Who are they?
Bernie needs no introduction, as he pulled off the largest and longest running Ponzi scheme in history. Madoff “news” is still in the media daily.
Carlos Irwin Estevez is better known under his stage name, Charlie Sheen. As of 2010, he has been the highest paid actor on television receiving almost two million dollars per episode of Two and a Half Men.
William C. Weldon is not a household name, but since 2002 he has been President and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, well-known maker of “Tylenol”, “Rolaids”, “DePuy” ASR hip implants, and many other well known products which have been recalled.
Their illusions
Madoff took billions of dollars from investors under the ILLUSION that his operation was legitimate. It is still being determined how many and to what extent others went along with the ILLUSION. Other than the suicide death of Madoff’s son, Mark, it is now known that anyone else suffered physical harm.
Charlie Sheen based his TV show on his own personal life style which includes drug abuse, alcoholism, and marital problems. He and his producers would have his audience buy into the ILLUSION that his lifestyle on stage and off was acceptable and perhaps good. It is no ILLUSION that the show was highly profitable both to Sheen and Warner Brothers.
William C. Weldon presides over Johnson & Johnson, a company with the DELUSION that it is acceptable to put profits above safety and to continually market products which are dangerous and must be recalled.
What are their lifestyles?
Both Sheen, Weldon and Madoff, prior to his arrest, all lived lives of the flamboyant super-rich. Each has or had several multimillion dollar residences in such places as New York City, Florida, and California. They did or do all the things that the rich do and travel around in expensive cars, private planes, and yachts. Their families and “hangers-on“ want for nothing.
Where are they now?
Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in Butner, North Carolina for his criminal activities. Irving H. Pickard, Bankruptcy Trustee, has seized all of Madoff’s personal possessions and is in the process of recovering billions of dollars from family, associates, banks, and other “investors” who apparently were in the “know.”
Sheen’s self-destructive lifestyle has finally caught up with him. The networks shamelessly interviewed an obviously very distraught individual. The statements and accusations made by him are said to classic manic behavior – some say Sheen belongs in an institution, not on prime-time TV. As a result of these TV interviews Sheen has been terminated by Warner Brothers and production of “Two and a Half Men” suspended for the rest of the season. Stan Rosenfield, Sheen’s long time publicist, has resigned, and Sheen has taken issue with his own father. Sheen’s TV career is on hold and his future uncertain.
But William Weldon? Weldon’s total compensation was valued at $30.8 million for 2009, the last full year for which total compensation was reported. The Wall Street Journal reports that his bonus for 2010 was cut by 45 percent, but Johnson and Johnson still gave him a 3 percent raise to his base salary for 2011. Despite the many recalled products and the profound suffering of thousands of its customers, Johnson & Johnson has seen fit to retain William Weldon as its Chief Executive with annual compensation in the millions.
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