Interviews

Bernie Madoff: ‘I Am a Good Person’

Says Ponzi scheme “was a nightmare for me.”

Bernie Madoff must be getting lonely: Just weeks after talking to The New York Times, Madoff has given an interview again to New York magazine. “I am a good person,” Madoff insists, while claiming his Ponzi scheme “was a nightmare for me.” “It’s horrible. When I say nightmare, imagine carrying this secret,” he says. “Even the regulators felt sorry for me.” He also says his victims were complicit in his crime: “These banks and these funds had to know there were problems.” He says his wife Ruth “quite frankly, doesn’t forgive me for what I did,” and he addresses his son Mark’s suicide: “Let me tell you, I cried for well over two weeks. I cried and cried. I didn’t come out of my room. I didn’t speak to anybody, and so on. I have tears in my eyes when I’m talking to you, even. Not a day goes by that I don’t suffer. I may sound OK on the phone. Trust me, I’m not OK. And never will be.”