Archive for the ‘Mad at Madoff’ Category

Madoff Goes to Jail, but What Has Really Changed?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

As we saw just a week ago, Bernard L. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in Federal prison. While him going to jail with effectively a life sentence closes one chapter in the Madoff drama it leaves other chapters without closure.

However, I ask the question, “What has really changed”? Are we to believe that because Madoff went to jail, or, Alan Stanford is about to go to trial (and likely to jail) that we as a general investing public are any better off than we were before? Is our money somehow less at risk because these men were caught? I’m sure that the stories of Bernard Madoff and Alan Stanford will be taught in business schools as famous examples of fraud; likely topping the former king fraudsters of Kenneth Lay (Enron) and Jordan Belfort (Stratton Oakmont). However, no one can guarantee that other people will not perpetrate another fraud similar to these aforementioned characters.

In point of fact, there has been a party to all of these frauds past and present which has gone largely unpunished: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC received warnings about Bernard Madoff in the late 90’s, and as recent as 2004/2005, yet they did nothing. The SEC received notices and began “probing” R. Alan Stanford’s bank and associated businesses as far back as 2000. Yet, nothing was pursued vigilantly and nothing came to light until arguably too late and too many people got hurt.

So what has changed? Is the Securities and Exchange Commission better prepared to spot fraudulent investment schemes in the future? I doubt it. Unfortunately the SEC is a mish-mosh of red tape and political cock-fighting which, in my opinion, does nothing but get n the way of effective regulation and thus ultimately harms the individual investor in the process. The victims of these frauds need to be made whole or, to the extent possible be compensated for their losses (though by no means do I support the Government bailing out fraud victims). BUT… the SEC needs to take some blame beyond their quiet admission that they ‘may have dropped the ball’.

In my opinion the Securities and Exchange Commission has not properly leveraged in assets in terms of its ability to properly regulate, investigate, and protect the investing public. I’m happy that Bernard Madoff went to jail and Stanford will get his too, but I’d like to see someone over at the SEC catch more heat than being “reassigned” to an alternative sub-department and actually accept some responsibility.

Sound Off: Should people who had knowledge of, or, ignored the signs of Madoff and other fraudsters be sent to jail also?

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Madoff Gets 150 Years ?!

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Today was judgment day for Mr. Bernard L. Madoff, the poster child of ponzi scheme’s. Arguably the largest investment fraud, ever, Bernie Madoff – who operated Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities duped investors out of purportedly $65 Billion.

After all is said and done, the judge threw the book at Madoff today handing down a ridiculous sentence of 150-years. Let’s be clear: We here at theymadoffwithyourmoney.com applaud his arrest, guilty plea, and subsequent sentencing. While we agree that Bernard Madoff deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail the actual number of years handed out doesn’t really mean anything (the guy is 71 years old – even a 30 year sentence is a life sentence).

Though largely symbolic, the sentence does not offer the victims of Bernie Madoff any restitution or closure other than the obvious knowledge that Madoff will die in prison. Many investors will never see their money returned, especially those who invested through feeder-funds or funds-of-funds; the Securities Investors Protection Corp. (SiPC) is not recognizing losses related to Madoff that were incurred through investment with third parties (like feeder funds).

So what does this all mean? Sadly, essentially nothing. While Madoff will rot in a dank jail cell for the rest of his years, his wife and kids will continue to live free (for now) and the victims will largely never be made whole. The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, Irving Picard, has only recovered slightly more than $2 Billion which is nowhere near the amount purportedly absconded with.

This is a horrible case, and has caused tremendous heartache, stress, and has destroyed peoples families. We’re glad he will spend the rest of his days in jail, but this is just the closure of one chapter. The real recovery for the victims has yet to begin.

Sound Off:

Do you feel 150 years means anything other than the symbolic meaning? Do you think Madoff deserved more/less?

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The Singing Secretary and the Employees Who Never Were…

Monday, May 11th, 2009


Don’t think that the trail has gone cold in the real life Law & Order drama of Bernard Madoff, Fraudster extraordinaire. While the news over the last month or so has been slightly stale and mostly procedural, this past week we heard from the long time secretary to Bernard Madoff, Ms. Eleanor Squillari about some of the pompous ponzi purveyors actions leading up to his arrest last December. We also learned a little about where exactly Madoff threw money around from his fraudulent business unit.

