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Bernie Madoff


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Bernie Madoff operated the largest Ponzi scheme ever made by a single person. He netted over 65 Billion USD through this, and destroyed many people's lives while killing other people's confidence in the SEC.

He will be sentenced for his crimes tomorrow, June 29th, and will hopefully get life in prison.

I took the following from Wikipedia about him. Lets hope he gets the book thrown at him tomorrow...

220px-BernardMadoff.jpg

Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff (born April 29, 1938) is an American former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange who pled guilty to an 11-count criminal complaint, admitting to defrauding thousands of investors, and was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person. Federal prosecutors estimated client losses, which included fabricated gains, of almost $65 billion.

At his June 29, 2009 sentencing, he faces a possible life sentence in prison, and up to $170 billion in restitution.

Madoff founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960, and was its chairman until his arrest on December 11, 2008. The firm was one of the top market maker businesses on Wall Street, which bypassed "specialist" firms, by directly executing orders over the counter from retail brokers.

He was said to have confessed to his sons first on December 10, 2008 that the asset management arm of his firm was a giant Ponzi scheme ? as he put it, "one big lie." They then passed this information to authorities. The following day, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. The SEC conducted several investigations into Madoff's business practices since 1999, which critics contend were incompetently handled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff

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Look what happened to many of the Enron and other same-type corp. execs, cases dragged out till public loses interest and light sentence when nobody is looking. Since this crook admitted it, it might be different, but think of the friends in the right places he has. I wouldn't be surprised at a light sentence with a "promise" to make restitution.

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Look what happened to many of the Enron and other same-type corp. execs, cases dragged out till public loses interest and light sentence when nobody is looking. Since this crook admitted it, it might be different, but think of the friends in the right places he has. I wouldn't be surprised at a light sentence with a "promise" to make restitution.

That would actually really surprise me. He has admitted to stealing BILLIONS of dollars on top of countless other charges.

He will be rotting in prison for the rest of his life.

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Look what happened to many of the Enron and other same-type corp. execs, cases dragged out till public loses interest and light sentence when nobody is looking. Since this crook admitted it, it might be different, but think of the friends in the right places he has. I wouldn't be surprised at a light sentence with a "promise" to make restitution.

comparing Madof and Enron is not such an easy comparison to make. off balance sheet reporting is not a ponzi scheme. ponzi ia as madoff put it .... one big lie. its indefensible. there is no way this guy is getting off easy. especially with the current climate of hang em up righteousness in the USA. he is going down. his money is gone.

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Look what happened to many of the Enron and other same-type corp. execs, cases dragged out till public loses interest and light sentence when nobody is looking. Since this crook admitted it, it might be different, but think of the friends in the right places he has. I wouldn't be surprised at a light sentence with a "promise" to make restitution.

comparing Madof and Enron is not such an easy comparison to make. off balance sheet reporting is not a ponzi scheme. ponzi ia as madoff put it .... one big lie. its indefensible. there is no way this guy is getting off easy. especially with the current climate of hang em up righteousness in the USA. he is going down. his money is gone.

My main point is, having so much money gets friends in top places, increasing chances of light sentence. But to balance it out, having wiped out bank accounts leading to suicides could cause previous rich "buddies" to say "Bernie Who?"

Look at OJ's "Dream Team" of lawyers, saved him from first round, but not second round of lawsuits.

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Look what happened to many of the Enron and other same-type corp. execs, cases dragged out till public loses interest and light sentence when nobody is looking. Since this crook admitted it, it might be different, but think of the friends in the right places he has. I wouldn't be surprised at a light sentence with a "promise" to make restitution.

comparing Madof and Enron is not such an easy comparison to make. off balance sheet reporting is not a ponzi scheme. ponzi ia as madoff put it .... one big lie. its indefensible. there is no way this guy is getting off easy. especially with the current climate of hang em up righteousness in the USA. he is going down. his money is gone.

My main point is, having so much money gets friends in top places, increasing chances of light sentence. But to balance it out, having wiped out bank accounts leading to suicides could cause previous rich "buddies" to say "Bernie Who?"

