Skip to main content

Andrew Madoff dies of cancer in NYC

By WTOP Staff

LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Andrew Madoff, Bernard Madoff’s last surviving son, died of cancer on Wednesday, years after turning his father in and insisting he had been duped like the rest of the world into believing history’s most notorious Ponzi king was an honest financier.

Andrew Madoff, 48, was “surrounded by his loving family” when he died at a hospital from mantle cell lymphoma, said his attorney, Martin Flumenbaum.

Andrew Madoff and his brother, Mark Madoff, worked on the legitimate trading side of their father’s Manhattan firm, two floors removed from the private investment business where Bernard Madoff carried out his $65 billion Ponzi scheme over several decades.

Bernard Madoff, 76, was arrested in December 2008. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges months later and is serving a 150-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina. Two years after the father’s arrest, Mark Madoff hanged himself in his Manhattan loft apartment as his 2-year-old son slept in another room.

“One way to think of this is the scandal and everything that happened killed my brother very quickly,” Andrew Madoff told People magazine last year. “And it’s killing me slowly.”

Andrew Madoff was diagnosed with the rare form of cancer in 2003 but went into remission. He blamed the relapse on the stress of living with his father’s scam. The disease returned in October 2012, and he told People magazine he felt “blindsided.”

Andrew Madoff had served as the chairman of the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s board of directors until his father’s scheme was revealed.

Flumenbaum said Andrew Madoff had “lost his courageous battle” with the disease. He said funeral arrangements will be private.

The death came as authorities continue to investigate what role, if any, close family members and others linked to the Madoff business had in the fraud. Sentencings are scheduled in several weeks for five former high-level Madoff firm employees convicted of helping carry out the fraud by conspiring to defraud clients and falsifying books and records.

This summer, a court-appointed trustee who has recovered more than half the nearly $20 billion that thousands of people had invested with Madoff filed a lawsuit claiming that Madoff’s sons used his business as their “personal cookie jar,” accepting sham loans, fictitious trades and deferred compensation. It accused them of knowing about the fraud and trying to cover it up by deleting emails during a Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

“The new allegations are unfounded and false,” Flumenbaum said when the lawsuit was filed. “As we stated from the outset, neither Andrew nor Mark knew of, or knowingly participated, in their father’s criminal conduct. It was Andrew and Mark who informed the authorities of their father’s fraud and put an end to it.”

During a 2011 “60 Minutes” interview, Andrew Madoff said that from the beginning he had “absolutely nothing to hide and I’ve been eager, almost desperate, to speak out publicly and tell people I am not involved.”

He said he believed his father used the legitimate operations of the trading business to cover up the massive fraud he presided over, even showing clients the legitimate trading operation to dupe them.

“It was one of the hardest things to come to grips with in trying to get my head around this was that feeling that I had been used almost as a human shield by him. It’s unforgivable. No father should do that to their sons,” he told the CBS program.

The book “Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family,” published in 2011 and promoted through media appearances by Andrew Madoff, described how Bernard Madoff sobbed as he told his sons about the fraud. It said Andrew Madoff draped his arm around his father and cried, too, before the brothers went to lawyers and authorized them to report the fraud to authorities.

“I would love to say that Mark and I were waving the flags of justice in the air, but the bottom line is that we were absolutely terrified. We knew that what we were doing was going to send our father to jail, and the feeling was awful — absolutely awful,” the book quoted him as saying.

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Long and Tom Hays contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Don’t Settle for Student Loans to Pay for Online Education

By WTOP Staff
Online college programs are becoming a more popular choice for prospective students, with one study finding that more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2015. The popularity of these courses can be attributed in part to their flexibility with working adults' schedules, students' ability to progress more quickly through online programs and, oftentimes, cheaper tuition. [See 10 low-cost online bachelor's programs for out-of-state students.]Online degrees can be beneficial to many college students, but some studies have shown online learners complete their programs at lower rates than students at traditional brick-and-mortar campuses. Individuals with student loans but no degree comprise two-thirds of defaulted borrowers. Though these numbers are not encouraging, just like for traditional programs, there are ways to reduce how much you'll need to borrow for an online program to ensure you won't become one of these statistics. Don't just settle on borrowing student loans to cover the whole cost of your program and living expenses. Instead, start thinking about how to cut costs and cover your balance in different ways, such as the following. -- Grants and scholarships: Even though you are taking an online course, you can still apply and receive grants and scholarships. But your first step should be to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA, which will allow you to receive a Pell Grant if your expected family contribution is low enough. The EFC criteria and award amounts are adjusted annually, but the 2017-2018 academic year awards range from $606 to $5,920, which could significantly lower the amount you borrow annually. Your next step is to apply for scholarships. You can start by checking online scholarship search engines, such as the Salt Scholarship Search, College Board's BigFuture and Peterson's. But don't forget to take advantage of local organizations and your school's financial aid office. Both may offer scholarships that you can't find with a national scholarship search. [Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]For instance, organizations like the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club typically offer scholarships annually to local students. Just because you're going to school online doesn't mean you're ineligible. Visit your local library for scholarship listings, and ask around town. You might be surprised how many local organizations offer scholarships. While these scholarships typically aren't large, every little bit counts. Each dollar you receive in a scholarship is a dollar you don't have to borrow and pay interest on. -- Work-study: Another option for online students may be work-study awards. Not all students enrolled in online programs are eligible, but students at some schools -- including, for example, SUNY Empire State College and Liberty University -- are. Work-study awards are not given upfront like scholarships and grants. In most cases, they are an offer to earn up to the awarded amount if you secure an eligible work-study job. While there is a misconception that all work-study jobs must be on campus, students can work for off-campus, nonprofit or public employers as long as the work is in the public's interest. You may be able to work for a for-profit employer if the job is relevant to your course of study. No matter who the outside employer is, it will need to have an established agreement with your college for you to receive work-study funds. Remember, to be eligible for federal financial aid, you must be enrolled and pursuing a degree or certificate. If you're not working toward a credential, Pell Grants and work-study won't be option, but you may still be able to take advantage of private scholarships -- just be sure to read the eligibility criteria carefully. [Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]-- Pay as you go: One of the great benefits to enrolling online is the flexible schedule, which can allow you to complete your college coursework around your responsibilities. But prospective students often overlook using their part- or full-time job earnings as an option for paying for college. Almost 80 percent of college students in 2015 worked at least part time while attending classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By budgeting and thinking strategically about your college costs, you can likely reduce your dependence on student loans by paying a portion out of pocket. Many -- but not all -- online programs are less expensive than traditional programs and often have shorter payment periods. Six, eight or 10 weeks are common course durations. Because of the frequency of payments in an online setting, you may be well-placed to pay as you go and possibly avoid borrowing altogether. Attending college online and avoiding student loans may be challenging, but if you are willing to put in the effort, you can limit the amount you need to borrow. More from U.S. News Q&A: Understanding Student Loan Discharge Eligibility Student Loan Refinancing Isn't Right for All Borrowers
Read Next Story

Related News

Frustration grows in Venezuela as earthquake death toll reaches 1,430

Israel and Lebanon sign framework agreement with US in ‘first step’ toward peace, Rubio says

Trump-endorsed populist poised to become Colombia’s next president as rival challenges vote