At Holy Cross Hospital, the Michael and Dianne Bienes Diagnostic Imaging Center no longer carries the Bienes name.

Because the money from Bienes, who says he lost millions in the Bernard Madoff scheme, has stopped.

Bienes was one of the best-known philanthropists in Broward County, with his name and his wife's name plastered across buildings and rooms at Broward's main library, schools and at Holy Cross. There's a Bienes Cancer Center there, too. That will retain his name, presumably because it's paid for.

Bienes and partner Frank Avellino ran one of the major feeder funds that sent money from investors to Madoff. The SEC shut their operation down in 1992, but Bienes says he continued to invest his own money with Madoff, adding more to his account as recently as 2007.

When Madoff was arrested, Bienes said he lost millions.

Here's part of the statement from Holy Cross spokeswoman Christine Walker Moncrieff:

Due to circumstances beyond their control, the Bieneses are unable to meet their pledge to the Diagnostic Imaging Center at Holy Cross Hospital. Therefore, we will no longer be able to use their name for the Diagnostic Imaging Center. We remain extremely grateful to the Bieneses for the favor they have shown Holy Cross Hospital and many other community organizations over the years.

Bienes pledged $4 million in 2005 to the Michael and Dianne Bienes Diagnostic Imaging Center at Holy Cross. The center opened two years later, but Bienes said he paid only part of the pledge.

Holy Cross's Moncrieff said the loss of the Bienes money will not affect patient care or services at the center.

> Discuss this entry

This might be one care package that Bernard Madoff doesn’t want to get.

Investors, critics, anyone who cares to can post a note to the disgraced financier at Madoffmail.com.

Whoever organized the site promises to send the posts to Madoff twice a year. And to put some of them up at an art show in New York later this year.

Love the post that I borrowed of Madoff in the dunce cap in front of the blackboard. Whoever made it, stand up and take credit.

And in other important personal finance news, just thought you Bernie fans would love to know that he may have work to do. In the garden.

According to something called Mother Nature Network, Madoff is in the nation’s first and only green-certified prison.

Says mnn.com:
Among the prison’s sustainable aspects are bicycle storage, alternative fuel refueling stations, specified parking for alternative transportation, reduced site disturbance, storm water management and an exterior designed to reduce the heat island effect.

And this:
Madoff will be able to spend his time in the library, recreation yard or watching television – as long as the programs are rated PG-13 or lower. He’ll also have a chance to get a job taking care of some of that sustainable xeriscaping

> Discuss this entry

Here's a link my latest Madoff story, in case you missed it over the holiday weekend.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-madoff-charities-052109,0,3191873.story

> Discuss this entry

Bull, Bernard Madoff's boat, was seized from a marina in Fort Lauderdale today.

Really. Bull. You can see its name if you look carefully in this photo.

Did the guy love irony? Did he have to go floating around in something that talks of bull stock markets or the euphemism for what his operation was?

Don't know all the facts yet, but it looks like Bull is a 55-footer that may have been owned by his wife and that Ruth Madoff reportedly had another, smaller boat called Little Bull.

My, they must have liked to go fishing. For something. Or someone's money.

I just couldn't help but think of the title of the classic Wall Street book. The one question an investor asked after he saw his stockbrokers' yacht, was, "Where are the customers' yachts?" It's by Fred Schwed and still in print.

Amazon says: Humorous and entertaining, this book exposes the folly and hypocrisy of Wall Street. ,,,,,, Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. .

Broker, that's what my broker made me, the joke goes.

Bull

A word to live by?

I'm sure Madoff's thousands of investors have a few choice words for this occasion.

> Discuss this entry

My story over the weekend of how the money flowed to Bernard Madoff from South Florida drew many reactions.

Here's one from a Boca Raton investor who says he approached Madoff, but Madoff turned him away, refusing to take his money.

"So yes, he did turn some people down but it had nothing to do with the amount they wanted to invest. Who knows how his mind worked?

"In my opinion, as in the minds of the many thousands who are suffering now, all of his and his wife's properties should be taken by the government and used to repay some of the investors.

"And yes, there has been a lot of hanky-panky going on for too many years. The SEC should also be taken to task for not keeping tabs on his operation.

"Of course, these people salivated with the promise of those unusual high percentages paid them. Didn't they for one minute wonder about it all or did they close their minds to it thinking that the money tree lives on?"

What do you think?
Shark swallowing the fish?
Is anyone blameless here?
Where were the regulators?

> Discuss this entry

“We were very friendly,” said Dr. Anthony Stefanelli, a retired orthopedic surgeon, who lives in Fort Lauderdale.

He’s talking about Michael Bienes, the accountant who rounded up thousands of investors and hundreds of millions of dollars for Bernard Madoff. Stefanelli had several accounts with Madoff.

“All my money, all my family’s money is gone. All my grandchildren’s money is gone. My Children have nothing left,” he said. “All my retirement money.”

