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.

Accused Ponzi scheme perpetrator R. Allen Stanford was hospitalized Thursday following an altercation with another inmate. He was hospitalized in an undisclosed location, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Alfredo Perez, and is expected to be released on Monday.

Stanford, who is 59 years old, sustained only superficial wounds, according to Perez. Given the limited physical damage, the reason for the extended hospitalization is unclear. Stanford's attorney, Kent Schaffer, says that a doctor was going to MRI Stanford but expected problems because of a metal stint. But, he has not linked the MRI to any specific condition.

Even with the ringleader in jail, the pursuit of Bernie Madoff doesn't seem to be finished. Sunday night, the trustee who's winding down the Madoff company said on 60 Minutes that Madoff's two sons (Mark and Andrew), brother (Peter) and niece (Shana) will be slapped with a $198 million suit. They are alleged to have known about the Ponzi scheme, according to the trustee, Irving Picard and his chief counsel, David Sheehan.

Sheehan and Picard are also working under the assumption that there is still some money hidden, quite a lot of it, in fact. Picard told the show, "We'd assume it's millions and millions of dollars." Yet, this probably wouldn't help with the task in front of them.

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.

Danny Pang was accused by federal regulators of defrauding investors of several hundred million dollars. The investors, however, will not realize the full extent of justice they would have preferred, as the 42-year-old financier died Saturday morning.

The police were called to Pang's home at 3:30 AM, and the financier was rushed to Hoag Hospital at Newport Beach, where he was later pronounced dead.

So far, the cause of death is unknown. Supervising Deputy Coroner Larry Eslinger has scheduled an autopsy for Sunday, though.

Sir Allen Stanford's attorney doesn't like Ralph Janvey, but that's not surprising. The SEC isn't crazy about him either, and U.S. Judge David Godbey told him, "You know everyone in the courtroom is angry with you," according to a report in USA Today.

Janvey has been tasked with taking over and cleaning up the wreckage from Stanford's $7 billion Ponzi scheme -- the second largest known disaster of this kind. Along the way, he's managed to piss off everyone he's encountered. The latest "transgression" is his demand for more than $27 million in fees for his team and the consultants he's hired to track down the missing billions of dollars in Stanford's former empire.

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.

Bernie Madoff, the mastermind behind the world's largest ever Ponzi scheme, arrived at a federal prison in North Carolina to begin serving his 150 year prison sentence.

It will be hard to find anyone sympathetic to the 71 year old investor who will be spending the rest of his life behind bars. We still do not know if Madoff will serve out all of his time at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, but for now that is where he can call home.

On Monday, convicted con man Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail, and today federal authorities took possession of his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, forcing his wife to leave and look for somewhere else to live.

Ruth Madoff was told ahead of time that she would be forced to vacate her lush Manhattan penthouse, and reportedly she did leave the property this afternoon around 1 PM EST. The penthouse, on East 64th Street will be sold, with the proceeds being used to help reimburse the victims of the nations largest ever Ponzi scheme.

Bernie Madoff was in federal court today, where he was given a 150 year sentence for charges related to his Ponzi scheme.

Reports from the courtroom state that Madoff, the mastermind behind the largest ever Ponzi scheme, showed little to no emotion today when he learned that he would be spending the rest of his life in a jail cell. Due to federal sentencing guidelines, Madoff must serve at least 80% of his sentence, so he will not be eligible for parole until 2129.

Hedge fund manager Michael Regan has pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme. Manager of the Massachusetts-based River Stream Fund, he admitted to defrauding around 70 investors. The fund held just shy of $20 million in assets ... despite the relatively meager $101,600 sitting in its accounts. The fund purported to return 20 percent a year since 2001, paying out $9 million in "profits" and returned capital.

Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford pleaded 'not guilty' today in a federal court arraignment to charges that he ran a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Not only is Stanford being charged with running the Ponzi scheme, there are also allegations that he paid $100,000 to Leroy King, the former chief executive officer of Antigua's Financial Services Regulatory Commission.

This day has been coming for a while. It seems as though the government has been looking into Stanford's investment company since 2005, but it was only this past February that they shut down the Houston office of his investment company, Stanford Financial Group.

There have been a few stories about whether the Jewish community in the U.S. will have its reputation hurt by the fact that Bernie Madoff is Jewish. Today the top story at Reuters is about that subject. The media is letting the issue spread.

The news service writes "For American Jews, the Bernard Madoff scandal has not just caused deep financial pain. It also has been deeply personal."

The subject should be out of bounds. If Madoff's actions have done anything to damage the media or public views of Jews, let it stay "personal" to use the word that Reuters did. Writing about the matter only further raises an an aspect that is irrelevant and makes Madoff's religion the focus of growing coverage.

If Madoff were a Baptist the subject of religion would almost certainly not be a big part of the news coverage about his Ponzi scheme. The same would hold true if he were Catholic or Unitarian.

The media should stick to stories about the swindle. How did it happen? Who got hurt? Who will be brought to justice? What any of those has to do with Madoff being Jewish points at drawing a conclusion that it not there to be drawn.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

New York City apparently has no lock on Ponzi schemes. Perhaps Madoff is just the tip of a large iceberg that runs the length of America.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "Idaho securities regulators are investigating allegations that a money manager in the state operated a long-running Ponzi scheme that cost investors as much as $100 million."

In Idaho, the value of the dollar is such that $100 million is worth about the same as $50 billion is worth in NYC.

What the news shows is that the great bull market in assets from stocks to real estate clearly allowed a number of people to dupe investors by claiming remarkable returns In a flat market or a down market, claims like the ones that Madoff made would not have been believable.

As the Dow rose to 14,000, almost anything about making easy month could appear real. Now the chickens have come home to roost.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

In the U.S.'s decade of descent, its near-decade of policy errors, investors could no-doubt cite their nomination for financial or economic low point.

Enron, the Bear Stearns hedge fund defaults, the mismanagement of Lehman Brothers and AIG (NYSE: AIG), the to-date secretiveness of the TARP money allocation, Citigroup's (NYSE: C) missteps that now expose the U.S. government to potentially more than $200 billion in liabilities, or the myriad bad decisions by mortgage borrowers and lenders that sent the housing market into recession would, undoubtedly, be mentioned as candidates for the biggest scandal.

A few 'candid and frank' discussions in CT

Still, during a year-end, holiday trip to relatives in Connecticut, I received "a full and complete report," as we say in the news/publishing business, concerning what many people -- at least what many of my relatives -- feel is the biggest scandal or mistake. Now, my extended family is by no means a scientific survey, but it's a pretty good cross-section of the American public, comprised of high-powered professionals and typical employees; those who've done very well financially, and those who haven't done as well, with all age groups represented.

And what was everyone really peeved about? The alleged Ponzi scheme and rip-off masterminded/perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.