Bernie Madoff Thought He Was Going to Help Teach Ethics at Harvard

8/25/11 at 1:30 PM

Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Two years ago, we chuckled at the prospect of disgraced governor Eliot Spitzer lecturing on ethics at Harvard. But today, courtesy of Fox Business Network financial expert Charlie Gasparino, we have a new level of Harvard–related hubris. Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff claims in a series of rare prison interviews that he's been in talks to contribute to classes at the prestigious Harvard Business School.

Madoff said that Harvard is interested in his input to develop a course in business ethics. Now he tells FOX Business that the school’s focus is in “building an Entrepreneurial course” not just on his career as a swindler (though that will certainly come up), but also his pre-phony hedge fund days, when Bernie Madoff was considered one of the best traders on Wall Street. The course, according to Madoff, will focus “around my experiences building my market making and Prop trading business and my role in NASDAQ and electronic trading. I have been approached by number of other business schools but have only committed to Harvard.”

Wow, that's bold of Harvard! Or it would be if it was a real story. "The entire matter is not true," and HBS spokesman told FBN. "The business school is not working with Bernard Madoff on anything." Fantastic tales are a lot more believable when told from behind a fancy desk, aren't they?

Madoff: I'm a Victim, Too [FBN]
Related: The Bernard Madoff Tapes [NYM]