Alleged fraudster 'very charming'
Two weeks ago, Bernard Madoff stopped by the Everglades Barber Shop off Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida, for the usual: a $65 haircut, a $40 shave, a $50 pedicure and a $22 manicure.
"For me, he was a gentleman," said Senio Figliozzi, 72, the owner of the barber shop who has been cutting Madoff's hair for the past 17 winters. "What he did outside, it was news to me."
What Madoff did outside - running an alleged Ponzi scheme that may have bilked investors around the world out of $50 billion - has been the talk of Palm Beach this week. The arrested money manager owns a $21 million home on the Intracoastal Waterway about a mile from the Palm Beach Country Club. He was a regular at the club, where his 9.8 handicap this year has been as steady as the returns he promised investors.