Perhaps the biggest swindler in history suffers from jet-propelled restless leg syndrome. Suspicious reports from ABC 11 Eyewitness News in Durham, North Carolina suggest that Bernie Madoff was treated for injuries he suffered when he fell out of bed:

"Now, the source says Madoff was not attacked in prison, but that he fell off a bed onto his face. The source said there was a lot of facial bleeding....According to the sources, Madoff came to Duke with facial fractures, broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

Or maybe Bernie's bed was located on the roof of the federal prison in Butner where he is serving a life sentence after confessing to bilking investors out of billions of dollars.

In any case, Madoff was treated and released from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham earlier this week and remains in the medical clinic at the prison.

As the level of spin about the case escalates, it seems likely that a cover-up is underway.

Bernie's lawyer claims

"his client was not assaulted, but "had some dizzy spells and some high blood pressure." And now the hospital has changed it's story after initialling admintting that Madoff was treated there. A spokesman now claims that the hospital never had a patient by that name.

Yeah, that's right, he fell out of bed. There was no mention of whether any of the spokesmen sounded like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.

Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target www.rightot.blogspot.com