The June ’09 issue of Vanity Fair magazine will feature the full article co-written by Squillari which goes into more specific details about what it was like in the lion’s den leading up to the climax of Bernie’s arrest. Some brief details we’ve heard include tid-bits like Madoff checking his blood pressure every fifteen minutes as he nervously paced around his offices in the weeks leading up to his arrest, refusing to look at his mail, and calling his feeder fund “friends” and other key people practically every hour like a crazy girlfriend.

While I have not read or seen a preview of the full article I am certainly interested in reading it. I’m also curious of the motives behind Squillari’s story; is she trying to clear her conscious? Is this a means by which to profit from her direct experiences? Maybe the feds are pressuring her? Who knows, all I know is that the writing is on the wall and it says that all involved will eventually follow Squillari’s example and share what they know and while this doesn’t necessarily hurt Madoff further than he already is it could implicate many of his co-conspirators.

Some other Madoff news this week included some interesting insight into just how much Madoff used his own firm as his personal debit card. Among other multi-million-dollar payments, Madoff reportedly lent his brother, Pete Madoff, over $9 Million from the business. Madoff paid nearly $11 Million to law firms who represented his sons on real estate transactions. Other notable items included more than $7 Million in capital investments for start-up company’s run by certain Madoff family members, and almost $12 Million for the family yachts.

Then there’s the roster of “employees” who never were like the boat captain for Frank DiPascalli who was Madoff’s head compliance officer. There were many people on the payroll who never actually worked at Madoff’s firm according to reports.

This is where the story will start to unravel a little more. It’s obvious that Madoff used funds from the firm to support his own lifestyle and the lifestyles of his immediate family and close friends. It’s likely that many of the faux employees were either paid to individual tasks for Madoff, or, otherwise served some purpose for Madoff to perpetuate his scheme. If he’s as maniacal as I believe him to be he probably spread around his network of people who managed certain small tasks – this way it would take a longer time connecting all the dots in order to ever make a case against him and, no one person or source would ever have total access to key information but him.

Furthermore, it appears that Madoff made a lot of multi-million-dollar payments to various law firms on both his own behalf and that of his sons. In one alleged case he paid nearly $3 Million to a law firm representing one of his employees in a real estate deal. This may have been a move in order to establish conflict in case any investor or entity sued Madoff as the specific attorney paid by Madoff couldn’t be used against him.

While I’m speculating a little here you get the point. I’m looking forward to the full Vanity Fair article coming out next month which is supposed to be over 9,000 words (whoa).

Sound Off:
Do you think more people will be exposed as being part of Madoff’s scheme?

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The Madoff Yard Sale!

Friday, April 17th, 2009


With the arrival of spring comes the proverbial ‘spring cleaning’, and it’s no different in the case of cleaning out the assets of convicted fraudster Bernard L. Madoff. The trustee, Irving Picard, who is in charge of the orderly collection and liquidation of assets from the now closed firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, is currently attempting to auction off season tickets for the New York Mets.

According to reports, Picard is hoping to sell the opening day tickets and tickets for individual games in April. The remaining season tickets will be sold as a package and Picard plans to utilize the services of a ticket broker to govern the highest bid for the package. The season tickets are valued at a little over $60K, and are apparently in the Delta Club Gold section of the brand spanking new Citi Field. Normal tickets in this section can be as much as $500 per seat per game!

Picard is also apparently working with the New York Mets organization to ensure that other perks of the tickets transfer to the new happy owners like the parking and renewal options. All in all a pretty sweet deal for whomever end up with the tickets. I can just imagine the conversation now between the box owner and his/her guests, “Hey,…you know whose seats these used to be?” Thanks Bernie!

My question is when is the rest of the Madoff yard sale going to commence? We know his boat (excuse me, yacht) deceivingly named “Bull” was already seized by the feds – and we know he’s probably got a slew of fancy cars, and we know he’s got a ridiculous house in Palm Beach, Florida and one in the Hampton’s on the east end of Long Island, New York.

I can only imagine the elaborate furniture, art, and miscellaneous paraphernalia collecting dust in his $7 million New York City Penthouse. What treasures may exist in the vast walk-in closets and jewelry boxes of the Madoff’s – well tailored suits, fine watches, etc.

