Revealed: Madoff Drank Lousy Wine

Apparently Bernie Madoff didn’t spend much of his Ponzi loot on wine. US marshals plan to auction off Madoff’s wine collection, and though the estimated $15,000 price tag might sound like a lot to Joe Sixpack, wine experts are scoffing at his taste. “He was clearly not a connoisseur, or a serious wine collector,” one wine auctioneer tells Bloomberg.

“He had some good Bordeaux,” says another wine writer, “but I am surprised that this is all there was. The guy was a gazillionaire.” Just how pedestrian were Madoff’s tastes? Well, one lot in the auction is a collection of 2-ounce bottles of Smirnoff, Bombay Gin, and Grand Marnier that Madoff apparently hoarded out of minibars. “That’s hilarious actually,” the wine auctioneer says. “Who knew that’s what he’d collected?” (More Bernie Madoff stories.)