Look at OJ's "Dream Team" of lawyers, saved him from first round, but not second round of lawsuits.

Yes, money is power.

The important difference here is OJ never admitted guilt, and this guy did.

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I like how he was sending money to Israel and passing the losses on to US investors. Uhhhh, good luck finding it........

Actually There an Israeli organization called "Hadassah" that provides a free hospital in Israel to all those who need it... they lost millions of dollars that they had placed in the trust of Maddoff.

So Israeli got just as f**ked as the rest of team.

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Look what happened to many of the Enron and other same-type corp. execs, cases dragged out till public loses interest and light sentence when nobody is looking. Since this crook admitted it, it might be different, but think of the friends in the right places he has. I wouldn't be surprised at a light sentence with a "promise" to make restitution.

did *you* actually look or are you part of that "nobody"?

if so, explain how a 24 year sentence is light, please. that's what Jeff Skilling got. Kenny-boy Lay died of a heart attack before he was sentenced, but was expected to get 20 to 30 years. Andy Fastow, the architect of the 'special purpose entities,' got 10 years if i recall correctly. a bit light, yeh--but that's a result of plea-bargaining. his testimony was essential to nailing Skilling and Lay.

but hey, the facts don't matter if they dont' fit your trite little storyline, do they?

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I like how he was sending money to Israel and passing the losses on to US investors. Uhhhh, good luck finding it........

Actually There an Israeli organization called "Hadassah" that provides a free hospital in Israel to all those who need it... they lost millions of dollars that they had placed in the trust of Maddoff.

So Israeli got just as f*cked as the rest of team.

Well, he was sending funds into the country of Israel; who to is another thing. But, yeah, many of his victims in the US are also Jewish.

so in this case r the jews the good guys or the bad guys ? the victims or the villians ??

sometimes hard to keep up with these guys !!!! :roll: :roll:

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I like how he was sending money to Israel and passing the losses on to US investors. Uhhhh, good luck finding it........

Actually There an Israeli organization called "Hadassah" that provides a free hospital in Israel to all those who need it... they lost millions of dollars that they had placed in the trust of Maddoff.

So Israeli got just as f*cked as the rest of team.

Well, he was sending funds into the country of Israel; who to is another thing. But, yeah, many of his victims in the US are also Jewish.

so in this case r the jews the good guys or the bad guys ? the victims or the villians ??

sometimes hard to keep up with these guys !!!! :roll: :roll:

ahem, good and bad in all races. no good race and bad race me thinks.......

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Even if he's given a life sentence his balance of life left will only cover a short period in comparison.....

Thing that quizzes me with these guys is how do they get through so much mula ($)....there's only so much you can eat drink and sh*t?........

You ever play monopoly, with these guys there is endless properties and investments by the millions over a long period of time.

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Even if he's given a life sentence his balance of life left will only cover a short period in comparison.....

Thing that quizzes me with these guys is how do they get through so much mula ($)....there's only so much you can eat drink and sh*t?........

You ever play monopoly, with these guys there is endless properties and investments by the millions over a long period of time.

Funny thing is....when they come to cash it all up there's only half left.....and they can bust any trust structures they have trying to protect the goods.....

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Even if he's given a life sentence his balance of life left will only cover a short period in comparison.....

Thing that quizzes me with these guys is how do they get through so much mula ($)....there's only so much you can eat drink and sh*t?........

Just look at guttes2 profile greeting and you'll know. :wink:

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Bernie Madoff operated the largest Ponzi scheme ever made by a single person. He netted over 65 Billion USD through this, and destroyed many people's lives while killing other people's confidence in the SEC.

The silly thing about a Ponzi scheme is that it is simply an unsustainable scam whereby you use new investors monies to pay high returns to old investors which then generates more new investors.

So of course he never netted US$65bn he simply scammed US$65bn worth of business. He didnt kill peoples confidence in the SEC - confidence in the SEC was killed by the fact they didnt investigate or spot his scam. They were just incompetent.