I think that all the screwed-over investors should have first crack at a Bernie Madoff yard sale! How much fun would it be, if you’re a victim of Madoff, to have access to his entire wardrobe of fine suits and expensive clothing and to set them on fire right in front of the jail he’s locked up in?! Oh the joy one could have with access to one of Bernie’s sports cars, where one could rip through gears without properly shifting ensuring the clutch is burned up, or, spinning endlessly in doughnuts while the expensive tires that come on his expensive car(s) disappear into milky white smoke!

As a matter of fact, being a fan of nice watches I wouldn’t mind having some of Bernie’s collection as I’m sure he probably had a few nice ones!

So, Mr. Picard, if you’re reading this please let me know the date and time of the auction sale and I’ll be there with my checkbook and a smile!

Sound Off:
Do you think Madoff’s assets should be sold to help repay damaged investors? Should his family get to keep certain personal items, like gifts, even in Madoff bought them with fraudulent money?

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The Numbers Don’t Stack Up: Not Sure They Ever Will.

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009


I suppose one of the biggest questions surrounding the Madoff scandal is, “where did all the money go?” Good question. Even looking at this guys lifestyle (and Madoff had quite a lifestyle) it’s hard to imagine that out of all those billions there’s only a few hundred-million left.

In case you don’t know who Irving Picard is, he’s the trustee appointed to oversee the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. To date, he’s collected approximately $1 Billion in funds from various accounts held by Maddof’s company. In Addition the Securities Investors Protection Corp. (SIPC), has about $1.6 Billion is a fund designed to compensate victims of an investment fraud like this.

Is anyone following the math here? Allegedly $65 Billion was stolen, misappropriated, embezzled, whatever you want to call it. Between the trustee, Picard, and the SIPC, they’re prepared to shell out about $2.6 Billion to reimburse to the over 5,000 investors that got royally screwed up in Madoff’s little world. My math skills aren’t fantastic, but that sounds like a $62.4 Billion shortfall to me, right?

The Fed’s are seeking about $170 Billion in forfeiture from Madoff (which he does not have by any stretch of the imagination) – and they (the Fed’s) have identified to date about $100 Million (miniscule in comparison to the aforementioned dollar figures) of houses, cars, jewelry, etc. which they will likely seize from Madoff.

This doesn’t even make a dent in the losses that Madoff ran up in what has become likely the longest running most expensive investment fraud in history. As such, many investors are up in arms over the fact that after investing millions upon millions of dollars with Madoff that the only recovery they’re going to see is probably the $500,000 maximum allowed by the SIPC. That’s like getting a swift kick in the balls after you’ve just found out that your wife has been cheating on you for 20 years. If I were a Madoff investor who lost millions and got a measly check for $500,000 – I’d ask if I can return the money and instead could get 10 minutes in a locked room with Madoff and pair of pliers.

I’m note sure any of the investors of Madoff’s former fraud factory will ever be made whole, even if they receive most of their money back. There is a certain mental and emotional quotient which goes beyond the actual physical loss of capital. Though I cannot opine based on any first hand experience but I imagine it’s like being raped; the physical scars and bruises heal but the mental pain stays for a long time…maybe forever.

On the other hand I’m not sure what else the thousands of screwed investors of Madoff’s bogus firm can expect. At the end of the day, even if they recover most of what was lost and strip Madoff and his whole family of every cent they have, it probably still won’t begin to cover all the Billions that this guy so maliciously and tactically absconded with. You can’t get blood from a stone…

Sound Off:
Do you think all Madoff victims should be entitled to all their principal money back? Do you think that the Government should make up the difference?

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Punish the Fraudsters, Not the Friends…

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009


A Connecticut judge has frozen the assets of Madoff’s wife, Ruth, his brother and two sons, and has also frozen the assets of Sandra Manzke the founder of Maxam Capital and Walter Noel Jr. a partner at Fairfield Greenwich Group (FGG is also being sued separately in the case) both feeder funds to Madoff’s former operation.

Apart from, “normal living and business expenses”, everything is on pause for the entire family and even some of Madoff’s top business associates. Fairfield Greenwich Group was a “feeder-fund” which funneled approximately $7 Billion to Madoff. The court order was brought about after the Fairfield Pension Fund (which currently has 1,500 members) requested it – the pension fund had as much as $42 Million with Madoff placed through the aforementioned Maxam Capital. The lawsuits are alleging that both FGG and Maxam Capital were negligent in placing funds with Madoff and while they may not have specifically know that Madoff’s operation was a ponzi scheme they were certainly involved in the criminal actions as a related party.

