Bernie Madoff -- who continues to luxuriate under house arrest in his East Side apartment -- keeps losing more of his camouflage. Specifically, prosecutors found checks totaling $173 million, which he had made out to his family members and friends prior to his arrest last month.

He had received a $250 million loan from Carl Shapiro, the 95 year old who lost $545 million with Madoff, around the same time. Did Madoff take Shapiro's cash and then write checks against it to his family members? That detail has not yet been revealed, but it could certainly have happened.

It seems a bit odd that Madoff is not in jail at the moment. Since he moved $160 million of his money into his UK operations, it would seem logical for him to leave the U.S. and go there. Unless he has even more money stashed away in some bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

He may have passed a legal test to keep him free on bail. But morally, he definitely belongs in the clink.

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.

Madoff's thwarted plan to make off with $173 million in investor's cash originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.