Madoff was executor of large estate
Once, after [Norman F.] Levy’s health began to fail, Madoff arranged for a helicopter to transport him for medical treatment. And when Levy died, in 2005, at 93, Madoff delivered a eulogy at the funeral. “Norman told me that Bernie was the executor of his will,” said Carmen. “Before Norman passed away, there was the Betty and Norman F. Levy Foundation,” she said, referring to the charitable institution Levy had founded with his late wife and left to his heirs, with a reported $244 million in assets in 2007, to be used for causes ranging from cancer research to Yeshiva University. “Long before he died, he had given both of his children their own money, and each had created a charitable foundation. All three foundations closed after December 11,” she said—the day Madoff admitted to F.B.I. agents that his investment fund, into which approximately 13,500 individual investors and charities had put their money, was “one big lie.” (Both of Levy’s children, Jeanne Levy-Church and Francis Levy, declined to comment.)