psychological element that laurie managed to get into this book that just was never in the newspapers. and i want to say that i think the madoff family was incredibly lucky to pick laurie sandell, because of all the possible journalists who could have written this book, she is the best because she herself grew up with a con man in her life. so i now present you someone who really knows what she's talking about, laurie sandell. [applause] >> thank you so much for that very generous and wonderful introduction, and thank you to diesel bookstore for having me today. i just want to tell you a little bit about how this book came to

be ended up going to read a chapter from the book. in 2009, september 2009, a book that i've written called "the imposter's daughter" about my own father came out. i was reading it every books are much like this one, and, in fact, signing books, a woman approached me and said, you know, i can't believe you're here, i can't believe your story, and introduced herself as the fiancé of andrew madoff. my jaw dropped. a year after the scam and was completed mind blowing and i have been following like everybody else. and i came to know the family over the course of two years. like so many people that have been following the story, i of course thought that andrew was most likely involve, but he and his brother had known all about his father's from. i was convinced ruth had to have known. is only really during curiosity that that brought me into this story. i was a journalist and i wanted to get to the truth of this

story, like every other journalist out there, and most of the people in the public. and so when it came time that they're ready to write a book, i sat down with them and was taken into the heart of the story, i was absolutely astonished to find nothing i thought i knew was true. so i'm just going to read to you from the chapter of the confession itself. and there we'll go. at 6:50 a.m. andrew and mark were once again parched and contraband trading floor. periodically breaking the silence despite the or to offer industry. one thing they knew, something was terribly wrong. at 8:00 a.m. teachers to lead a right. mark shook his head. let's wait at our desk. ruth, going to court filings, taking out some 50 million in two separate withdrawals from her brokerage account in the prior three weeks. the astronomers among into her wachovia bank account so he could use it to cover

redemptions. she did his bidding unquestioningly, something that the media claim as proof of her involvement, a been a famine of millions of dollars around all the time buying both an apartment, making hardware transfers the multimillion dollar donations to philanthropic organizations. had the question is directed bernie would've barked at her and it would've been the end of the conversation. it wasn't until 9:20 a.m. that andrew spotted peter making his way across the trading for. peter is bernie's brother. they hurried into the conference and. as andrew took his seat he felt the back of his neck grow hot with anticipation. peter stood by the door, i talk to your father, it's bad. he wants to talk to himself, he said. andrew's stomach dropped. he knew that his alternate to put a positive spin on things. the brothers push the chairs back and follow their uncle onto the trading floor. they pass their colleagues shouting orders at the desk, a

cluster of secretaries, a large conference room. the walk seemed to take forever. when they arrived at bernie's executive office they found him sitting behind his desk leaning back in his chair staring at a television set mounted on the scene. he didn't read them or even acknowledge their arrival. andrew and picked up the two chairs facing birder. mark sat on the couch to the left of his desk. for a few minutes before sat in intense sides but i don't know where to start, bernie fine began to his voice caught in his throat and tears started to swell up inside. andrew felt a river of alarm rises just. he glanced at more. you studying earning intensive. let's move to the table in the corning. him before gathered around a small conference table were awol offered a shade more privacy. again, bernie started to talk and couldn't continue. dumbfounded, and watched his father struggle forward. i can't do this year, bernie finally said. andrew looked at his father.

what could possibly be so bad that he couldn't even discuss at the office? why do we go to your apartment, andrew suggested? are we all going up there, mark asked? no. peter, you stay here and run the ship while we go to the apartment. peter nodded and left the office. that's a three struggle into the winter gear, bernie said to his secretary, bring the carbon. what are you going? the market is open. mind your own business, bernie snap it immediately eleanor stared at her computer. andrew, marking ring road elevator down inside and. then waited for lee at the back lobby watching the rain streaked across the revolving door. there was no, andrew tried to blend in, wishing he could be teleports his parents apartment so he could get whatever was going to happen over with. the anticipation was unbearable.

