In recent days, New York’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue has become a Who’s Who of Bernard Madoff victims.

One charity with Madoff connections has managed to emerge unscathed.

The late Hermann Merkin was a lion of Jewish philanthropy who gave millions to help build Yeshiva University, the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, and Merkin Concert Hall, among other causes. Now, his son, J. Ezra Merkin, has managed to wipe out much of what he spent a lifetime creating.

Here’s a Forbes list the rich guys would have preferred to avoid: America’s Biggest Billionaire Losers of 2008.

The Wall Street trader who engineered what may be the largest scheme in history to defraud investors spent nearly $1 million to lobby lawmakers and members of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The casualties of Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50-billion Ponzi scheme include some of the biggest names in Jewish philanthropy, in addition to titans of the business and real-estate worlds.

Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison was the highest-paid US chief executive last year with total compensation of $192 million, a survey by an independent corporate governance group found.

This time round, the chiefs of Detroit’s big three automakers arrived at the nation’s Capitol like supplicants - transported in hybrid cars, rather than private jets.

What’s in a name? Ask the folks at Cerberus Capital Management, named for the three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell.

Brought down by subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and other high-stakes games, the financial world is giving Las Vegas a bad name.