Ruth and Andrew Madoff talk about Bernie Madoff on television

The moment when Bernie Madoff’s gigantic Ponzi scheme was unveiled, his entire family ended up dragged into the public scandal of having frauded thousands of people and stealing billions of dollars at the same time. On last Sunday’s ‘60 Minutes’, Ruth Madoff, his wife, and Andrew, the couple’s son, talked to Morley Safer about when they discovered what was going on and how it is to still be living under the shadow of carrying ‘Madoff’ as a name.

Daily Remembrance

The interview aired by CBS’ program was the first time the Madoff family agreed to concede a televised statement. Even when questioned why Bernie’s own family did not know about what he was doing for so long, Ruth explained that they believed in what he was doing as a profession and could not imagine that he would be capable of destroying his reputation.

At the time being, Bernie is convicted on a 150-year sentence in prison. As far as anyone knows, he will be spending the rest of his days behind bars. While he is locked up, those left behind deal with the social consequences of the crime orchestrated by him. When questioned by Safer about feeling shame, Ruth answered that “of course I feel the shame. I can barely walk down the street without worrying about people recognizing me.”

The Revelation

Besides his family’s participation in ’60 Minutes’, Madoff’s attorney Ira Lee Sorkin also made an appearance on ‘The Early Show’. His contribution was mainly in order to explain why Madoff accepted a plea deal when he still had the chance to spend more time out of prison under bail conditions. According to Sorkin, Bernie came together with his fate to protect his family, to avoid more pressure over them and to try reverting as much as he could of that unbearable situation in which they were living.

The son and wife of Bernie Madoff remembered the day when he told them about the scheme. At first he had arranged a meeting at the company, but could not make himself come clean about what was going on. After inviting them to continue at his apartment, Bernie said “I have a confession to make. I’ve been running a Ponzi scheme. $50 billion dollars.” After that, it was Andrew and his brother, Mark, who turned their father in to the police.