I don't know about that.  I'd say Madoff was a much bigger scammer.  It tooks many years of carefully screwing people out of everything they own to get to Madoff's place.  Karpeles may be the very biggest clumsy fuckup of all time - while at the same time running a scam, but he is small potatoes compared to the king Madoff.

Either way, one thing is not up for debate: they are both Jews.  

PS - did you know that Madoff had a house in France?  True.  But I don't know if he was actually French like Karpeles.