Allen Stanford gets kicked around, but Bernie Madoff can clearly throw down some serious smack. While the former's being moved from one facility to another because he's lost some ground on the cell block, Madoff just earned himself some props.

The engineer of the largest (known) Ponzi scheme in history apparently got into an argument with another geriatric inmate at the Butner, North Carolina federal prison. Of course, it was over the stock market. Does it really make sense to outmaneuver a guy who never needed to know what the market was doing to deliver double-digit returns?

Well, push came to shove, as they say, with the "attacker" stumbling and looking up at a mean, mean Madoff. He got up and ran off.

Disgraced Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff's (former) Montauk, Long Island home is no longer on the market. A buyer willing to pay more than the $8.75 million asking price has picked up the property, only two weeks after the U.S. Marshals Service listed it for sale.

Anne Lacombe, spokeswoman for the Corcoran Group, a real estate broker involved in the transaction, said the home was under contract for more than asking but did not have information on the exact amount, buyer or closing date, according to the Associated Press.

Frank DiPascali, CFO to convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff, turned in a guilty plea yesterday, as expected. He fessed up to ten charges, including securities fraud, conspiracy, falsifying records and international money laundering. "It was all fictitious," he said, admitting that he "knew it was wrong at the time." Yet, he didn't say a word about anyone other than Madoff.

Each of the charges carries a term of five to 20 years in prison, not to mention fines of up to $5 million. But his cooperation is expected to lessen the blow a bit, though we'll have to wait until at least May 2010 to find out what the outcome will be. We don't even know if DiPascali will be able to wait for sentencing from his own home -- nothing on bail has been determined. The prosecution has asked for a $2.5 million bond, secured by equity in DiPascali's sister's home and co-signed by "three financially responsible individuals," according to a Reuters report.

The May sentencing date suggests that prosecutors will be willing to deal, based on the information DiPascali provides in the interim. District Judge Richard Sullivan, as well, hopes that information will be forthcoming, which he expressed to one of the victims who spoke at the hearing.

David Friehling is only the second person to face criminal charges in the Bernard Madoff debacle. He served as Madoff's auditor from 1991 to 2008, though it's hard to say if they'll resume their relationship as cellies. For now, Friehling has only been charged (innocent until proven guilty, and such) with securities fraud, abetting investment adviser fraud and filing false reports with the SEC. On five of the six charges filed, he faces a 20-year maximum.

It's alleged that Friehling didn't conduct "meaningful" audits while in Madoff's employ, despite issuing reports saying that he'd done his job -- which paid close to $15,000 a month (no work for big pay . . . where do I sign up?). In particular, he's said to have not bothered to verify Madoff's business assets, revenue sources or bank accounts. This is no-brainer stuff for an auditor.

Nicholas Cosmo, a convicted felon who somehow turned himself into an investment adviser who bilked people out of $370 million, allegedly has ties to organized crime, according to CNBC's Charlie Gasparino.

Former Genovese family associate Michael Durso and another unidentified man met Cosmo during the 1990s and "put pressure on Cosmo to pay around $139,000 owed to loan sharks connected with the Genovese family," Gasparino reported.

Like the victims of the Madoff swindle, investors who had money with Cosmo's Agape World in Long Island are probably out of luck. Agape is in Hicksville, NY, far from the tony world of Manhattan and Palm Beach that Madoff called home for decades. He nonetheless was a bold liar.

It was always something of a mystery how Bernie Madoff was earning the strong returns he reported to investors. One of the most common theories was that Madoff was, in his capacity as a hedge fund manager, market maker and brokerage operator, front-running the orders of brokerage clients. A piece in Barron's had even suggested that possibility.

Bloomberg reports that Madoff Enablers Winked at Suspected Front-Running. The notion that Madoff was making his money by frontrunning clients' orders did not seem to bother people -- as long as he wasn't ripping off them.

Leave it to some aspiring comedian to come up with the "official" blog of accused fraudster Bernard Madoff.

