kalikow and Robert Bass as partners, and was a social fixture around town, was arrested yesterday on charges of grand larceny and forgery. According to the Manhattan DA, the 37-year-old stole more than $17 million from banks and family members, money he used to pay off debts and for personal expenses.More