Madoff boat auct ion is Tuesday

[jackdaniels]

After the Saturday sale, Madoff maniacs can turn to an auction of Bernie's four boats on Tuesday. But they'll have to trek down to Fort Lauderdale, where the sale is taking place.

There's the flagship of Madoff's Florida fleet, "The Bull," a 55-foot, fishing boat built in 1969 that sleeps six. It has been meticulously restored. There's also a 23-foot putt-putt, "Little Bull," and a 38-foot "Shelter Island Runabout," called "Sitting Bull" that has the deep-keeled, old-fashioned look of a 1920s rum runner.

See Bernie's boats
The biggest Madoff nautical prize, however, is not on auction Tuesday. It's an 89-foot sport yacht, also called "Bull," that was seized in France. Its sale is being handled by British auctioneer Wyles Hardy, who is asking a reported $8.5 million.

National Liquidators, which is managing the Fort Lauderdale auction, has provided no estimates for the other three boats. However, there's a similar 55-foot Rybovich Sport Fisherman on sale on Yachtworld.com for $450,000. It may not be possible to precisely compare prices because customizing and condition might make the Bull more valuable than that.

Yachtworld.com also has a few Shelter Island Runabouts for sale at prices ranging from about $300,000 to $400,000.

The value of Little Bull is probably in the low five figures.

Bonus boat
In addition to the Madoff maritime collection, there's another 61-foot high-performance power boat at the same auction. It's the "Dorothy Jo," once owned by Frank DiPascali, Madoff's CFO, who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud, criminal conspiracy et al. He's been held for sentencing since early August and faces as much as 125 years.

His boat is probably worth more than all three Madoff vessels put together. The few similar Vikings available for sale on Yachtworld.com are all priced around $1.5 million.

The National Liquidators' auction also includes Bernie's 10-year-old Mercedes Benz CLK 320 convertible with less than 13,000 miles on it. All the Madoff connected items will be auctioned starting at 4 pm on Tuesday.

There are a lot of potential buyers, according to J.R. Hipple, a spokesman for National Liquidators. "It's a funny thing," he said. "Our company has not done an auction with anyone so notorious before. This has attracted a lot of attention."

[Big Fish Billy]

You just reminded me again of how some peoples names signify what they do..."Made off" with other peoples money...and "Bulls" for the bullshit he pervaded......

[Hatterized]

hmmm...the 55 Rybo SF will sell.....i'll say 1.75 mil

[teddyp]

hmmm...the 55 Rybo SF will sell.....i'll say 1.75 mil

You're over by about a mill.