Bernie Madoff’s Yachts Sold at Auction

Made Off with Madoff’s Yacht -- This 55-foot Rybovich sportfisher formerly owned by financier felon Bernie Madoff fetched $700,000 at a private auction held by National Liquidators Nov 17.

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL (AP) – A vintage 55-foot yacht named Bull and two smaller boats that once belonged to imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff were auctioned off Nov. 17, along with an even bigger yacht once owned by Madoff’s right-hand man.

Madoff’s meticulously restored 1969 Rybovich sportfisher had been considered the prize offering at the private auction, and it sold for $700,000. More than 50 people put up a $100,000 deposit for the opportunity to bid, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

“It’s a piece of history,” said Bob Toney, president and CEO of National Liquidators, which handled the auction for the government.

Also for sale were Madoff’s 38-foot Shelter Island runabout named Sitting Bull, which brought $320,000; and a 24-foot Maverick center console named Little Bull, which brought $21,000. A 61-foot Viking sportfisher formerly owned by Madoff’s ex-chief financial officer, Frank DiPascali, went for $950,000.

Proceeds from the auction will go to investors in Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme. He is currently serving a 150-year federal prison sentence in North Carolina.

– Information from Associated Press and The Log staff reports

STATEWIDE

Boat Abandoned off Laguna May Have Had Human Cargo

LAGUNA BEACH (AP) – Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials say a fishing boat found abandoned off the Orange County coast may have been used for smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said the 30-foot boat was found floating about a mile off Aliso Beach on Nov. 11 and towed to Dana Point Harbor. Clothes, jugs of water, bread and some fishing rods were found inside the boat.

Amormino said authorities believe the boat was stolen from Ensenada, Mexico.

Officials said the passengers might have run the boat aground on Aliso Beach and then pushed it back into the water.

Judge Rules Seals Can Stay at La Jolla Cove

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Harbor seals that have colonized Children’s Pool in La Jolla for more than a decade can remain there, a judge ruled Nov. 13. The action overruled an earlier decision to have the city remove the seals because their waste bacteria was hazardous to humans swimming in the same cove.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor ruled that a state law signed by the governor in July will allow the cove to be designated as a marine park starting Jan. 1, and that there is no reason to evict the animals before then. The move finalized a tentative ruling Taylor made Nov. 12.

“Today’s decision means that the issue can now be decided by the city council and mayor, the way public policy issues are supposed to be decided,” said deputy city attorney George Schaefer.

Seals began moving into the cove in the 1990s, setting off a long legal scrap between advocates for animals and kids.

Philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps donated the area — an artificial cove created by a seawall built in 1931 — to the state, and it is governed by the city under a state trust. It was used for years as a children’s swimming hole.

In 1997, after the seal population surged, the city posted a warning that swimmers should avoid the water because of bacterial contamination.

Few people now brave the pool’s cold water — or the pool’s seals, whose population can be as high as 200, at times. The pool eventually became a tourist attraction, attracting hundreds of visitors each year who come to see the frolicking seals.