I can see the courts freezing the family’s assets, but is it too much to freeze these firms’ assets as well? I think so. I think it’s a reach and, unless you can prove to me that these feeder funds actually knew what Madoff was up to then its not proper to throw them in his realm, as they are victims as well.

Madoff has proved to be a cunning liar and creative schemer who fooled the SEC, his investors, and others for decades. Is it a stretch to think that these other feeder funds were also lied to? Madoff’s key defense to questions about his operations was to either dodge the questions or just lie – that’s it! Let’s remember this guy was not a criminal mastermind, he was just a good liar who covered his tracks well and was able to get away with something for a long time. Also remember that for the last thirteen years he never actually invested a single dollar in any stock at all!

My fear hear is that the tar and feather routine will get out of hand. While its necessary and appropriate to punish those involved and who assisted Madoff in perpetrating his perpetual ponzi scheme it is not right, nor practical to blast the flame-thrower at everyone who was in Madoff’s vicinity. These feeder funds were lied to as well. They received fake information, or none in some cases, but chose to invest anyway because Madoff was supposed to be this “genius”. How many times have you bought stock on a friends tip and it backfired? The only reason you bought the stock is because you thought it was a “hot tip”

What I’m driving to hear is that the greed perpetuated the frenzy. The feeder funds wanted to make their fees for “managing” money and the clients wanted to get “in” to the markets and as long as they were being told they were making money no one really checked.

Everyone was negligent. It was negligence through greed. Should everyone be sued? Should you sue your own accountant who looked through the Madoff prospectus and didn’t ask a lot of questions? How about your friend’s cousin who turned you on to the hedge fund who, through another third party channeled money to Madoff? You see where I’m going, right?

Let’s hold the parties who are directly involved and truly responsible accountable and let’s not whip the revenge buzz-saw around because we’re all upset.

Sound Off:
Do you think its right to hold multiple parties accountable in the Madoff fraud, like feeder funds and money managers, who were not directly involved and were simply fooled as well?

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Mr. Freeze Catches Up to Madoff’s Bro

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009


Peter Madoff, the brother of confessed and convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff, had his assets frozen by a New York State Supreme Court Judge in connection with a lawsuit filed by an investor who lost $470,000 in the Madoff mayhem.

The investor, 22-year old Andrew Samuels placed $470,000 of an inheritance he received with Peter Madoff, who acted as trustee for the funds.

First off, nice inheritance Andy, big thanks to the relative who dropped that one on your lap. Though in hindsight you probably wish you didn’t tie your money up with anything related to Madoff. However, as we’ve seen over and over again recently the Madoff virus has infected yet another victim.

Now, in order to pursue the recovery of his funds Andrew will have to wait in line just like everyone else that lost money and may or may not be able to recovery what he lost. According to court documents Samuels is seeking $470,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages.

In the interim, Peter Madoff’s assets are frozen which require him to disclose all his assets as well as prevents him from transferring or deferring his assets in an attempt to shield them from the lawsuit.

It’s unclear what specific involvement Peter Madoff may or may not have had in his brothers epic pyramid scheme. Apparently he personally lost a tremendous amount of money in the collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and, his daughter Shana Madoff allegedly working in compliance at Madoff Securities.

I’m of the opinion that in this specific case regarding the issue of Peter Madoff being trustee of Samuel’s funds, that the court made the right decision. However, without knowing the scope of Peter Madoff’s assets (which I have to assume are far more than what the kid is suing for both compensatory and punitively), what the court should have done is mandate Peter Madoff to place in escrow assets equivalent to the total damages sought in the suit.

If it can be established that indeed Peter Madoff did not have a part in the overall scheme which was perpetrated by brother Bernie, then subject to other situations in which Peter Madoff was a trustee on someone else’s behalf the remainder of his assets should be left alone. Though I agree that if accurate, the allegations by Samuels would constitute a breach of fiduciary duty by P. Madoff and he should be responsible to pay back the kids money and some punitive damage amount.

Sound Off:
Do you think that Peter Madoff was involved in the ponzi scheme with Bernie? Do you think that all of Peter Madoff’s assets should be frozen pending the outcome of this case and/or the entire case against Madoff Securities?

