Madoff's Luxury Car Fleet Being Returned to Dealers

When Bernie Madoff's house of cards came crashing down, it turns out there was a garage full of luxury cars trapped underneath. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, whose namesake chief stands accused of perpetrating a $50 billion fraud, had a small fleet of luxury automobiles under lease, which the courts are now being asked to cancel.

Included in the fleet are a Cadillac DTS sedan, a Range Rover sport-ute, an unspecified Lexus, a Mercedes GLS450 sport-ute (pictured above) and a pair of top-of-the-line Mercedes S550 sedans. With Madoff not going anywhere under house arrest, the firm's employees dismissed and a court-appointed administrator trying to untangle the mess, the leased vehicles are all being returned to their dealerships, where mechanics may very well find the cars to be nothing but empty shells with bits and pieces borrowed from each other and leaving a long trail of debt behind them.