the car pulled up in front, again, they rode in silence. bernie sanders between his two sons in the backseat misty eyed and shaken struggling to hold it together as the hit already received bad news that was trying to cope with the, andrew said. andrew stared out the window, his brain a dead zone. clive dropped them off on 64th street in front of the entrance to ruth and bernie's penthouse apartment. the three wood up to the 11th floor in fits and removed their wet shoes in the foyer, opening bernie's shoes off for. a labor coach across the banister taking care not to drip water onto the floor. ruth greeted them at the door, her face grim. she, too, had no idea why her husband had rushed him in the middle of the day to talk to his family but like her sons she subducted the news was bad. somehow connected to the mayhem on wall street. burning had called from the office and said i something to tell you. i can't tell you on the phone. i'm coming home with the boys. she had gotten off the phone, shaking and had waited for them

in the kitchen. together, the family added the sitting room, a forbidding limit and had never like with dark green walls, tacky carpeting, dark leather chairs and a heavy desk. bernie sat by himself on its large leather sofa. ruth sat on a chair next to the couch. andrew to the ottoman and mark the desk chair. the four face one another city a considerable distance apart. i don't know where to start, bernie begins again. you start to sell. i'm broke. how is that possible? i don't understand. the money is gone. it's over. i don't understand, andrew repeated how can it be? we're having an okay year. what happened is this about the retention? and bernie said something more terrible than they could have imagined. it's all been one big lie. it is a giant ponzi scheme and it's been going on for years and there's been all these retention and i can't keep it going anymore. i can't do it. andrew stared at his father, his

mind a jumble of disconnected thoughts and phrases. he was trying to piece together what his father was think of the senses kept it that britain. he was frustrated as they continue to disappear. ruth lit a cigarette, her hand shook. what is a ponzi scheme? it means the asset management business was a fake, andrew said. i been lying to all of you for years but i've been lying to your mother, lying to you, lying to the customers. i've been lying to myself. i'm probably going to jail. he broke down then, really sobbing. andrew rose from the ottoman, across the room and draped an arm around his father for a few seconds but at that andrew started to cry. he got at the return to ottoman. that was all this money, where did he go? the money is gone. i have 50 billion liabilities, his voice trailed off. andrew stop. 50 million? 50 billion. and are now glanced at his brother who hadn't yet set a were. he recognized that look.

mark space was right, his jaw clench, a paintwork in his temple. i still don't understand. how is all this going to unfold, andrew asked? how is going to affect them, what was going to happen? i have 100 million in cash left. there are certain accounts, i have a large retention next week. that's when it will all unravel. what are all these people going to do? what about suzy west, referring to his widowed mother in law who invested her life savings? are they going to get their money back? i'm doing my best. i have a list of people wait, andrew interrupt. how can you even do that? they wanted to keep that money. they will, bernie explained. he outlined situation where firms in failed. not wanting to hear more. how long has this been going on? if been going on for years. much has been made of what the father start into this knowing really knows. bernie started from in the

'60s when computers were not even in just. the records from that time i think it even even bother regulatory requirements don't require records that go beyond such as. birney claimed a ponzi scheme began in 19 thank you. involving synthetic trades for his most important clients. whether the original ponzi scheme started when bernie said he did or much earlier, only bernie knows. what about me and my family, dad? what could happen to us? i've been doing the math. i've been looking for all the records and at the end of the day the amount of money i've taken in paid out over the years is a about a wash. mark stood up. this is bull shit he yelled and stormed out of the room. i'm going with them, andrew said, and ran after his brother. mark was in the foyer family with issues, yanking his coat

over his arm. i'm leaving you with you. okay, let's go, andrew said. he followed his brother into the elevator and out into the fall drizzle. clive stuck his head out the window, what am i doing? andrew shout into the wind. the old man is still upstairs pick your waiting for them. mark hailed a cab. andrew slid into the seat next to him. the cab driver turned run. where to? just drive. the driver started edged down the street, andrew the grateful. it would buy him time to thing. he turned tomorrow. what do we do? we need a lawyer, right now. how? what do we do? we need a real lawyer, a criminal defense would. let's call marty, he will know what to do. markus fothen law, marty logan was a retired senior litigator. it represented spiro agnew during the watergate trial and jackie kennedy in her lawsuit against ron colella. he and his wife were staying at the tower hotel whether apartment was being renovated. mark leaned into the partition,

