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Sen Judd Gregg Withdraws As Commerce Secretary Nominee
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‘Bag Lady’ Penney spins Madoff losses into gold
The Bag Lady may get to keep her expensive jewelry and her West Palm Beach cottage after all.
Alexandra Penney, the former editor-in-chief of Self magazine who has written about her travails as a rich-girl victim of Bernard Madoff’s in a blog called The Bag Lady Papers may have found a path out of penury.
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While her first-hand account of her financial devastation on Tina Brown’s Daily Beast website (”yesterday, I took my first subway ride in 30 years” ) exasperated some readers, it struck a chord with editors at Hyperion who apparently share some of her fears (”How am I going to iron those shirts [without Yolanda the maid] so I can still feel like a poor civilized person?”).
Hyperion Publisher Ellen Archer acknowledges that Penney’s blog resonated deeply with her.
“There are a lot of us, even those of us with paychecks, who are worried that we can end up on the streets,” Archer said. “Even those of us who haven’t invested with Bernie Madoff have taken a lot of financial hits and watching her navigate these difficult waters provides a lot of people with reassurance.”
To be fair to Penney, she does not pull any punches. She writes of growing up privileged – her mother was Greek royalty, her father was a Harvard lawyer – in “a WASPy Connecticut suburb.” But after leaving her husband, she says she made her own way, primarily by writing bestsellers such as How to Make Love to a Man.
Despite that success, she was haunted by the fear she would end up a bag lady on the streets – and after confiding that to a friend, got turned onto Madoff as a sort of financial insurance policy. Until the devastasting news of Madoff’s arrest on Dec. 11, that had seemed to be working for her. She was living as an artist with her own New York studio, doing the work she loved and, yes, diniing at the Four Seasons whenever she felt like it.
Now, thanks to her old network in publishing – and her resolve to go back to writing for a living – she may get to keep Yolanda the maid to iron all those shirts.
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This post is tagged with: Alexandra Penney, Bernard Madoff, Hyperion Books, Madoff, Recent Stories, Self magazineRead related stories: Madoff · Recent Stories
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Feds probe firms close to Rep. John MurthaFebruary 13, 2009 at 10:46am
Another possible pay-to-play arrangement appears to be unraveling under public scrutiny – this one involving Rep. John Murtha, the powerful defense appropriator from Pennsylvania.
SI’s Selena Roberts scoops the competition
Score one for Sports Illustrated.
In November 2007, the weekly magazine hired sports columnist Selena Roberts away from The New York Times.
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On Monday, Rodriguez confirmed the story in an interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons.
During the interview Rodriguez, who now plays for the New York Yankees, accused Roberts of stalking him during the course of her reporting.
The third baseman said that Roberts had been thrown out of his New York City apartment and that she had trespassed at the University of Miami in an attempt to get access to him.
“And four days ago she tried to break into my house where my girls are up there sleeping, and got cited by the Miami Beach police,” Rodriguez said. “I have the paper here.”
Roberts immediately denied the accusations. “Everything that came out of his mouth was a fabrication,” she told Newsday.
Subsequently, Rodriguez has produced no proof of inappropriate or illegal conduct by Roberts. Police agencies allegedly involved have said they have no records of any break-ins or acts of trespass.
Rodriguez and Roberts do have history, as she wrote about him, sometimes critically, when she was at the Times.
In addition, she’s finished a book on Rodriguez, Hit and Run: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, scheduled for publication on May. 19.
Roberts told Newsday that there would be things in the book that Rodriguez probably won’t like.
But, by all accounts, she and Epstein got their story the old-fashioned way. The worked their sources and kept digging and digging until they had things pinned down.
Roberts then confronted Rodriguez about the test results.
“You’ll have to talk to the (players’) union,” Rodriguez said. He added the comment, “I’m not saying anything.”
Roberts, 42, is a journalism graduate of Auburn University who worked at The Tampa Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel and the Minneapolis Star Tribune before joining the Times in 1996 to cover the New Jersey Nets.
She went on to cover a variety of topics and beats, including the Olympics, before becoming a columnist in 2002.
Epstein, Roberts’ colleague on the Rodriguez story, worked at New York’s Daily News and Inside Higher Ed before joining Sports Illustrated.
He has a Masters degree in journalism and a Masters degree in environmental science from Columbia University.
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Feds probe firms close to Rep. John MurthaFebruary 13, 2009 at 10:46am
Another possible pay-to-play arrangement appears to be unraveling under public scrutiny – this one involving Rep. John Murtha, the powerful defense appropriator from Pennsylvania.
Judd Gregg withdraws as commerce secretary nominee
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire withdrew his nomination as commerce secretary Thursday, citing “irresolvable conflicts” with President Barack Obama over his stimulus plan and handling of the 2010 census.
“We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy,” Gregg said in a statement released by his Senate office.
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Gregg, 61, a former New Hampshire governor, had signaled his disagreement with the president’s agenda when he abstained from the Senate vote on the stimulus package, which passed the chamber 61 to 37. He had not offered any public comment on the White House’s plan to have the Census director report to White House officials. Many Republicans, however, had voiced serious concerns about the potential politicization of the department.
