Bernie Madoff – remember him? He was the swindler behind a decades-long investment scandal, which at $68 billion was the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. It all blew up in 2008 and Madoff confessed to his crimes. He died in jail in 2021, serving a 150-year sentence.Madoff’s operations were divided into four units, three run out of New York and the fourth in London, which was reportedly used as a “warehouse” for “stolen money”. And if you’re a Bernie fan, you’ll be pleased to hear that one floor of the swanky Mayfair office is now available for rent. For just £23,000 a month, you can relive all of Bernie’s great moments, from printing forged stock market trading receipts to compiling fake accounts for auditors.The building itself was bought for £27 million last summer by a company called Buckview, which counts as its beneficial owners the billionaire Perrodo family, owners of the oil giant Perenco.The building is now the headquarters of another investment firm called Sandbar Asset Management. Sandbar ran into its own problems earlier this year, shutting down its hedge fund after struggling to grow assets, according to Bloomberg. “Sandbar continues to manage almost $400 million in its flagship UCITS fund and is fully committed to growing its business,” the firm told Bloomberg. Bernie himself encountered a similar problem in the 1960s – though the solution he came up with is one Spy wouldn’t recommend.
Speaking of Mr Madoff, there is a new book out on the late Ponzi mastermind. You can read the Standard’s review of it here: https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/bernie-madoff-richard-behar-final-word-review-b1174255.html
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