Jun 29, 2009 4:53 pm US/Central
Local Madoff Victims: Life In Prison Not Enough
Stuart Borg Invested With Bernie Madoff For More Than 15 Years
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Reine and Stuart Borg of Northbrook are among the victims of financier Bernard Madoff.
CBS
Financier Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison on Monday, but one of Madoff's Chicago victims thinks the Ponzi scheme operator got off too easy.
Stuart Borg, 78, of Northbrook, invested with Madoff for more than 15 years, and the whole time, he was told he was making money.
"Life in jail is too good for him. This man has devastated not only people like myself, and richer people than me, but what I've said before – what he's done to these charities," Borg said. "It's unconscionable, and he has no conscience."
Borg says he is also angry at the government for not catching the fraud and safeguarding average investors.
Madoff was sentenced in New York Monday by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin. The judge called Madoff's fraud "staggering" and noted that it spanned more than 20 years. He says "the breach of trust was massive."
The 71-year-old Madoff said Monday at his sentencing that he "will live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life."
Stuart Borg said he's happy the judge "did his job," but said he'll still have to figure out how to stretch his finances if he lives several years longer.
"It's difficult because you have to really look at every dollar you spend and you have to be very careful how you spend it," Reine Borg said.
The Borgs have less money than they thought they would have at this point in their lives. The Borgs invested three quarters of their retirement money with Madoff and lost several hundred thousand dollars.
"It's basically your life savings, it's your children, your grandchildren, the college funds, their inheritance - poof - it's gone," Stuart Borg said.
He said Madoff is "heartless" and "evil." He and his wife want the government to go after Madoff's wife and sons. "They had to know what was going on," he said.
The jailed Madoff already has taken a severe financial hit: Last week, a judge issued a preliminary $171 billion forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and $80 million in assets his wife Ruth had claimed were hers. The order left her with $2.5 million.
"I'm very upset that (Ruth Madoff) is getting $2 million," Reine Borg said. "She didn't go out and work for it. He gave it to her."
The terms require the Madoffs to sell a $7 million Manhattan apartment where Ruth Madoff still lives. An $11 million estate in Palm Beach, Florida, a $4 million home in Montauk and a $2.2 million boat will be put on the market as well.
Before Madoff became a symbol of Wall Street greed, the former Nasdaq chairman had earned a reputation as a trusted money manager with a Midas touch. Even as the market fluctuated, clients of his secretive investment advisory business - from Florida retirees to celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax - for decades enjoyed steady double-digit returns.
But late last year, Madoff made a dramatic confession: Authorities say he pulled his sons aside and told them it was "all just one big lie." He pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud and other charges, saying he was "deeply sorry and ashamed."
On the day Madoff was sentenced, Stuart and Reine Borg tried to contain their emotions. They mostly succeeded. Reine Borg said she's known tougher times: She was in France during World War II.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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