Martin Schrager, a plastics recycling industry consultant in Boca Raton, Fla., was a college roommate of alleged investment fraud perpetrator Bernard Madoff, according to this story in The New York Times. Here's what Schrager had to say about Madoff:
He was my roommate. There was nothing nefarious about the guy. When I heard years later that he was who he was, I was astonished. He never seemed like the kind of guy who could move millions on Wall Street. I did hear about him some years later in Florida. My accountant was his accountant. I invested a small amount with him. But those were the years we had a president named James Earl Carter. Interest rates were like 18 percent. So I figured that if you put your money in the bank they gave you 18 percent and a toaster. So I took my money and got 18 percent and a toaster, too. Then he went on to infamy.Sounds like Schrager is one of the few former Madoff investors who came out ahead.