'Invitation a reward'
He said Mr Madoff had invited the plumber to join his investment scheme because "some 20 years ago he saved Madoff's son from drowning".
"His son and Mr Madoff's son were swimming off Long Island and he [the plumber] saved him from drowning," he said.
"The reward was being invited to participate."
Madoff 'victims are not all rich'
The BBC Online
It is wrong to think that all the alleged victims of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff are multimillionaires, one of their lawyers has told the BBC.
Despite the widespread press coverage of a wealthy elite, Mark Raymond, of law firm Broad and Cassel, said many victims were normal working people.
Mr Raymond said one alleged victim was a New York plumber who earned up to $60,000 (£43,000) a year.
He said the plumber had now lost all his $100,000 life savings.
Mr Raymond's comments come as Mr Madoff is expected to plead guilty to all 11 charges against him.
'Invitation a reward'
He said Mr Madoff had invited the plumber to join his investment scheme because "some 20 years ago he saved Madoff's son from drowning".
"His son and Mr Madoff's son were swimming off Long Island and he [the plumber] saved him from drowning," he said.
"The reward was being invited to participate."
Mr Raymond also said he had heard of a elderly couple in Atlanta who had been forced to call short their retirement.
"He's 82, she's 78, and they are both looking for work because they lost everything," he said.
Mr Raymond added that some alleged victims were Holocaust victims "who had built themselves up, made something of their lives, and now they have nothing".
Describing Mr Madoff's alleged fraud as a tsunami, "because the waves just keep coming", Mr Raymond said it appeared that the alleged fraud had been going on since the 1970s.
"This has been nothing of this size ever before."
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk
Published: 2009/03/12 14:06:21 GMT
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