( CNN ) -- Voluble real estate mogul Donald Trump called alleged Wall Street scam artist Bernard Madoff a `` sleazebag '' and `` a total crook '' Thursday in an interview on CNN . Donald Trump said investors who lost money in a Ponzi scheme were victims of their own greed . Trump recently hosted a party at his Palm Beach , Florida , estate , Mar-a-Lago , that was attended by several people who say they were victims of an alleged $ 50 billion Ponzi scheme run by Madoff . Madoff , 70 , is a former chairman of Nasdaq . He was charged last week with fraud . Trump , chairman and president of the Trump Organization , a New York-based real estate development empire , spoke with Kiran Chetry on CNN 's `` American Morning . '' CNN : How angry are people at this situation with Madoff ? Donald Trump : ... The people in Palm Beach , many of those people have been just ripped off by this sleazebag , and they 'll never see the kind of money that they 've seen . You have some people gave 100 percent of their net worth to him in trust , because they trusted him , they trusted his family , they trusted everybody , and now they literally are selling their houses in order to live . And some of them mortgaged their houses in order to give that money to this Madoff . And it 's really a terrible thing . I 'd see him around Mar-a-Lago , I 'd see him around Palm Beach -- and he 's a disgrace . Watch the possible ramifications of the Madoff case » . CNN : ... How did he get away with this ? How did so many smart people entrust somebody -- and we keep hearing over and over again , 100 percent of their money going to this guy . Would you ever let 100 percent of your money go to something , even if you trusted the person ? Trump : I would not , and a lot of my friends would not , but obviously a lot of my friends did . The word is very simple . It 's a word called `` greed . '' Greed . That 's all it is . People were greedy . They thought he was going to get them a little bit more return , or a lot more return . I mean , he was a Svengali for rich people . There are Svengalis for women ; this guy was a Svengali for rich people -- very rich people . But when you think of a person putting up 100 percent of their net worth and even mortgaging their house , even though they had a lot of cash -- mortgaging their house to get more cash to this guy -- and now they 're going to have to go out , literally , and maybe work in a drugstore . I do n't know what they 're going to do . CNN : Did you lose money from Madoff ? Trump : No , I did not . CNN : Some are blaming the [ Securities and Exchange Commission ] , saying for years they did not investigate any claims . Chairman Christopher Cox said there were some credible accusations against Madoff made nearly a decade ago that were never referred to the commission to act . So what 's your take on the oversight , how the SEC and government handled this ? Trump : I would not blame the SEC . This guy was a total crook . The people in his own organization supposedly did n't know about it . Now , that 's another thing ; I find that hard to believe . He 's got two sons , and they did n't know about it ? And they worked there for years ? I think the whole thing is a swindle . I think even that 's a swindle : The father said , `` Look , you guys turn me in and pretend you do n't know anything and I 'll save my two sons . '' But it 's impossible for me to believe that his sons did n't know about this . CNN : So you also think it 's impossible that he acted alone . Trump : I do n't know how you could act alone . They had three floors of a major office building . How could one man be manipulating that much money without all of the people knowing -- without at least a large number of the people knowing about it ? So I would certainly think that his sons are guilty .
Real estate giant lashes out at suspect in $ 50 billion investment scheme . People were victims of their own greed , Trump says . Trump doubts that Bernard Madoff could have acted alone . Trump says he did not lose any money to Madoff .