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by Richard Johnson
BERNIE Madoff was a devious liar and a cheat from the day the Ponzi schemer was born, an upcoming expose is set to reveal.
“Bernie showed his con-man colors as early as high school, when he held an English class enthralled with an oral book report — one that he made up on the spot out of whole cloth,†Jerry Oppenheimer, author of “Madoff With the Money,†out next month from Wiley, tells Page Six. “He also robbed Uncle Sam out of two years of Vietnam War-era Army Reserve active duty by developing a case of nerves.â€
Among Oppenheimer’s other bombshells about Madoff, who’s now doing 150 years in a North Carolina prison for investor fraud:
* Madoff was “a serial Casanova†who got caught by his wife, Ruth, and allegedly had to pay out “hush money†to at least one of his female employees.
* One of Madoff’s early Wall Street mentors, who supplied him with over-the-counter business, reputedly had close ties to the Chicago mob — “the genesis of Bernie’s career,†a source says.
* Just before Madoff’s arrest, a pal ran into him in Central Park and saw him wearing two gold Rolexes on one wrist. “I gotta know what time it is in my London office,†Madoff explained to the friend, who told Oppenheimer: “Think about that — Bernie couldn’t do the addition or the subtraction!â€
* Many Madoff acquaintances were stunned by his massive con, as they considered him “the dumbest man on Earthâ€.
The book also describes Ruth as a shopaholic who, days after Bernie’s arrest, “seemed to have just one concern: whether a $4,000 garment she’d bought in Palm Beach had been altered and shippedâ€.
Oppenheimer claims the case is far from over, as “the Russian mob, the Israeli mob and people in high and powerful places†are being scrutinized by the feds. Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Sorkin, didn’t get back to us.
New Jersey Banks , Atlanta Lawyers
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Sites of Interest
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S.E.C. Report Details Lapses i