That's right someone writing under the pen name "Not the Devil" offers readers Madoff's "opinions" on the a variety of issues and Wall Street personalities. The results can be amusing, particularly if you did not lose money in Madoff's immense Ponzi scheme.

The blog takes aim at the media's fascination with Madoff. "To whoever it was that managed to get yourself a bi-line in today's Sunday business section: You need to get more credible people to comment; a former FBI agent portrays me as a 'psychopath," the fake Madoff argues.

Bernard Madoff has claimed another high-profile victim.

A lawyer for Zsa Zsa Gabor tells (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal that the actress and socialite may have lost as much as $10 million investing with Madoff.

The money is believed to have been invested through a third-party money manager, and the missing funds were just noticed by her husband Prince Frederic von Anhalt. Forensic accountants have been brought in to try to figure out what happened.

The Prince is Gabor's eigth husband, but they've been together since 1986.

What will Zsa Zsa do about the schtunk who stole her money? Reuters reports that she isn't taking it well, but who can blame her? I propose that Madoff be tied to a chair where Gabor can slap him silly in a pay-per-view event to raise money for his victims.

Madoff should have asked for protective custody
Instead he asked for bail
The judge sent him home in bracelets
When he should have sent him to jail

Madoff admits stealing $50 billion with no remorse over 30 years
Investors and foundations lost millions and are raining tears

A thousand questions cannot be answered
How could this scandal go on so long?
Undetected by the regulators and investors around the world
Who didn't think always winning meant something was wrong

They turned a blind eye while they were charmed by a smile
From a friendly man with a key to the city and connections that could beguile

The Securities and Exchange commission did not do its job
Incompetence in the highest office for three decades
Giving the swindler Bernie Madoff a license to rob
And pretend he was a genius trader when few were ever made

I'm always on the lookout for advice on how to live a successful, happy life: And I'm not above taking tips from Bernie Madoff, the biggest con-artist in the history of the world if the allegations are to be believed. If you skip to 2:45 into the video, you can some great advice from him: Don't take anything for granted etc.

The man interviewed by Fox Business said that his father -- a Madoff friend and investor -- told his son on his death bed that he should "trust Bernie Madoff."

Welcome to Way Off Wall Street, a column dedicated to providing Main Street opinions on topics of interest to investors. Each installment highlights the views of Americans who are far removed from the canyons of Wall Street -- and who often see things more clearly as a result.

After reading nearly 400 publicly posted reader comments regarding the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scandal, I believe that I may have a good feel for the grass roots mood on the subject. In a nutshell, the average American internet crawler is thoroughly disgusted with our financial system and its regulatory agencies. They are fed up, strung out and unequivocally irate. As for Bernard Madoff himself, the overwhelming assertion is that he should be strung up immediately. That sentiment is not meant in a figurative sense either. People want Bernard Madoff publicly hanged, and they want it done with much fanfare in a place such as New York City's Central Park. Yes, this sounds rather coarse. Perhaps it's even uncivilized, but as the internet is my witness, this is what people are saying.

Very few of the comments I have read indicate a feeling that Madoff's investors simply got what they deserved. I did, however, read many statements regarding the fact that high level greed obviously forced many large eggs into one very questionable basket. I myself have not much pity for those investors who lost "everything" to Madoff's twisted dealings. It is my opinion that if investors don't have the sense to diversify, and thereby somewhat protect themselves, they are not very deserving of much wealth. Even my own paltry savings reside in no less than five separate accounts, however paltry.

German billionaire Adolph Merckle, who has been beset by money woes, committed suicide.

According to Bloomberg News, Merckle, listed as 94th on Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest people, was hit by a train. His family released a statement saying he was "broken by his inability to handle the situation." Until recently, Merckle had a good reputation but ran into some bad luck.

"Merckle, whose holdings spanned the cement, machinery and drug industries, was battered by bets on Volkswagen AG, a drop in the value of his HeidelbergCement AG stock and increasing debt," Bloomberg News said. Shares of HeidelbergCement slumped on the news of Merckle's suicide.

