Bernie Madoff 'Mistress' Tells All: 'He Was a Good Kisser'

Aug. 25, 2009 — -- In her book "Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie and Me," Sheryl Weinstein reveals the details of her alleged affair with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, who she says was in love with her and was "a good kisser."

"He really got into it more emotionally than he expected to," Weinstein said, talking about the affair for the first time on television on "Good Morning America" today. "I think he loved me and was very afraid of that type of connection."

Weinstein writes that she met Madoff more than two decades ago while working as the chief financial officer for a Jewish charity, Hadassah, which was one of the hundreds of organizations Madoff eventually ripped off. At their first meeting, she wrote, he gave her a "welcoming smile, a smile [she'd] never forget."

"I knew instantly that he was attracted to me," she wrote.

During the course of their 21-year relationship, Weinstein says she and Madoff had a sexual affair for a year and a half.

Weinstein had previously denied a romantic relationship with Madoff to ABC News earlier this summer. At Madoff's sentencing on June 29, she maintained she had only a professional relationship with Madoff, calling him a "beast."

Weinstein said today that she decided to write the book out of guilt over losing her family's money by investing with Madoff. "He took everything," she said.

"Investing money, investing my family's money was my responsibility," she said. "When this happened, the feelings of guilt, responsibility, failure became overwhelming."

"I don't have any art, I don't have any jewelry," she added. "What I have to sell is my story."

In addition to Weinstein's own money, according to Hadassah, the charity had invested more than $40 million with Madoff as of 1997, when it stopped adding principal. It believed its account was valued at $90 million when Madoff was arrested.

In June, Weinstein sat next to her husband of 37 years as she told the judge that Madoff "should not be given the opportunity to walk into our society again."

In response to the book, Madoff's lawyer Ira Sorkin blasted Weinstein for claiming the affair.

"I certainly hope that Mrs. Weinstein was more discrete about her investment decisions on behalf of Hadassah than she was about her sex life -- and that is not to confirm the allegation [of an affair] is true," Sorkin said in a statement to "Good Morning America."