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David Friehling: The “Fraudsters” Friend

Monday, March 30th, 2009


Apparently, (as I suspected) the cheese does not stand alone. David Friehling was arrested this week by authorities and charged with securities fraud for being alleged “independent auditor” of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. Friehling is the first person to be charged as an alleged co-conspirator in what has become the largest investment fraud in history.

Friehling & Horowitz, CPA’s, P.C. was the firm of which David Friehling was the sole proprietor (Horowitz was his father-in-law). The SEC alleges that between 1991 (approximately about the time that Madoff admits his fraud began) through 2008 that Friehling was the auditor who certified Madoff’s statements.

The firm occupied a 550 sq/ft. office in small shopping plaza in New City, New York (look for a future post from me in which I’ll get into the dangers of working with ‘shopping-plaza’ accountants and attorneys).

It’s not that Friehling was necessarily directly involved in the fraud, but he falsely certified statements and failed to actually audit anything that Madoff had going on. According to available information, ““Friehling failed to conduct audits that complied with GAAS and GAAP,” Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin said in a statement, referring to generally accepted accounting principles and standards. “He did little or no testing, no verification of the ‘facts’ he certified. His job was not merely to rubber-stamp statements he didn’t verify.”

In basic terms, the dude was paid to shut his mouth and sign some papers. He was apparently paid somewhere in the range of $186,000 per year for his “services”. Not bad work if you can get it. His family also had an account with Madoff which had stated balances totaling about $14 million as of November 2008, and apparently withdrew somewhere in the neighborhood of about $5.5 million between the year 2000 and 2008 (source: Bloomberg.com)

I don’t think Friehling actually knew the specifics about what Madoff was doing, but he had to know something was up. Did he think Madoff was utilizing his “services” because he’s a charming guy? I don’t think Friehling’s a fraudster, I think he’s lazy. I think that his arrangement with Madoff was a matter of convenience for him and strategic alliance for Madoff.

Madoff needed someone who wouldn’t ask questions or get in his way. Friehling likely didn’t care, or didn’t want to know, and was perfectly happy collecting a monthly retainer for doing nothing. The larger issue at hand is, how many more affiliates of Madoff will go down for simply enabling him to carry out his fraud? For instance, if and when we discover what internal staff at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities assisted Madoff through compiling and sending out the fake statements, or falsifying trading tickets; what should become of them?

Friehling may face as much as 105 years in prison for his role with Madoff. Is that appropriate? Certainly some type of penalty and punishment is in order since he did violate very specific SEC laws; however, is it right to throw him in hail for 105 years? What about the secretary’s and office staff that may have helped Madoff, either directly or indirectly? Should they go to prison for the rest of their lives?

After all, it was Madoff who was apparently at the helm of this scheme, was he not? If his staff or other outside affiliates had direct knowledge of the fraud, that’s one case. If they simply suspected something, but did not have any direct knowledge and were just ignorant, that’s another case. Where do we draw the line? Enough people’s lives have been ruined by loosing their entire life savings with Madoff. Do we need to ruin the lives of every single person who worked in his office as well?

Mahatma Ghandi once said, “An eye for an eye will make the whole word blind”…

Interesting Fact: Jerome Horowitz (Friehling’s father-in-law) was at one time an outside account to Madoff before retiring in the 1990’s – Jerome Horowitz dies on March 12th, the same day Madoff pleaded guilty to eleven counts of securities fraud (Madoff’s Plea Allocution).

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“Meet the Madoff’s”: A Family of Fraudsters?

Friday, March 27th, 2009

One of the big questions, among many, that have been swirling around the Madoff case is what will become of his wife (Ruth) and two sons (Andrew and Mark)?

This topic presents another very hazy gray area in this case. On one hand, you have the wife, Ruth, who has enjoyed a very lavish lifestyle thanks to Bernie yet asserts that she has nearly $70 million in personal assets. On the other, you have the Madoff sons who ran part of their fathers business and have undoubtedly enjoyed a similar lifestyle.

I believe it to be virtually impossible for either his sons or his wife not to have known what was going on. Yet, in his open court allocution Madoff insists that the business his sons ran was “profitable and legitimate”. Excuse me, Bernard, if I don’t take your word for it. Especially considering the loans made to his sons Andrew and Mark for $9.5 million and $22 million, respectively. Then there is the matter of his wife, Ruth’s, assertions that the house in Palm Beach (worth approx. $10 million) and other assets (including $2.6 million in jewelry) are hers. The last time I checked I don’t believe Ruth Madoff had a job?

