A Madoff “Good News” Story
Monday, July 20th, 2009 | posted byDo Good. Share this post across the internet! Try it :) 
Some rays of light post-Madoff
The name “Madoff” has become synonymous with stories of angry or disillusioned investors, personal greed and dishonest finances. In short, a whole plethora of negative or unhappy traits.
But today’s Boston Globe features an interview with Robert Lappin, an inspiring individual who set aside his huge personal financial losses, to do what he could to solve others misfortune:
This week, Lappin honored a promise. He and his family donated $5 million to restore the retirement savings of about 60 employees of various family enterprises, including the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation. The charity was almost wiped out when the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff collapsed. Lappin and his family had invested all of their employees’ 401(k) retirement plans with Madoff more than a decade ago.
“I am absolutely thrilled,’’ said Amy Powell, a former publicist for the foundation and one of the employees whose savings were restored. “I really knew in my heart, all my heart, that Mr. Lappin would do all he could do for his employees.’’
… Lappin said that now, after Madoff and the payment to employees, his personal net worth is less than $5 million, about a tenth of what it was before the scandal broke.
Yet giving his own money to the employees was simply the right thing to do, he said. “At least from the feedback, they feel very grateful and happy, which makes me feel very happy,’’ said Lappin.
This news piece about Robert Lappin recalls the selfless generosity of another great Jewish businessman with a heart, Aaron Feuerstein, who as the 70-year-old CEO of Malden Mills, did not take the easy (and financially profitable) route after a fire destroyed his factory, but paid his workers salaries for two months of inaction while they waited for the production lines to be rebuilt. The developer of polartec, became a national hero, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes that he based his moral stand on the Torah:
“You are not permitted to oppress the working man, because he’s poor and he’s needy, amongst your brethren and amongst the non-Jew in your community,” says Feuerstein, who spent $300 million of the insurance money and then borrowed $100 million more to build a new plant that is both environmentally friendly and worker friendly.
In these trying economic times, it is nice to report on some uplifting news.
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