take us to 49th street and first avenue. the cab turned left as mark punched a number into a cell phone. stephanie, what are you doing right now? get her out of there. he listened, his face burned red. make an excuse, just get her out of there. he hung up the phone. mark and andrew wrote the rest of the what inside each in his own world of fear. ruth sat at her kitchen smoking one cigarette after another. bernie had returned to the office. there have been no agonizing embrace or recriminations. he told her hit two more checks to deposit, that his plan to go to office in the morning to pay the trade. she nodded numbly, yes, yes. okay. after he left, she sat there, a complete zombie but eventually she rose and made her way to the bedroom to dress for the office christmas party which was scheduled for that night. for the occasion she had a black dress tail like a man's shirt with detailing on the collar. as she fumbled with a small

buttons her fingers trim it, she had the thought, i will never wear this again. she paired it with a black skirt that fell just below the knee and a pair of tall boots with a hill but she never liked her legs. the thought of not attend the christmas party didn't cross her mind. of course, she and bernie are going to before he left, bernie had said we have to show up and act like everything is fine. yes, she nodded again, numbly, yes, okay. it was noon when andrew and mark entered the suite at the towers. although andrew but that's only been flocking to that day for a year, a pile of suitcases out by the front door. marti cleveland. what happen? what the hell is going on? it was marc stern to do the talking. my father just confess to a huge crime. he said his whole business is a ponzi scheme, the firm is insolvent and there's 50 billion missing. 50 million, marty asked? know, 50 billion mark said. marty paused. oh, boy. i need to sit down.

my whole retirement fund is with him. he recovered himself. but that's not important to come everything he said. andrew and mark repeated everything they could remember about the conversation they had with her father. do you think you same? do you think he is telling the truth? yeah, andrew said that he wasn't ramming. he wasn't having a psychotic break. marti sank into a chair by the dining room table. this is incredible. we need marty, the firm senior litigator and the only guy you want to talk to in this situation. he has a ton of experience. he picked up the phone and called his firm. after waiting on hold for a few minutes, marty heard him answer and he launched into an debris a description of the day's events. i have my son-in-law and his birthday and it just give me this incredible story. i need to see right now. it's urgent. how soon can you get your? i'm up in connecticut litigating a case. i can't come straight there. can you give me more

information? his father just confess to huge cry and we need to talk about it right away time he urged. i can be there by 3 p.m. ma return to mark and andrew. okay, is going to come with his associate. is the firm's newest partner, one of the rising stars in the litigation a pic or two of them are perfect. do what you have to do and let's meet back at 3 p.m. andrew and mark left the beekman power. they felt lost. they had two hours to kill. ..

>> peter popped his head in the door. are you okay? no, i'm not okay. yeah, i know, i know, this is awful. what are you doing? mark and i are meeting with an attorney at 3 p.m. okay. peter slipped away. andrew sat staring at the pictures of his kids and at the various awards and honors he'd received during his 20 years in the business. drained, frightened and exhausted, more than anything he was trying to understand what had happened. $50 billion. the number didn't register. it was inconceivable. were it true, it would make the buzz one of the largest -- business one of the largest hedge funds in the world. he turned the day's events over and other in his head. his phone rang. it's catherine, his fiancee. should i get my hair done or not, she asked, sounding as if

she were a million miles away. he struggled to remember if they'd spoken, then remembered texting her. for the party, are we going? yes, yes, we're going. he walked out of his office without knowing the next time he would return would be six months later accompanied by his attorneys and the fbi. marty and andrew arrived at 3 p.m. start. marty was short and stout. ehrlich was tall, slender and young. the lawyers shrugged their arms out of their raincoats. marty london immediately started to recap the story for his colleagues. the boys just told me this incredible story, that he's running a ponzi scheme to the tune of $50 billion. 50 million? billion, with a b. he repeated the same questions london had posed. no one from family members to the top lahrs in the country -- lawyers in the country could

