Bernard Madoff says his financial acumen respected in prison BUTNER, N.C., June 8 (UPI) -- Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff says he has become a go-to source for financial advice at the North Carolina prison where he is serving time for fraud. Madoff said in an interview with Market Watch guards at the federal lockup in Butane have asked him for investment advice, and his fellow inmates had urged him to teach a class on finance. "The prison was afraid that the media would say Madoff is teaching criminals how to invest," said Madoff, who has been at Butane for five years. Market Watch said Madoff, 75, has been opening up to the media in recent months and appears resigned to spending the rest of his life in a medium-security prison. The former jet-setting Wall Street guru described Butane as having "a reputation of being very laid back." Madoff shares a cell with a 50-year-old inmate, reads a lot and lives day-to-day with breakfast at 6:30 a.m. EDT and dinner at 5:30 p.m. He has been cut off from contact with his family, including bother Peter, who is serving 10 years at a federal prison in South Carolina. Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years for the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, appeared ready and willing to put at least some of the blame for the scandal on others he says pushed him into his illegal investment operation, Market Watch said.