A member of the Senate since 1993, Gregg is the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, and has been an outspoken critic of big spending.
In his statement, Gregg thanked Obama for the nomination, saying, “I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle.”
But he suggested that he had not fully grasped the scope of his differences, saying, “Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”
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Feds probe firms close to Rep. John MurthaFebruary 13, 2009 at 10:46am
Another possible pay-to-play arrangement appears to be unraveling under public scrutiny – this one involving Rep. John Murtha, the powerful defense appropriator from Pennsylvania.
Guitar Heroes Not So Heroic
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Meg Whitman Draws on Wealth Connections for 2010 Gubernatorial Bid
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Ruth Madoff Withdrew 15m Before Husbands Arrest
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Ruth Madoff withdrew $15M before husband’s arrest
The wife of accused Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff pulled millions out of a brokerage account only days before her husband was charged with securities fraud – including $10 million on the eve of his arrest, Massachusetts’ top securities regulator said Wednesday.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said Ruth Madoff withdrew $5.5 million on Nov. 25 and $10 million on Dec. 10, according to reports produced by Cohmad Securities, a firm co-owned by her husband.
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Attorney Ira Sorkin, who represents both Madoffs, has said the financier admitted to his wife and their two sons only on Dec. 10 that his multibillion-dollar hedge fund was an elaborate Ponzi scheme. The 70-year-old mogul was arrested and charged with securities fraud on Dec. 11. Madoff told authorities he acted alone in confessing to the fraud, prosecutors have said.
But the revelation of Ruth Madoff’s withdrawals raises fresh questions about what she knew and when she knew it.
The information about her withdrawals was made public today as part of a lawsuit that Calvin brought against Cohmad Securities in an effort to revoke its Massachusetts brokerage license.
For years, Cohmad Securities, partly owned by Madoff, was a major conduit into his Ponzi scheme and received monthly payments from him for “professional services”, “brokerage services” and “fees for account supervision,” Galvin’s office said.
The payments totaled $67 million and made up 84 percent of Cohmad’s total income over the last eight years, the documents show.
That sum does not include commissions paid to broker Robert M. Jaffe, according to the complaint, because Cohmad did not respond to requests for that information.
Jaffe – a member of the wealthy Shapiro clan, major philanthropic donors in Boston and Palm Beach, Fla. – appeared under subpoena before Massachusetts regulators last week, but invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer questions about his business, Cohmad, or his connection to Madoff Investments, according to the complaint.
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This post is tagged with: Bernard Madoff, Cohmad Securities, Ira Sorkin, Madoff, Recent Stories, Robert Jaffew, Ruth MadoffRead related stories: Madoff · Recent Stories1 Comments
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That’s right – follow the money – doesn’t it make you wonder how much money Ellen Jafee, wife of Robert Jaffee, withdrew in the days leading up to the Madoff confession? How about withdrawals by the wife of the head of Fairfield Securities in Conn?
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Judd Gregg withdraws as commerce secretary nomineeFebruary 12, 2009 at 5:23pm
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire withdrew his nomination as commerce secretary Thursday, citing “irresolvable conflicts” with President Barack Obama over his stimulus plan and handling of the 2010 census.
Intellectual Pols Are Back in Favor
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Chris Brown Hires Defense Attorney to the Stars
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Muckety This Tony Blair to Blue Man Group Solution
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Muckety This Tony Blair to Blue Man Group
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Stephen King Pioneered E Publishing Before Kindle
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Madoff Agrees to Partial Settlement of Civil Case
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White House Fumbled on Zinni Appointment
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The Geography of the Madoff Scam
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Madoff is Made for Hollywood
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Panetta Also Has Ties to Educap Founder
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#1. belles 02.12.2009
There is a proverb in Japan that states “Nanakorobi Yaoki”.
Nana = Seven
Korubi = Fall Down
Ya = Eight
Oki = Stand Up
The proverb translates to, “Seven times down, eight times up”. It derives its origins from okiagari dolls, paper-mache toys than when knocked down, always return to an upright position. The dolls have no arms or legs and are also known as Daruma dolls.
Daruma (also known as Bodhidharma) was the first patriarch of Zen. He traveled from India to China in the sixth century. Legend has it that he sat in a cave meditating for nine years without moving, in order to obtain enlightenment. In the process, his legs withered to nothing and his hands shriveled away from lack of use. But he remained steadfast and seemed to get healthier with the passing years. Folklore suggests he finally died after vitally living eight hundred thirteen years.
The armless, legless Daruma dolls are weighted so they always pop up after being pushed down. They represent the resiliency and perseverance of Daruma. They stand for success after misfortune. Daruma dolls inspire you to rise no matter how many times you stumble or fall down. “Nana” in Japanese has a double meaning. It means “seven” but is also used to denote “many”.
So, “Nanakorobi Yaoki”, or “Seven times down, eight times up”, is a call to never give up. It is a celebration of your spirit, determination, and ability to not only land on your feet, but to also evolve, enjoy, and thrive.
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