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?”