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Friday, April 16, 2021
Vol. 9, No. 16
GUIDE TO HOME & DESIGN
AUTISM ACTIVIST TO SPEAK OVER ZOOM
SCHUMER PUSHES FOR MENTAL HEALTH FUNDS
PAGES 23-34
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Bernie Madoff, Ponzi scheme king, dead at 82
FLIP FOR IT
Former Roslyn resident dies 12 years into federal prison sentence BY R O S E W E L D ON Bernard Madoff, who organized the largest Ponzi scheme in American financial history and lost roughly $18 billion for investors, has died at 82. The former Roslyn resident’s death was reported to The Associated Press by an anonymous source on Wednesday, and was later confirmed by a Bureau of Prisons representative, who said he died early that morning of natural causes. Madoff was 12 years into serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison in Butler, North Carolina, where he has been held since he pleaded guilty to 11 counts of financial crimes in 2009, among them fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft. He was also ordered to forfeit $170,799,000,000 as part of his sentence. Prior to the discovery of the fraud, the Queens-born Madoff, who attended Hofstra University,
had been seen as a Wall Street prodigy of sorts. He founded his own firm at 22 and became chairman of Nasdaq in 1990, and also was credited with helping the trading world transition to from analog to electronic. The fraud scheme allegedly began in the early 1970s, and defrauded as many as 37,000 investors in 136 countries over four decades by the time Madoff was turned in by his two sons in late 2008, after redemption requests flooded in during the financial crisis. Those affected included the Wilpon family, then owner of the New York Mets; the pension fund of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, later absorbed into Northwell Health; and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, with Wiesel himself losing his and his wife’s life savings. The federally run Madoff Victim Fund has since distributed Continued on Page 37
PHOTO VIA INSTAGRAM, @ROSLYNCOLORGUARD
Janiya Burton, a freshman at Roslyn High School and member of the school’s color guard, flips at a recent rehearsal.
Roslyn High to hold graduation at Hofstra BY R O S E W E L D ON Traditional graduation ceremonies for schools across New York can now take place, albeit with COVID-19 limits, and the Roslyn school district has become the first on the
North Shore to announce commencement for 2021 under the new plans. The district said it will hold its high school graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 16, at Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium.
The state released nine pages of guidelines for commencement ceremonies this week, and such ceremonies can begin May 1, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Monday. Continued on Page 37
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