Ruth Madoff - Bringing Fraud into the Kitchen

by Bruce Watson, Posted Jan 18th 2009 @ 4:00PM

In my capacity as a personal finance writer, I often get a chance to write about Bernie Madoff. As a food writer, however, I haven't been able to do much with him. This is particularly ironic, as one of my cousins worked as a personal chef for the Madoffs. Unfortunately, she didn't have any crazy or disturbing stories to tell.

Recently, however, the ever-elusive Madoff/food connection finally emerged. Ruth Madoff, the scammer's wife, managed to weasel her way onto the cover of a cookbook. The Great Chefs of America Cook Kosher, a 1996 tome that offered Kosher haute cuisine recipes to the masses, appears to have been "executive edited" by Madoff and her friend Idee Schoenheimer. However, according to the "editor," Karen MacNeil, neither Madoff nor Schoenheimer actually did any work for the book. MacNeil, a food and wine expert, claims that the book was something of a vanity project for Madoff, who "was interested in having her name on something that would allow for some sort of fun."

The moral of the story? The family that cheats together eats together!

Filed Under: Holidays, Celebrities
Tags: america, hanukkah, Idee Schoenheimer, IdeeSchoenheimer, Karen MacNeil, KarenMacneil, Kosher, Madoff, Ruth Madoff, RuthMadoff