wrap their head around the scandal. it would mean bernie madoff had committed the biggest financial fraud in history. over the next hour, marty asked andrew and mark to describe in depth who they were, their relationships to their parents. he asked them repeatedly if they were involved in the fraud. we had no idea, none whatsoever. we were completely blindsided. they wrapped up the story, and marty closed his notebook. we need to report this, and i'm not even precisely sure how to do that. we have a new partner who came onboard from the sec, i want to bring him in on this. it was already 5:00 p.m. soon the ces's offices would close. -- sec's offices would close. marty turned to andrew and mark. are you both comfortable doing this? there was a clear sense marty was in charge. he knew the right thing to do and wasn't going to give them any other option.

let's do it, andrew said. let's do it, mark repeated. we're doing the right hinge, mark nodded. reflecting on that moment today, andrew says the bottom line is 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. give me a minute, andrew said. he walked out of the living room and into the bedroom. feeling his knees crumble as he crossed the threshold, sinking to the ground, he let out enormous, racking sobs that tore through his chest and broke his throat. gutterral animal sounds. doubling over, he clenched his stomach trying not to vomit. when the sobs subsided, he wiped his tears roughly and stood up on wobbly legs. he cleared his throat, returned to the living room and sat down. make the call, he said. with instructions to share

nothing with their wives, andrew and mark left the hotel suite. without exchanging a word, they got into separate cabs; andrew headed uptown to the apartment he'd moved into two days earlier. he was still wearing his overcoat, suit and shoes. for the next four hours he lay there completely numb while a lye feed ran -- live feed ran across his brain. i have no idea what's going to happen with my life. my entire family is invested with them. every friend, many of the employees at firm, everyone i know. who knows how many others. i just turned my father in for securities fraud, he's going to go to jail. andrew racked his brain for some inkling he could have seen this coming. how could he possibly have missed something this big? but nothing came, other than the image of his father rot anything jail because he and his brother had turned him in. he had no idea how much time

passed. catherine sat down on the edge of the bed, an innocent woman with a beautiful daughter. he couldn't allow her to get sucked into this frenzy. she waited, her huge blue eyes searching his. he couldn't bear the thought of living if she left, he couldn't ask her to stay. andrew sat up, leaned over and turned on the light. you need to decide whether or not you want to stay with me. he doesn't remember what he said after that, but when andrew and catherine crawled under the coffers, catherine said something that would be forever seared into his memory. listen, i'm not going anywhere. wake me up if you need me, i'll be here all night. her cheek resting against his back. in that moment, he says, those words saved his life. he wouldn't have to face this alone. he has said those same words back to her every night since. bernie and ruth went to the office christmas party. ruth put one foot in front of the other, smiled, had a glass

of wine and left. beyond that, she doesn't remember a thing. the evening was lost forever to trauma and terror. she has no interest in getting it back. the only memory she cannot erase is the image of her son mark fleeing from her home, the golden child who had given her three beautiful grandchildren and had one on the way. it is the image of his back burned into her brain because it is the last vision ruth ever had of her son. she never saw him again. that's it. [applause] and i'm happy to take questions if anybody has questions about absolutely anything. >> i'll just start with the obvious -- >> okay. >> has anyone given your book to bernie madoff? >> well, that's a very good question, actually. bernie madoff, of course, is serving 150 years in prison, and andrew has vowed never to speak

to his father again and has no knowledge -- also ruth changed her number recently, and we have no knowledge of whether he's read the book. but we would, of course, assume that he has read the book and will read the book because he's been very involved in anything that comes out about him. he reads it, he comments on it. so we'll see. >> i'm waiting. >> yes. i'm pursuing an interview with him, actually, so we'll see. >> a new book? >> well, an article. a magazine article. >> um, can you tell us any interesting things that have happened as you've promoted the book or people came up to you or anything like that? >> that's a great question. um, basically, it has been a very interesting experience since the book came out, you know, i wasn't sure -- obviously, this is an authorized biography. i would not put my name on the