Bienes, he said, “swore to me he didn’t know” about Madoff.

And says Stefanelli, “I don’t think he did. I don’t think he pulled it off intentionally.”

> Discuss this entry

Was it enough?

For Madoff to say he was "deeply sorry" and "ashamed"?

Is that all we're going hear from this now admitted criminal?

No, not for me. For me, I want to know why. And not the usual reasons why. Greedy, sure. Arrogant, yes.

But beyond that, why did he systematically ruin thousands of people and charities and families? What was his reason? He knew exactly what he was doing but why?

What do you think?

> Discuss this entry

Madoff got his say.

Now let's listen to Lisa Shavelson, a 35-year-old single mother.

She has a three-year-old son. She has a college degree, but she lost her job. And she has lost the income she once received from an investment with Madoff.

She gets very little child support, she says, because when that arrangement was made, she was getting income from the Madoff investment. Now that it's gone....she wrote to me...

"I was up all night trying to figure out what I am going to do. I can't afford the mortgage on my house anymore, I can't afford bills and I can barely afford food.

I have no idea where my son & I will go, or what we will do.

Before I opened my laptop, I was taking pictures of the crystal candlesticks that my aunt gave me for my wedding. It's about the most expensive thing I own."

> Discuss this entry

Hate him? Feel sorry for him?
Emotions run from one to the other when it comes to Michael Bienes, the South Florida accountant who lead thousands of local investors to Bernard Madoff.

Some reactions I heard:

I read your piece this morning.
i appreciate your very comprehensive work on Bienes.
My take would not be very sympathetic to Bienes and the many greedy individuals and organizations that wanted to be
in a very escoteric partnership with Madoff.
Bienes view of Madoof went from "God" to devil.
Bienes's greed would exclude the average Joe who was yielding 4% on his investment.
His need for exclusivity and class greed has been rewarded
in a just manner.

And:

Bienes was just a plain accountant. Everyone knew that. He didn't know about Madoff. I feel sorry for him.
And

I'm a Catholic and I'm very concerned about the charities. This isn't over yet.

And

Where did the money go?

What's your reaction?

If you missed the story, you can read it here:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flzmadoff0308pnmar08,0,2609097.story

> Discuss this entry

Two weeks.That's how soon letters could go out to the 2,350 investors who have filed claims with the trustee who is liquidating the assets of Bernard Madoff's securities firm. Irving Picard said this morning that he has recovered about $650 million, but has found no evidence that securities were ever bought for Madoff's customers. Picard said he's plowing through 7,000 boxes of documents and trying to uncover accounts at Madoff's offices.

What investors can hope for will not be any sort of restoration of what they thought they had with Madoff. The trustee said he'll be looking to pay claims based on the amount of cash put into Madoff's firm and the amount investors took out. Their statements of what their investments were worth won't be used. One investor asked if they could get interest on what they'd put into the firm and the answer was no, because that's not allowed under the provisions of the Securities Investor Protection Act.

Maximum payout: $500,000 from the Securities Investor Protection Corp. for now. They may be more later, if the trustees uncover where Madoff put their money.

But the likely scenario is that everyone will "share the pain" of not getting all their money back.
.

> Discuss this entry

These are my Post-Madoff Rules for Investor Self Protection. Feel free to send me yours, to add to the list. And remember, I'd love to hear from people who invested with Madoff.

-Nobody’s Smarter than You.
If they’re so smart, they can explain their investment strategy.
If they can’t, they aren’t worth trusting.

-There are no secrets.
It’s a joke to think there’s some super wonderful way to invest that beats out everyone else.
In this age of information, do you think anything stays secret? Anything good?
Anything bad sure doesn’t.
If your investment manager were smoking hot, he or she would not be hiding.

-Don’t let the guy or woman who gives you advice hold your money.
Generally, if the advice comes from one place and somebody else executes the trades or has custody of the money, you have a check-and-balance system against fraud.

-Don’t let the guy or woman who gives you advice control your money.
For goodness sakes, make your own decisions.
Which means, get up to speed on personal finance.
It’s what you have to do.

-There’s no excuse for not looking over the advisor’s shoulder.
There’s no excuse, other than you being mentally incapable of figuring out what makes common sense, for you not knowing what your money’s doing and why.
The theory behind investing isn’t rocket science.
You can get it.
Don’t leave it in someone else’s hands.

> Discuss this entry

There are about 2,000 people in South Florida who were victims of Bernie Madoff. Are you one of them?

Tell me your story. I want to hear how people found him and what Madoff told his investors. I want to have a look at a statement, to see if it seems real to me. I want to find out if there's anything that can be done now. I'll bring in all the experts I can find to try to develop some sort of strategy for recovery, if there is one. Meanwhile, other reporters here are tracking the case, working on finding out how this crime unfolded.

If you have a Madoff story to tell, I'm listening.

hjbrackey@SunSentinel.com

> Discuss this entry