Scams translate into real pain for locals as Madoff pleads guilty

LYNN – Desiree Gil will never forget the day her rabbi told her the Israelis travel program she experienced as a teenager and her son took might be jeopardized by Bernard Madoff’s money scams.”I offered to help in any way,” she said before joining with other Congregation Shirat Hayam members to assess the fallout from the Madoff scandal.The 70-year-old swindler was careful to blame only himself when he pleaded guilty Thursday in a Manhattan federal courtroom to pulling off what could be the biggest, most spectacular swindle Wall Street has ever seen, and was sent off to jail in handcuffs to the applause of some of his furious victims.The disgraced ex-financier could get up to 150 years in prison at sentencing June 16 on 11 counts, including securities fraud and perjury. He could also be fined and ordered to pay restitution to his victims and forfeit any ill-gotten gains.The Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation supported by the Swampscott resident the charity is named for lost $8 million invested with Madoff. The loss threw into jeopardy the charity’s popular Youth to Israel Adventure.Gil took the trip as a teenager and met her husband on a follow-up trip. The couple’s son, Jonathan, traveled to Israel in 2008. The prospect of Madoff’s actions jeopardizing, even terminating, Youth to Israel, scared Gil and other parents.”When we first heard the news, that might have actually been a reality,” she said.”For the time being, plans are on track for a 2009 trip but the Lappin charity Web site’s grant link informs those who visit it that the charity is not awarding grants at this time.”The Madoff fraud severely impacted Youth to Israel,” said Youth to Israel Executive Director Deborah Coltin, adding, “The foundation assets were virtually wiped out.”Program participants in 13 North Shore communities raised $375,000 to support this year’s trip. Fifty three out of 99 teens pre-qualified to take the trip will be able to go in July along with several more who were able to obtain family support.In past years, every teen who qualified for the trip traveled free. Like Gil, Coltin participated in Youth to Israel in 1973, two years after the program’s founding.”We’re sad. We are looking forward but it is going to take deep pockets to fund it,” she said.When contacted Thursday morning Lappin and fellow Madoff victim Arthur Schwartz declined to comment, but local Rabbi Avraham Kelman said Lappin’s losses in the wake of its Madoff investment are hurting Congregation Ahabat Sholom in Lynn.Only two out of five congregation teens at this time can afford to participate in this year’s Youth to Israel trip. In addition, the senior activity program the congregation participates in has been hit hard by the Madoff scandal.”It’s one of our most successful programs and it may be cut,” Kelman said. “What this man did singlehandedly is unforgivable.”Gil wonders if justice is ever going to be served to Madoff despite reports the financier will spend rest of his life in jail.”It’s unthinkable what he did,” she said.