book if i didn't believe entirely in its contents, but it is sympathetic to the relatives of bernie madoff. given the extent to which people's lives were destroyed so much anger, so much vitriol, so much sadness, there's just so much wrapped around this story that a lot of people have been unable to separate bernie's family from bernie, i thought there would be a lot of outcry. and there has been a lot of outcry on the internet. i haven't personally been acowsed. there's also, interestingly, a lot of people who have had their minds changed. "60 minutes" did a piece on the book and on andrew and ruth madoff, and a lot of people had their minds changed as a result of that. and andrew and catherine who had started an emergency preparedness business called black umbrella have gots hundreds of letters from people saying that happened to me too,

obviously on a smaller scale. and they have had literally, you know, from the general public at large, from the media there's been no support, you know, leading up to this because people just automatically assumed they were involved as i assumed until i really spent significant time with them. >> when you were approached to write the book, what was your initial reaction? >> well, i wasn't actually approach today write the book, i -- it happened much more organically than that. i had read from a book i had written about my own imposter father. the fiancee of andrew randomly was at my reading and wanted to spend time with me. and the fist couple -- the first couple of dinners i had with them, i actually spent thanksgiving at their house, and i'm estranged from my own father for very similar reasons, and i wasn't going to thanksgiving at my house, and, of course, as a journalist i was completely curious about what it was going to be like. and, you know, it was very

interesting. there were a lot of new friends that they had made since the scandal. mark was not there. there's a huge rift between the brothers that i go into in great detail in the book, but i had no idea about that until i got to know them. but after two years they were finally ready to tell their story and finally allowed to tell their story because there's been ongoing settlements, they've been muzzled by lawyers, and at that point it was just obvious that i was going to be the person who was going to sit down with them. even two years into my acquaintanceship with them, i was not at all convinced of andrew's, you know, innocence. it really wasn't until i sat down with him and he gave me such a detailed explanation about the way the businesses are separate, the fact that they were, you know, completely investigated by the government, there are files -- every single computer file, everything, was taken apart, they were never indicted. the people that are, you know, ready, in jail or awaiting trial would have every reason in the world to turn in or the brothers and weren't able to do so, so

there were many mitigating factors in addition to the psychological component that convinced me. >> wait for the microphone. >> you need the microphone. >> i may be confused about this, but is there a book coming out that's going to be written by the fiancee? >> no. no. >> no. >> the fiancee of andrew madoff? >> yes. >> no. she participated extensively in this book. >> i see. so this is the book she's connected with. >> yes, yes. karat-in hooper is the person who showed up at my read anything 2009, and she was instrumental in giving me access to this family actually. you know, the family was completely muzzled, quiet, not speaking to any press whatsoever. i was really the first person that they spoke to, and that was the result of my interactions with catherine. >> anyone else? >> yes, sir? >> [inaudible]

>> i just, i was curious as you explored this story, how did you -- did it change how you thought about your own father? because i read your other book, and that was so great. and i'm just wondering what the tie is between the two. >> that's such a great question. um, you know, i have not spoken to my father -- my father hasn't spoken to me, i should say, since 2003. when i first wrote a piece for esquire about what i found out about my father. i wrote that piece anonymously, and that led to a graphic memoir that i wrote and illustrated. and, you know, of course it's a process going through an estrangement with a parent, a separation, a betrayal. and in the beginning, you know, i had all of these feelings about my mother and my far, and what was really interesting to me was to sort of watch them at the beginning of that process themselves to see how much anger, you know, andrew has against his father, to see how much anger he had against his mother which is starting to

abate, you know, through the process of time, talking with her, hearing what she went through during this whole thing. because andrew and his brother left after the confession and doesn't speak to their participants -- didn't speak to their parents again until mark killed himself. so andrew had no contact with his mother for two years. so to watch him do that put my own story into perspective, and while, you know, i'm -- the anger towards my father has long since abated and i would speak to my father if he wanted to speak to me, i feel like it's a process, and i'm seven years into the process, and andrew's right at the beginning of it. so i've been able to talk to him about what my experience was, but you just have to go through it, and it takes time. so -- anyone have any other questions? no? okay, well, thank you very much for having me. [applause]