Obviously rotting in jail is far too good for him. The fact he confessed to his crime is no excuse because the crime itself is inherently unsustainable. When are they going to introduce some regulation in the US. Cant they see it is laughable that Goldman Sachs has run to be bailed out by the Government this year and is still paying out out record bonuses in its 140 year history,

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Stick a Billion in my bank and I'd be in some South American paradise before you could say Nana Plaza...... Why the f*ck people stick around till they get caught is well beyond me!

The same reason they started it in the first place... greed.

"Don't stop till you get enough" 8)

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"NEW YORK ? Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday for fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a symbolic message to those who might imitate his fraud and to victims who need relief.

Applause broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after U.S. District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to the 71-year-old defendant, who said he sought no forgiveness and knew he must live "with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life."

Chin rejected a request by Madoff's lawyer for leniency and said he disagreed that victims of the fraud were seeking mob vengeance.

"Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll," Chin said.

The judge said the estimate that Madoff has cost his victims more than $13 billion was conservative because it did not include money from feeder funds.

"Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering," he said.

Before Chin announced the sentence, Madoff, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a tie, sat and listened as emotional witnesses described how he spoiled their security.

"Life has been a living hell. It feels like the nightmare we can't wake from," said Carla Hirshhorn.

"He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no values," said Tom Fitzmaurice. "He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife Ruth could live a life of luxury beyond belief."

Dominic Ambrosino called it an "indescribably heinous crime" and urged a long prison sentence so "will know he is imprisoned in much the same way he imprisoned us and others."

He added: "In a sense, I would like somebody in the court today to tell me how long is my sentence."

"The sheer scale of the fraud calls for severe punishment," the prosecutors wrote.

The jailed Madoff already has taken a severe financial hit: Last week, a judge issued a preliminary $171 billion forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and $80 million in assets his wife Ruth had claimed were hers. The order left her with $2.5 million.

The terms require the Madoffs to sell a $7 million Manhattan apartment where Ruth Madoff still lives. An $11 million estate in Palm Beach, Fla., a $4 million home in Montauk and a $2.2 million boat will be put on the market as well.

Before Madoff became a symbol of Wall Street greed, he had earned a reputation as a trusted money manager with a Midas touch. Even as the market fluctuated, clients of his secretive investment advisory business ? from Florida retirees to celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax ? for decades enjoyed steady double-digit returns.

But late last year, Madoff made a dramatic confession: Authorities say he pulled his sons aside and told them it was "all just one big lie."

Madoff pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud and other charges, saying he was "deeply sorry and ashamed." He insisted that he acted alone, describing a separate wholesale stock-trading firm run by his sons and brother as honest and legitimate.

Aside from an accountant accused of cooking Madoff's books, no one else has been criminally charged. But the family, including his wife, and brokerage firms who recruited investors have come under intense scrutiny by the FBI, regulators and a court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's assets.

The trustee and prosecutors have sought to go after assets to compensate thousands of burned victims who have filed claims against Madoff. How much is available to pay them remains unknown, though it's expected to be only a fraction of the astronomical losses associated with the fraud.

The $171 billion forfeiture figure used by prosecutors merely mirrors the amount they estimate that, over decades, "flowed into the principal account to perpetrate the Ponzi scheme." The statements sent to investors showing their accounts were worth as much as $65 billion were fiction.

The investigation has found that in reality, Madoff never made any investments, instead using the money from new investors to pay returns to existing clients ? and to finance a lavish lifestyle for his family.

In bankruptcy filings, Trustee Irving Picard say family members "used customers accounts as though they were their own," putting Madoff's maid, boat captain and house-sitter in Florida on the company payroll and paying nearly $1 million in fees at high-end golf clubs on Long Island and in Florida.

Picard has sought to reclaim ill-gotten gains by freezing Madoff's business bank accounts and selling legitimate portions of his firm. (Its season tickets for the Mets went for $38,100.) He's also sued big money managers and investors for billions of dollars, claiming they were Madoff cronies who also cashed in on the fraud.

The defendants include leading philanthropists Stanley Chais and Jeffry Picower ? from whom Picard is seeking at least $5.1 billion alleged to have come out of victims' pockets ? and hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin. All have denied any wrongdoing."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_madoff_scandal

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