And in hell Ponzi turns green with envy

From the New York Post:

He's the Grinch who stole . . . everything.

Accused mega-swindler Bernard Madoff yesterday skulked out of his Upper East Side penthouse and went into hiding as scores more charities, banks and individual investors revealed that they face financial ruin from his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

"He's an evil person. It's morally disgraceful," said Rep. Peter King (R-LI), who yesterday called for a congressional probe of the scam.

King said he recently attended several Christmas parties where guests included people who lost tens of millions of dollars in investments entrusted to Madoff, 70, who was busted by federal authorities last week.

One party guest pointed around a room, saying, "That guy lost $10 million, and that guy lost so many millions," King recalled.

Madoff seemed maniacal about keeping his scam going to the end.

As recently as Thanksgiving, he was pushing pals to invest more money with him, telling them he could work wonders in the volatile market, a source told The Post.

They say that it's hard to con an honest man, but I'll cut the individual investors some slack here. However there is no excuse for banks and major charities to fall for this kind of scam.

Institutions like that are supposed to be managed by professionals who are expected to do their due diligence before investing other people's money. Clearly this didn't happen.

On the bright side most of the individual investors in places like Manhattan and Palm Beach are left-wing limousine liberals. Now there will be millions fewer to donate to left-wing causes and political candidates.