Though my heart goes out to his family, the fact that the businessman chose to end his life is not surprising. The current economic crisis has placed people under unbelievable amounts of stress. Sometimes things go horribly wrong.

A French investor recently caught up in the Bernard Madoff scandal recently took his own life. Last year, an executive with a subprime mortgage company murdered his wife of 10 years and the mother of his two children before leaping off a bridge spanning New Jersey and Delaware.

Countless other tragedies that happen every day do not make the news. Divorces are bound to rise and I bet domestic violence is increasing. Let's hope that the government funds mental health services with the same gusto it provides money to money-losing financial institutions.

Dr. Stephen Greenspan is an expert on why people behave foolishly. That what makes his role as a victim of the Madoff Ponzi scheme so informative and ironic.

In a lengthy op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, the emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut, Greenspan argues that even highly educated people can become victims of a Ponzi scheme. The architects of these frauds tend to be personable people adept on playing on the insecurities of their clients.

Greenspan did not invest with Madoff directly. Like many victims, he gave money to one of the so-called "feeder funds" after listening to a pitch from an acquaintance of his sister and brother-in-law. He argues that Madoff's lies were not obvious or easy to recognize. Heck, the SEC couldn't figure out what Madoff was up to even though it was given a pretty clear road map. Let's hope Congress can get to the bottom of this in hearings later today.

Today Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) will grill the SEC on why it missed the $50 billion Madoff Securities Ponzi scheme. After all, over the last 16 years, the SEC investigated Madoff eight times and each of those times, it failed to discover the scam. This -- and so much more -- means it's time for a change in the way Washington regulates Wall Street.

And Frank is sure to use today's stage to talk. Last Monday, I appeared on a TV program in Boston "with" Frank. I put "with" in quotes because when Frank arrived at the TV studio, he made sure that me and any other guests who were to appear got thrown out of the green room so he could have it to himself. And while I was on the set with Frank -- I was scheduled to go on the show right after him -- he never even looked at me -- by contrast, every other person I have appeared with was happy to introduce themselves.

Frank likes to talk -- he used 25 of the 30 minutes (he was supposed to take up about 15 minutes). (And in the four minutes Frank left me, I gave out a few Bernie awards for the worst financial foibles of 2008.) So when he chairs hearings today, Frank will no doubt do quite a bit of talking. And he'll probably ask why the SEC officials failed to discover the Madoff scandal after receiving emails from a New York hedge fund that described his business practices as "highly unusual." As I posted, I think Frank should focus on the village that enabled Madoff.

Let's hope things get better this year.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book is You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing.

One of the more intriguing questions of the $50 billion Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme is where did all of the money go. Investors now may get a rough idea as to what the man who was once considered by investors to be some sort of genius did with their life savings.

According to Bloomberg News, Madoff is due to file a statement today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listing his assets. That probably is one of the many, many conditions of his bail, including hiring a private security company to keep gawkers and the press away from his apartment building. I am sure the tenant's association meetings have been lively.

Before he was arrested, Madoff allegedly told employees that he had $200 million to $300 million left, according to Bloomberg. His lawyer declined to comment to the news service as to what happened to remaining funds. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Much of Madoff's fortune may be in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda or countless other small Caribbean nations. Finding it may be extremely difficult without the cooperation of Madoff or some of his closest associates.

Though Madoff claims to have operated the Ponzi scheme by himself, that probably is not true either. The logistics of keeping such a large fraud going for decades would be difficult if not impossible to maintain. Madoff, like many Ponzi scheme operators, is trying to take the rap himself. Perhaps he is trying to deflect attention from his sons, who both claim they had no idea what their father was doing.

The fact that Madoff is Jewish as were many of his victims is not surprising either. Many Jewish charities and philanthropic institutions did not bother vetting Madoff since he was of the same religion. Victims of fraud often never imagine that one of their own would try to steal from them.

For the many victims of Madoff's scheme, justice many be elusive. Their retirement dreams have been dashed and they will need years to rebuild their financial security. It may take years for them to recover a fraction of the money they lost from Madoff.