The disgraced investment guru is accused of orchestrating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that preyed heavily on fellow Jews and ultimately drained the fortunes of numerous Jewish charities and institutions, according to AP. There's nothing new about con artists targeting their own kind. There's even a word for it _ affinity fraud _ and it has struck numerous religious, ethnic and professional groups. But the allegations against Madoff are particularly wrenching for some in the Jewish community, who fear that the sensational case is fanning vicious stereotypes about Jews that go back to the Middle Ages. The Anti-Defamation League cites a spike in anti-Semitic comments online after Madoff's Dec. 11 arrest. A columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz lamented the case as «the answer to every Jew-hater's wish list.» And the American Jewish Committee's executive director, David A. Harris, wrote a letter to The New York Times criticizing what he saw as «a striking emphasis» on Madoff's faith in one of the paper's many stories about the scandal. The case is «fodder for the bigots,» Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL's national director, said in an interview this week with The Associated Press. «It's both embarrassing and it's painful.» It's difficult to describe the case in any detail without mentioning Madoff's religion. The 70-year-old money manager and former Nasdaq stock market chairman donated hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, much of it to Jewish causes. Madoff is charged with securities fraud and is under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment with round-the-clock security. His lawyer has said he intends to fight the charge. The damage to the Jewish community is psychological as well as financial, said Kenneth Bandler, a spokesman for the AJC. He said his organization declined to invest with Madoff earlier this year because it was unable to decipher how Madoff was producing his renowned returns. At Jewish organizations and synagogues, Bandler said, people ask themselves: «How could someone who is held in such high esteem in the Jewish community knowingly rip off what were supposed to be his friends, the organizations he admired and supported?»
