A strange coda for story of perfect Yale quarterback Patrick Witt, who dropped out of the finalist round for the Rhodes Scholarship so he could play in the Harvard-Yale football game: While Patrick was agonizing over his decision, his coach Tom Williams told everyone that he faced the same dilemma as a linebacker at Stanford in 1992, and chose football.

The Talented Mr. Adam Wheeler—the "crypto-tendentious" literary beefcake convicted of larceny, identity theft, and fraud for scamming his way into Harvard—is back in jail for violating the terms of his probation. His mistake: repeating that old lie about being Harvard material. The Harvard Crimson reports:

The Associated Press checked in with 325 charities founded in the wake of 9/11, many of which are still active. Most of them were doing nice things! But a bunch were doing ethically dubious, borderline fraudulent things, frittering away millions of benevolently bestowed dollars.

Time to check in with an old friend: Jason Hope—the Arizona entrepreneur whose $500,000 Christmas party made him the "Party King of Scottsdale" and ignited fake-baked nightlife warfare—is getting sued. Verizon Wireless has launched a legal battle against 26 people and companies they say are fleecing consumers with "premium messaging services," i.e., when your grandma gets a spam text message that enters her into an automatic billing cycle without her consent. Verizon says Hope is "the mastermind behind defendants' fraudulent and deceptive practices."

Ponzi schemer to the stars Ken Starr pleaded guilty today to wire fraud, money laundering, and investment advisor fraud; his plea deal will put him behind bars for10-12 years. His pole-dancing wife was "notably absent" from the courtroom. [image via]

Former Democratic party fundraiser Hassan Nemazee, who raised large sums for both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama presidential campaigns, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraudulently acquiring $292 million in loans from three banks.

Jill Johnson is UC Davis' hipster grifter. (Instead of hip, though, she's a beauty queen.) Local blogs hunted down the "prolific and notorious scammer" with "heavy, tear-smeared makeup." The internet used to be for porn. Now it's for outing grifters.

Is the talented Mr. Wheeler—accused Harvard scamster Adam Wheeler, who faces 20 counts of larceny and fraud for application lies—defending himself pseudonymously in the Harvard Crimson's comment forums? Plus, new photo and anecdotes from his time at Harvard.

Prosecutors say Adam Wheeler committed larceny and identity fraud, stealing $45,000 in Harvard scholarship money. Peers recall a quiet overachiever with a knack for grandiose self-description and a plan to become a lawyer—or so he told them.

We haven't heard much about the Madoff clan the past few months. That's not because the feds grew bored and decided to give up. They've been quietly assembling a case against Bernie's brother (Peter) and two sons (Andy and Mark), and may eventually charge them with tax fraud for using Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities as their "personal piggy bank":

Bernie Madoff is back in his cell after a nearly two-week stay in the prison hospital. He'll be ringing in 2010 in the dark, though: The Butner Federal Correctional Complex turns off the lights at 11pm. [AP]

Add poor Ponzi schemers to the list of people who suffered during the recession of 2009. According to the AP, more than 150 investment schemes collapsed this year, compared to 40 in 2008. [AP, WSJ]

Why was Bernie Madoff admitted to a prison hospital late last week? It isn't because he's dying of cancer. And it isn't because he was assaulted in prison, as ABC News reported this morning. (The story, which the local ABC affiliate has since revised twice, first suggested Madoff had suffered "facial fractures, broken ribs and a collapsed lung" in an incident "consistent with an assault." Then they said he fell off a bed and "a lot of facial bleeding" followed.) Now it turns out he was hospitalized for an altogether less dramatic reason: According to the Bureau of Prisons, it was "due to dizziness and high blood pressure." [WSJ, NYP]

Last month's auction of Bernie and Ruth Madoff's personal property was pretty successful, raising close to a million bucks for the victims of the giant Ponzi scheme. Now there's a fraudster who is looking to make a buck by promoting auctions full of fake Madoff merchandise. A gallery that planned to auction off art work this weekend in Connecticut that it claimed once belonged to the couple—including one that featured phony paintings by Chagall and Picasso—was shut down after the state's attorney general vowed to take legal action. [ConnPost via AMM]

It's been a year since Bernie Madoff was arrested and charged with running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Madoff's life has changed a bit since then. These days he resides in a cell at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina, wears a khaki uniform with a number printed on the front (No. 61727-054), and works in the prison kitchen scrubbing pots and pans. But that doesn't mean he's necessarily unhappy. The Journal reports Madoff spends his free time playing bocce, chess and checkers and has made lots of friends behind bars. And he even likes the food, according to two lawyers who visited him. That's good to hear, isn't it? With 1,795 months of his sentence left to go, he'll have the pleasure of eating his next 166,000 meals there. [WSJ]

Everyone's favorite perverted billionaire is back in the news! Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting underage girls for sex in 2007, served about a year in prison, and was released in July. But the women (girls?) he allegedly got kinky with continue to have civil lawsuits pending against the shadowy money manager, and now things have gotten a touch complicated because the lawyer representing several of his victims is/was Scott Rothstein, the Florida lawyer who currently stands accused of leading a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme in his spare time.

Bernie Madoff may not be the only member of the family to see his property fall into the hands of new owners. The Real Deal reports Mark Madoff may be forced to sell his Nantucket "getaway" in the near future. [Real Deal]

Irving Picard, the man in charge of liquidating Bernie Madoff's assets, is asking for $22.1 million in fees for the last five months of work he and his firm have put in on the case, on top of the $14.6 million he's already been paid. But that includes a 10 percent "public interest discount," so don't even think of suggesting Picard isn't generous. [Bloomberg]

Victims of Bernie Madoff have another $2 million to spread around. Three boats owned by the imprisoned fraudster were auctioned off in Florida yesterday and brought in about $1 million; a sport-fishing yacht owned by Bernie's former sidekick, Frank DiPascali, reeled in another $950,000. And Ruth Madoff's convertible found a new owner, too: The 1999 Mercedes with 12,000 miles on it sold for $30,000. [Bloomberg]

Another figure in the Madoff affair should be headed to prison in the near future. David Friehling, Bernie's sketchy accountant and the man supposedly responsible for overseeing Madoff's financial activities out of his one-man firm in Rockland County, is expected to plead guilty to a variety of charges next week. He and faces a maximum of 108 years in prison. [NYT, WSJ]