The Government certainly has the right to liquidate any assets belonging to Madoff and, any assts belonging to his family if said assets were purchased with the proceeds of the fraud. Again, there is a very gray area about; namely, that if any assets or income of the wife and sons are not the result of monies obtained through the fraud, then I do not believe the Government has a right to attack it.

If you can demonstrate to me that the business the sons were operating was indeed legitimate and, that any assets specifically in the name of Ruth Madoff are not derived from the proceeds of the fraud; I say leave them be. Though I do not see my aforementioned opinion as plausible given the fact that everything affiliated with Barnard Madoff ties into his fraud in at least some way or another, I cannot agree to the argument that family should be killed for the sins of the father. This becomes a question of how punitive do we need to be in the pursuance of justice in this matter?

Sound Off:

Do you think that Madoff’s wife and sons should be prosecuted, even if they were not directly involved in the fraud but had knowledge of it? Do you think that Madoff’s wife and sons should be held responsible monetarily, even if their own assets are not tied to the fraud?

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The Cheese Stands Alone

Monday, March 23rd, 2009


Who saw this guy coming? Wow. Without being overly repetitious given how much press this guy and his ridiculous Ponzi scheme have received already, it’s obvious that Bernard L. Madoff will go down in history as the biggest scam artist of the modern century. He puts others before him to shame; including the likes of Michael Milken, Jordan Belfort, Kenneth Lay (remember Enron), and Bernard Ebbers (former CEO of Worldcom).

He outshines even those among his current peer group including R. Allen Stanford, Nicholas Cozmo (Agape World), and the like. Madoff has become the consummate poster-child for greed, corruption, and dishonesty. He’ll likely have his last name (if not already) coined into an expression for when you get screwed out of money – “You got Madoff’d” comes to mind.

However, we must remember that the current recession (or depression depending on how bearish you are) is not Madoff’s fault, nor is it the cumulative fault of the other fraudsters who similarly squandered their client’s money in poor/fake investments. Rather, it was the collective mentality of Wall Street greed, perpetuated by the pressure amongst traders, bankers, underwriters, CEO’s and Boards of Directors to outperform each other and the competition, fueled by a lack of adequate regulation, ignored by an absentee Securities and Exchange Commission.

Much like a devastating engineering failure, the catalyst of a single event is rarely traced back to a singular cause. Typically many factors need to come into play, in a specific order, to render an outcome. As such, the culmination of all the people, places, and things involved in the economy came together like a perfect storm a la recession 2008/2009.

And now, the Cheese stands alone…apparently. With his allocution in open court last Thursday (Check it out here!), Bernard Madoff asserted that he and he alone carried out his Ponzi scheme. That no one else assisted him in this elaborate ongoing plot of siphoning client money through his investment advisory business is preposterous. His attempt to segregate himself and his brother and two sons from scrutiny is admirable, but ultimately I believe will be in vein since I’m sure the rest of the ‘Justice-Mob’ will come for his wife, brother, and kids after their done running Bernie through the mixer.

It undoubtedly took an “army” of staff, as described by one Madoff victim being interviewed outside court last week, to prepare and send all the client statements, issue the [fake] trade tickets, and keep track of where all the funds were going. It’s logistically impossible for Bernard Madoff to have pulled this off by himself, let alone for the past 20-years, almost. Yet Madoff asserts that the proprietary trading and market making side of his business were, “legitimate and profitable”. Are we really supposed to believe that?

Nevertheless, there is no incentive for Madoff to give anyone else up. There’s no way given the magnitude of his crimes that he would likely get any significant reduction in his sentence for any cooperation. Though I would personally like to drag him into Central Park and beat him repeatedly with a pillowcase filled with doorknobs to elicit his cooperation, his decision to stand alone was the right choice. Despite the fact that his brother and sons were likely directly involved or in the least had knowledge of his actions Madoff chose to protect them, and I respect that (though I respect little else about the man). It’s up to the Government now to figure out the rest of the puzzle.

Sound Off!:

How long do you think Madoff acted alone? Do you think Madoff’s brother, wife, and/or children should be punished even if they weren’t involved, but had knowledge of his fraud?

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