Extreme Wealth: Steve Fishman Inside the Mind of Prisoner Bernie Madoff

Bribe, Swindle or Steal

In this episode — another in our series on extreme wealth — the journalist Steve Fishman discusses his reporting on Bernie Madoff and the collapse of Madoff’s $65 billion ponzi scheme. Steve doggedly pursued the story even after the financier was sent to a federal prison in North Carolina. Eventually the two men connected for a series of phone interviews that gave Steve a unique insight into the truths and lies that enabled Madoff to con investors at an industrial scale. Steve explains that greed was but one motivation for Madoff, an apex Manhattan insider who never forgot humiliations he suffered during his youth in Queens.

Steve Fishman is a longtime journalist who lives in Brooklyn. He covered Bernie Madoff first as a staff writer at New York magazine and later as the host and creator of the podcast Ponzi Supernova. His latest podcast series, The Burden, investigates decades of sketchy convictions won by Louis Scarcella, a formerly celebrated NYPD detective.