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?