ADD Larry King to the ever-lengthening list of people who lost money with Ponz scum Bernie Madoff.
A perfectly placed source said the host of CNN’s “Larry King Live” lost “over $1 million with Madoff. It was a lot of money.” King’s spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, declined to comment.
The personal loss would explain why the usually garrulous King, 75, has been so quiet about the Madoff scandal – even when it was announced that celebrities like Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick were among those who lost their life savings with the Ponzi-scheme mastermind.
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It wouldn’t be the first time King has faced financial fallout. In 1978, he declared bankruptcy. Page Six reported two years ago that King owed money to creditors in Miami Beach. Joann Biondi, author of “Miami Beach Memories,” said, “Some locals snarl at just the mention of his name.”
In 2006, King sued the Maryland-based Meltzer Group, claiming the insurance brokerage cheated him in connection with $15 million in personal life-insurance policies.
While losing a million bucks to Madoff is “severe,” our source said, King makes $7 million a year from CNN under a contract through 2010. He just has to stay healthy enough to keep working. He has suffered a heart attack and in 2007 underwent heart surgery for a carotid endarterectomy. And his wife, Shawn, mother of their sons, Chase and Cannon, recently went through rehab for addiction to painkillers.
Meanwhile, King’s not the only one in queasy health. Several sources have told Page Six that Madoff himself has serious health issues. Some have even said the former money manager has pancreatic cancer. Madoff’s lawyers declined to comment.