Madoff

A talkative inmate at the Butner federal prison complex in North Carolina says $65 billion swindler Bernie Madoff told him he suffers from cancer and is close to punching his ticket.

Re-igniting rumors that the 71-year-old Ponzi schemer was fighting pancreatic cancer after he was arrested by the FBI late last year, the New York Post this morning claims a fellow inmate of Madoff says the ex-Wall Streeter is on “20 pills a day” and “not doing very well.”

“He talks about it all the time,” the unnamed inmate told the paper.

That may sound like good news to some, but don’t dance on the guy’s grave just yet!

One of several authors of recently released Madoff books, Madoff With The Money writer Jerry Oppenheimer, says an unnamed inmate can’t be all that trustworthy.

However, Oppenheimer adds, “cancer devastated the Madoff family.”

“It wouldn’t be a shocker if he were struck with cancer,” Oppenheimer told Page2Live. “He did look gaunt and skinny at his sentencing. His son Andy suffered from lymphoma. His brother, Peter, had stomach cancer. One of his nephews, Roger, died of cancer in his 30s.

“However, I asked several family members who helped me with the book if Bernie ever had cancer, and they all said ‘no!’”

Besides, wouldn’t a weasel like Madoff use his alleged illness to ask for a reduction of sentence on humanitarian grounds? Madoff, whose seized house on North Lake Way in Palm Beach is being put up for sale by authorities, was handed down a 150-year sentence June 29 without addressing his health.

“That’s the point,” Oppenheimer said. “His $7,000-suit (tailored to hide his cellphone) just hung on him at the sentencing. But he didn’t tell the judge anything about dying.”

Said another Madoff author, Too Good To Be True writer Erin Arvedlund: “His camp leaked that cancer story soon after he was arrested. Could it be true? Sure. Why didn’t use it to get sympathy? Because he wanted the focus on him getting a harsh punishment so that his family would be left alone.”

 Loading ...