Author who lost fortune rips Bernie as a 'sociopath' Alexandra Penney - Alexandra Penney - Former Editor

Author who lost fortune rips Bernie as a 'sociopath'
BY RICH SCHAPIRO

Madoff: was he truthful about $50 billion price tag?
Best-selling author Alexandra Penney lashed out at Bernie Madoff Saturday after revealing she had lost her life savings to the arch-swindler.
"This is not a human being - it's a sociopath," Penney, best known for her 1982 classic "How to Make Love to a Man," told CNN, declining to say how much she had lost.
"I'm sincerely, and this is the understatement of the year, appalled that this man is not in prison."
Penney thought her finances were secure while the stock market was tanking because Madoff had placed her money in Treasury bonds. Then, on Dec. 11, came the phone call from her best friend that turned her life upside down.
"She said, 'I hope this is a rumor, but I've just heard Bernie Madoff's been arrested,'" Penney said.
Her son phoned moments later, confirming the news.
"For what?" Penney asked.
"He's a crook," her son replied.
Penney, a former editor of Self magazine and one of the originators of the pink ribbons used to symbolize breast-cancer awareness, had quit writing and was living as an artist.
Not anymore. Penney said she plans to start writing again to pay the bills.
The acclaimed writer, who owns homes in Manhattan, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Wainscott, L.I., added that Wall Street needs to be reformed.
"I think that the crash of the stock market and the crash of Bernie Madoff together are really emblematic that the system is the culprit," Penney said. "Madoff is emblematic of the system, but there's something very wrong with the system."