Madoff Made Hefty Political Contributions to Top Officials

It reads like a who's who of liberal Democrats: Clinton, Corzine, Dodd, Schumer, Kerry, Markey, Rangel, Bradley, Lautenberg ... and yes, even Obama.

And what they all have in common is Bernard Madoff and his company of lies.

In fact, the disgraced one-time Nasdaq boss and founder of an investment firm that authorities say brokered one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Wall Street history also liberally sprinkled a portion of his allegedly ill-gotten billions to help further the political fortunes of his favorite candidates and their campaigns -- it appears to the tune of more than $400,000.

And, a review of campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org shows that from 2005-2008, Madoff pumped well over $100,000 into the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a political action committee guided by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Schumer's own campaigns were on the receiving end of thousands of dollars from Madoff, his investment firm and members of his family.

Schumer's office acknowledged the contributions and said he has pledged to give $6,000 in Madoff donations to charities.

"He is donating to charity the money that he has received from Mr. Madoff, personally," Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon told FOXNews.com on Monday.

But he wasn't the only Dem -- or Republican -- waiting for Madoff to dole out the dough. Among the more prominent recipients of Mad Money were:

-- Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey
-- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton
-- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry
-- New York Rep. Carol Maloney
-- Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy

-- New York Rep. Charles Rangel
-- New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine
-- New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg
-- Former Missouri Sen. Dick Gephardt
-- Former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley

Madoff also hedged his bets and kicked in a few bucks to select Republicans, such as:

-- Former Texas Rep. Jack Fields
-- Arizona Sen. John McCain
-- Former N.Y. Rep. Vito Fossella
-- Former Louisiana Rep. "Billy" Tauzin
-- Former N.Y. Rep. Daniel Frisa
-- Former N.Y. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato

As for President-elect Barack Obama, records show Madoff, his family and associates only contributed a few thousand dollars in total to his campaign.

For a complete list, go to http://www.opensecrets.org and search keyword Madoff, Bernard.