Amiel tells of Madoff effect in Palm Beach

These are testing times for Barbara Amiel (pictured) who is waiting with bated breath to see if George W Bush grants her jailbird husband, Conrad Black, a presidential pardon before he leaves office next week. To distract herself, Amiel, who once claimed that her "extravagance knows no bounds", has turned her mind to another fraudster, Bernie Madoff.

Writing in the Canadian news magazine Macleans, she tells of the devastation that has been wrought on those who signed up for Madoff’s investment schemes among her neighbours in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Rumours travel and twist like tumbleweed in a tornado," she writes."Multi-millionaire Robert Jaffe, a pivotal social figure in Palm Beach's Jewish social scene who promoted Madoff's funds, is whispered to have had little money in the funds himself even though he's made the biggest show in town of selling his tuxedos and jackets to a consignment shop. Who knows? With this volatile mix of schadenfreude and loss, the wildest stories gain plausibility. Nothing can be verified; no one will permit their names to be used."

She adds: "This is a disaster zone where escaping the blast seems to have as many social dangers as being caught in it." However, as befits a woman who once attended a London fancy dress party attired in what looked like a Maria Antoinette costume (her husband, who came as Cardinal Richelieu, later insisted she had come as a barmaid), Amiel spares a thought for the little people. "Some are gleeful as once-rich matrons cancel their trunk-show orders of gowns, but spare a thought for the hard-working sales staff whose entire income is commission-based."

In the meantime, will Dubya grant Lord Black a reprieve from his six-and-a-half-year sentence for fraud? There’s still time – just. Watch this space.