Peter Madoff Gets Jail Break for Bat Mitzvah
Bat Mitzvah Break: Peter Madoff arrives in court for sentencing on fraud charges. A judge threw the book at Bernie Madoff?s brother, but allowed him to delay reporting to prison until after his granddaughter?s bat mitzvah. Image by getty images
Bernie Madoff’s brother Peter Madoff is headed to prison for his role in the notorious billion-dollar Ponzi scam.
But not before reportedly attending his granddaughter’s super-luxe bat mitzvah.
A judge hit Peter Madoff, 67, with a 10-year sentence. But after received pleas from family and clergy, the jurist allowed the disgraced Madoff brother to report to prison on Feb. 6, the New York Post reported.
That allowed him to attend the coming of age event for his grandaughter, Rebecca Skoller.
It’s no run-of-the-mill bat mitzvah either. The celebration started with a ceremony at Manhattan’s famed Central Synagogue . It continues with a party at the swank 404 NYC, where the paper said shindigs can run up to six figures.
Peter Madoff was the chief compliance officer at Madoff’s firm, and worked for Bernie Madoff for 40 years. He made $4 million a year from 1998 to 2008 alone.
The brother, who was convicted of securities fraud, claimed to know nothing about the scam, and told a judge he was . “deeply ashamed and sorry.”
Federal District Judge Laura Swain threw the book at Peter Madoff, saying his claim of being in the dark was “frankly, not believable.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
