Bernard Madoff: remorse, tears and a good character reference

Bernard Madoff: remorse, tears and a good character reference from his therapist "Bernard Madoff, the disgraced financier, has denied being a sociopath and claimed that his victims should carry much of the blame for his $65bn fraud.

In an in-depth interview with New York Magazine, Madoff argued he has been unfairly portrayed as a monster since his Ponzi scheme collapsed in the autumn of 2008. He said deceiving investors and his own family for almost two decades had put a severe strain on him personally and that he had not meant to conduct such a huge crime, but could not extricate himself.

The former head of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities even insisted that his prison therapist had assured him that he was not evil.

'She said, 'You're absolutely not a sociopath. You have morals. You have remorse.' ' Madoff told the magazine. 'I am a good person,' he added.

Madoff gave the interview by phone, following the suicide of his son, Mark, last autumn. During a series of calls, he explains that he began his career as a legitimate, profitable trader, but was forced to falsify his returns in the recession of the early 1990s. Once he had started using funds from one client to repay another - rather than generating actual profits on Wall Street - he was never able to admit the truth: 'I was too afraid.'"