Wiesel Foundation to Persevere Despite Madoff Losses

In a USA Today interview, Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, said losing almost all of his foundation’s assets in the Bernard Madoff scandal “will not change” the work it does on human-rights and global ethical issues.

Wiesel and his wife, Marion, started the foundation in 1986 with a portion of his Nobel award. In December, it reported it had $15.2 million, “substantially” all its assets, invested with Madoff.

Since the foundation’s financial loss was reported, Wiesel says, it has been flooded by unsolicited contributions — “big and small, from young and old, Jew and non-Jew. It’s an expression of their outrage.”

He says the foundation has received about $200,000 in such contributions — enough to keep its programs going.

Here’s the complete USA Today article. His foundation plundered, Elie Wiesel again rebuilds on ruins