Which public figure holds claim to being part of this official club of suckers?

Answer below....

It's Burt Ross and he is of course talking about being scammed by Bernie Madoff, along with the hundreds of other "suckers"  (Full list of Madoff's clients HERE).

Ross, the former New Jersey Mayor has a unique view of being a victim, which you can read over at the Daily Beast. [The Most Exclusive Club]:

"But I am having trouble coughing up any anger. Perhaps I am just in deep denial. I was outsmarted by a genius—an evil genius, but a genius. Charles Ponzi, move over. You were a two-bit player, a rank amateur. Madoff is the real thing. You have to give the devil his due. Bernard L. Madoff fooled us all. I had to pull strings to get into his scheme—and was honored when he merely took my phone call. Now that’s a con man at his best. He even had the regulators eating out of his hand."