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The Greatest Depression | 12/18/2008 3:00 pm

An Aerial Tour of the Homes of Bernie Madoff and the Bailed-Out Bankers

So where did all that money go? Here, via VirtualGlobeTrotting.com, citizen journalists provide a peek behind the purported gates of greed

Photo Essay

As our former middle class prepares for America’s first All Wal-Mart Christmas, we decided to search for aerial and satellite glimpses of the extraordinary Hampton haciendas, Greenwich getaways and DC domains that belong to the Big Boyz of finance, at least according to the community members/citizen journalists of Virtual Globetrotting.

Yes, whether they ran banks that now need billions in taxpayer bailouts to survive, or sold mortgages to those who were never able to pay, or in the case of Bernie Madoff, were alleged Ponzi schemers, the question remains … where did all that money go?

From the look of these places, their firms may have made risky bets with leveraged money, but the bonuses they paid themselves?

Those dollars were real.

53 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

f p
Yep the guy was a real s***head of the 1st order. He screwed so many over—jail ofr life IMO.
By f p on 12/19/2008 11:01 am
gulliver fourmyle
here.hear! i don’t approve of capital punishment, but before you ‘China-Bashers’ get hot, consider their present view. a huge population, on the verge of global dominance, yet ‘saddled’ with old corruption, as here—-they see the old ways must go—-so they shoot them—-i’d say ‘slammer, no key’—-but it’s not my country—-they prefer a faster track—-even conviction of ‘ripping’ a mere thousand is a death sentence. and real quick—-makes many thieves think twice—-to whack all of our inc. thieves? no—-just throw ‘em in—-and no ‘Fed-Hotel’—-hard time—-
By gulliver fourmyle on 12/18/2008 11:02 pm
gulliver fourmyle
apparently you’ve missed my post opposing capital punishment, vs. ‘throw-‘em’-in’—-this is Not China, nor you, or i—-past ‘sole-agent’ for both The P.R.C. and Taiwan products, i yet have Chinese friends—-they point to a major problem of both guv & ‘sort-of-capatalistic’ corrupt elements—-impeeding a billion—-they point out, Mao’s thinking starved millions—-they are used to ‘collateral damage’—-their goal is to ‘clean’ the proven guilty—-and fast—-their method? worse than Bush as guv of Tex? we are not The P.R.C.—-and he who has not sinned, cast the first stone—-we’ve been wasting millions of hapless—-wrong place, wrong time—-with no warrant—-no corruption people—-i feel ‘robber-barons’ should be thrown with common robbers of banks, not shot—-the Chinese think ‘shoot-‘em—-make rest think twice.’ who’s correct?
By gulliver fourmyle on 12/20/2008 10:38 pm
Mary NSB-Florida
The problem with the American dream is why people believe in the schemes… that someday they too will be rich. The fact that Mr. Madeoff used to be with the SEC should have been a “red flag”…not a recommendation. The monopoly money challenge equals a gambling addiction and after all they’ve always been able to convince others of their value in the past.
By Mary NSB-Florida on 12/18/2008 3:01 pm
Frannie Em
Mary It used to be a gamble, but the brokers could buy insurance on their trades, so they weren’t taking a chance, hence AIG collapsed. The deregulated banking system allowing the credit swap derivatives, just fueled the greed.
By Frannie Em on 12/18/2008 7:27 pm
John Hise
Big houses……so what!……big deal! Let’s do a fly-over of movie stars’ and athletes’ homes. Why are they paid so much?
By John Hise on 12/18/2008 3:22 pm
Agyness O
John, the movie stars didn’t ransack our financial markets. They took what we paid them and built their homes…big, big difference. When I think of all those retirement age and older who are without for their golden years I am sickened. These people are theives pure and simple and belong in jail.
By Agyness O on 12/18/2008 6:05 pm
Jeanne TheOfficeWorker
I propose we open a new wing at Gitmo for these F***ers.
By Jeanne TheOfficeWorker on 12/18/2008 3:37 pm
Patrick Sullivan
Let’s get one thing straight - Madoff wasn’t stealing money from Mom and Pop in middle America; he was stealing it from wealthy clients. We shouldn’t shed a tear over any of this. It has nothing to do with Bush and the GOP. Fraud is fraud…I’m just surprised he got away with it for so long!
By Patrick Sullivan on 12/18/2008 4:10 pm
mary lou s
patrick, one of madoff’s many victims is a food bank for hungry people in ann arbor.
By mary lou s on 12/20/2008 4:18 pm
William  Trenton
Endless bailouts of billioniares, yet another infringement on our rights by the gov’t. Add it to the ever-growing list of violations: They violate the 1st Amendment by opening mail, caging demonstrators and banning books like “America Deceived” from Amazon, Wikipedia and Facebook. They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns during Katrina. They violate the 4th Amendment by conducting warrant-less wiretaps. They violate the 5th and 6th Amendment by suspending habeas corpus. They violate the 8th Amendment by torturing at Gitmo. They violate the entire Constitution by starting illegal wars without declaration. Impeach them all (both parties) and save this great country. Last link (unless Google Books caves to the gov’t and drops the title): http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000083883
By William Trenton on 12/18/2008 4:12 pm
Yudon Nome
It is nice to know where these life destroying, greed driven jerks live. I didn’t have any money to lose and so I am not bakrupted by this mess but I would imagine that people who lost everything might use this information (where they live) to let them know how appreciative they are to have been screwed. Diana T- So now that we know WHERE Madoff is every night I wonder how long it will take his victims to pool together their money to send him a message.
By Yudon Nome on 12/18/2008 4:39 pm
beth willis
wOw, could you please post the video of Madoff which was in the ‘Post’ on-line edition yesterday? The tape runs about 30 minutes, and to me, reveals a man who had totally lost grip with his own company. The Madoff Co. was computerized with all transactions running through some kind of algorithmic formulas that Madoff seemed to believe were not only infallible but represented the cutting edge of investments. Quite honestly, I doubt regulators understood what he was doing. This whole scandal seemed to be driven by some math whiz named Josh. Yes, I believe Madoff is guilty of fraud………but readers might find this insight to Madoff quite interesting. Sorry I do not know how to post it. I am still working on an all-wood computer. Peace and grace
By beth willis on 12/18/2008 5:02 pm
Frannie Em
Beth Boy that is America isn’t it. Someone named Josh comes up with a math formula and people start getting rich on it so the management of our economy comes down to one guy named Josh.
By Frannie Em on 12/18/2008 7:30 pm
beth willis
Just Madoff, Frannie Em. The video is on YouTube now. Have a look. How many other financial management firms are run by algorithims? Peace and grace
By beth willis on 12/20/2008 11:38 am