Subject: Bernard Madoff

• New in Town Might Just Be the Worst Movie of 2009

  We're not sure exactly what happened when New in Town got pitched. We imagine some screenwriter hack was all like, "You know how in Miami the temperature is relatively warm? Right? Well, what if some lady from Miami had to move to the frozen tundra of Minnesota? Then she had all sorts of slapstick adventures in snow, but then, in the coldest part of the U.S., found her frigid heart warmed? Eh?" And then a producer was all like, "Hell yeah! Here is millions and millions of dollars! Go make it RIG

  January 29, 2009

• New Poll: 9% of Southerners Find Bernie Madoff Favorable

  This week poll magicians were out in full force collectively interrupting Americans' family dinners with long surveys. Both CBS and the Daily Kos have interesting polls out where we learn surprising things (Hillary Clinton has better approval ratings than Michelle Obama) and not so surprising things (Southerners love everything I hate, and hate everything I love). The Daily Kos poll statistically proves that Southerners have the worst taste in people. Southerners hate Oprah more t

  March 18, 2009

• News Roundup

  Local Donte' Stallworth surrendered to police. [CBS4] The Miami planning board approved the permit for the Marlins stadium. [SFBJ] Miami-Dade Transit has no money, so it's trying to skim a little off the top of stimulus money that belongs to municipalities. [MiamiToday] HSBC (a bank) just signed a five-year deal with MIA (an airport) to be able to advertise the hell out of itself. [BuffNews] Yo, Bernie Madoff, where are your boats? "They are in federal custody -- thanks for asking." [NBCMiami]S

  April 2, 2009

• Allen Stanford Will Punch You in the Mouth If You Ask About His Ponzi Scheme

  In a state still reeling from Bernie Madoff and staggering toward 10 percent unemployment, it's tough to think of many adjectives less likely to endear you to the commoners than accused billionaire Ponzi schemer.via mediaimran's flickrStanford, at left, sponsored $20 million cricket matches in the good ol' days.So you have to give Allen Stanford some credit for finding a way to make himself even less sympathetic today in his first interview since the SEC accused him of running an $8 billion Ponz

  April 6, 2009

• The Fall of a Titan

  A downtown Miami firm allegedly helped build an $8 billion Ponzi scheme. It could have been stopped.

  April 9, 2009

• Cheap Eats on the Island?

  Yes, it seems even Palm Beach can't escape the iron clutch of impending economic doom. Fortunes strip-mined by Bernie Madoff, trendy uber-boutiques slinking off Worth Avenue like mangy dogs, billionaires reduced to poverty-stricken multimillionaires. And now an affordable restaurant is heading for the streets-paved-with-18-carat gold island.Oh, the horror. . . Actually, it's Da Francesco at 251 Palm Beach, a casual, moderately priced Italian eatery that's partnered up with 251, the newly debuted

  April 15, 2009

• Developer Tibor Hollo Helped Build Miami

  January 29, 2009

• A People in Transition

  January 22, 2009

• Madoff's Man

  South Florida multimillionaire Michael Bienes never cut ties with Bernie Madoff, even after the SEC shut him down.

  January 22, 2009

• Madoff Gets 150 Years in Jail

  Bernie Madoff, the West Palm Beach financial demon who ripped off thousands of investors, many in South Florida, has been sentenced to the maximum 150 years behind bars.  "I'm responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain, I understand that. I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I've created. I've left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren," Madoff said in court. Madoff's lawyers suggested tha

  June 29, 2009

• Miami Scammer's Possible 400-Year Sentence Makes Madoff's Seem Light

  via Taunton GazetteOkun and Bolani in happier timesBernie Madoff is facing 150 years in prison, but that's nothing compared to the 400-year sentence that could await former Miami businessman Edward Hugh Okun.Not much ink has been spilled locally about Okun, but we'll bring you up to speed. At some point, Okun, now in his late 50s, met Simone Bolani, a 29-year-old Miami Beach beauty salon owner. Together they lived a lavish lifestyle that included four mansions, a helicopter, three airp

  June 29, 2009

• News Roundup

  Local In Miami Beach, a police officer shot and killed Husien Shehada, suspecting he had a gun. Then the cop arrested his brother, but family and friends think the reasoning doesn't line up. [Herald] A class-action lawsuit filed in Miami asks that "phantom fees" be returned to Bernie Madoff's victims. [SFBJ] OK, the alleged cat killer actually had his bail set at $250,000 and is on suicide watch. [CBS4] But hey, at least there's a Facebook group devoted to freeing him. [CBS4] State Rep. Marcel

  June 16, 2009

• Slot Machines at Our Airport?

  via Iotea's flickrSometimes Miami-Dade County Hall reminds me of that guy who's always dreaming up wacky get-rich-quick schemes and shady money-making ideas ("Dude, I just bought that book from the guy who wears question-mark-print suits..." "If I hit up every sperm bank in the tri-county area once a month..." "I just met this guy, Bernie Madoff..."). The county commission and George Burgess's latest plan is to put slot machines in Miami International Airport to cover its rising costs and deb

  July 1, 2009

• President Obama fails to go after those responsible for the financial meltdown

  October 29, 2009

• Moron of the Week: Self-Destructive Ponzi Baller Sean Healy

  Photo via MySpace.com Never mind the fact hat he dresses like a club promoter. If your investment manager has a MySpace page, get a new investment manager.​Forget Flagler, Tuttle, and Brickell. We need to start naming streets and bridges after a historical figure whose legacy is honored every day here in South Florida: Charles Ponzi. With heavyweight scammers Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford basing their operations here, we've become the nation's undisputed champion of the classic "Look

  October 30, 2009

• A Christmas Carol: A very CGI Christmas

  November 5, 2009

• The 2009 Miami Book Fair offers a strange brew of talent

  November 5, 2009

• Miami Book Fair: Ruth Reichl

  ​Ruth Reichl comes to the Miami Book Fair International to plug a huge 1,000-plus recipe cookbook called Gourmet Today -- on the heels of the announcement that there would be no more Gourmet magazine tomorrow. That's sort of like Bernie Madoff going on a financial self-help book tour in the weeks after his Ponzi imploded. In other words, this will be one of the hottest events at the Fair.Gourmet Today is not a retrospective of recipes culled from the publication's 68-year history, so it doesn'

  November 9, 2009

• Van Peebles, Borowitz, S.L. Price at the Book Fair

  November 12, 2009

• Lowenstein Family Owes Big Bucks

  November 12, 2009

• Miami-based Psystar takes on Apple

  November 12, 2009

• Miami Book Fair: Andy Borowitz

  ​"When I was in high school, I was editor of the paper, and we did an April Fool's issue that was all fake news. I look back at that and look at what I'm doing now, and I realize just how little growth there's been in the last 30 years."Andy Borowitz is discussing his career and being more than modest considering his status as one of America's elite satirists. Many know of Andy through his website, BorowitzReport.com, where he parodies topical political idiocies in concise fashion ("250

  November 14, 2009