Madoff with the Money

Chapter 7. Moving on Up

One of Bernie Madoff's first offices—a $50-a-month hole-in-the-wall that he shared on and off with his father—was in the 20-story edifice at 40 Exchange Place known as the Lords Court Building that was built in 1893 and was located about a block from the center of American capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange, at 11 Wall Street.

It was in the Exchange Place office that Bernie scored one of his first lucrative stock underwriting clients in March 1962, a month before he turned 24. Along with the investment clients he was getting through Ruth's father at Sunny Oaks, a Queens company had retained him to help it go public with 100,000 shares of common stock. He was handling the offering "on a best efforts all or none basis," according to an SEC News Digest, dated March 30, 1962.

The principals of A.L.S. Steel Corporation, Abe Eisenberg, Herman Loonin, and Gabriel Sobel, may have been connected to either Ralph Madoff or Saul Alpern since Bernie was getting his early business from family and friends.

A.L.S., on Northern Boulevard in the Corona section of Queens—Bernie's old stomping grounds—was involved in the sale of "processed flat rolled strip steel to a customer's specifications and requirement," the SEC announcement stated.

For Bernie, it was an esoteric product that could have been made on Mars, but the fees that were part of his underwriter deal—if he was able to pull it off—were, in fact, out of this world.

On each of the 100,000 shares offered for ...