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Bernard Madoff, founder and president of a New York firm that invested funds for wealthy individuals, hedge funds and other institutions, was charged with operating what he told employees was a long-running $50 billion Ponzi scheme in what may be one of the largest frauds in history.
[...]
“It’s all just one big lie,” Madoff told his employees on Dec. 10, according to the government. The firm, Madoff allegedly said to them, is “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme.”
Madoff faces as much as 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted. His New York-based firm was the 23rd largest market maker on Nasdaq in October, handling a daily average of about 50 million shares a day, exchange data show. It specialized in handling orders from online brokers in some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.
‘One of The Pioneers’
“He’s one of the pioneers of modern Wall Street,” said James Angel, an associate business professor at Georgetown University in Washington. Madoff’s firm was among the first to automate market-making, in which a dealer continually buys and sells stock. The company was among the largest to offer “payment for order flow,” or paying to handle customer orders.
“The exchanges didn’t like the practice and questioned whether customers got the best price,” Angel said.
Madoff was also sued today by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Bernard Madoff is a longstanding leader in the financial services industry,” said defense lawyer Dan Horwitz. “We will fight to get through this unfortunate set of events. He’s a person of integrity.”
Fix Asset Management in New York, which had at least $400 million with Madoff, said it was checking with its lawyers regarding its holdings.
“We are very shocked,” John Fix, the son of founder Charles Fix, said by telephone from Greece. “We put in redemptions in the past few months and got our money back no problem. We are just so surprised about all this.”
[...]
Madoff ran his investment advisory business from a separate floor of his firm’s office, keeping financial statements “under lock and key,” prosecutors said. Early in December, he told one employee that clients wanted to redeem about $7 billion and that he was struggling to free up the funds, the government said. After he told another staff member Dec. 9 that he wanted to pay annual bonuses before the year’s end, two months early, a pair of senior employees asked to speak with him, prosecutors said.
They had noticed he had been suffering from a “great deal of stress” and wanted to know what was happening, the U.S. said. When one of them challenged his explanations, Madoff invited them to his Manhattan apartment, saying he “wasn’t sure he would be able to hold it together” if they continued talking at the office, the government said.
While meeting the pair at his home yesterday, Madoff conceded that he was “finished,” that his advisory business is “all just one big lie” and “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme,” the government said. The business had been insolvent for years with losses of about $50 billion, he told the employees, according to the criminal and SEC complaints.
Madoff said he had about $200 million to $300 million left and planned to distribute money to select employees, family and friends before surrendering to authorities in about a week, the government said.
Confessed to FBI
Madoff allegedly confessed to FBI agent Theodore Cacioppi on Dec. 11, saying there was “no innocent explanation,” the SEC said in its complaint. Madoff said it was his fault and he had “paid investors with money that wasn’t there.” He also said he was “insolvent” and he expected to go to jail, it said.
The Madoff firm had about $17.1 billion in assets under management as of Nov. 17, according to NASD records. At least 50 percent of its clients were hedge funds, and others included banks and wealthy individuals, according to the records.
HUGE Democrat and Democrat Obama supporter too. What a shocker!
Huge Obama supporter? Credible source for this assertion? The only ones I found came from Foxnews.
LOL.Oh yes Iriemon, how silly of me to have presumed he was a HUGE fan of Obama's and a Democrat supporter; after all, he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats. I am sure he voted and supported McCain.
Carry on! :2wave:
LOL.
Hi Iriemon. If they don't say he is a Republican supporter, donator, funder, collaborator... you can be 98.6785% sure he is a big time Democrat supporter, donator, funder, collaborator.
Just a tip.
Did you notice that the press almost never referred to Blago as a D?
Oh yes Iriemon, how silly of me to have presumed he was a HUGE fan of Obama's and a Democrat supporter; after all, he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats. I am sure he voted and supported McCain.
Carry on! :2wave:
Bernie Maddoff, the great leveler, did more to close the economic gap between the filthy rich and the poor than any program ever devised by any Liberal. He has caused many millionaires to go bankrupt, and even completely ruined a few billionaires in the process too. The price tag for those caught up in Maddoff's ponzi scheme? More than 50 billion dollars. The number is probably even much higher than that, but many will not come forward, having to admit in shame that, as predatory as they were, they were taken as prey by Maddoff himself.
Who were the people that Maddoff fleeced? Slum lords, owners of sweat shops, and of course the rentier class (also known as the money for nothing class) - Those who made money without having produced a shred of goods or services. How could they do that? By being the economic predators they were.
Yes, Maddoff is going to prison, but in the process, other predators are now in ruin, and that is good. Liberals may complain that we need more government to stop predators like Maddoff and his bunch. To them, I say no way. The market has a system of justice all of its own built right into it. What you are now witnessing is "market justice" at work. After seeing the mega fallout and destruction from this event, why would anyone in their right mind ask for government intervention, which would be nowhere as just as what has happened to this group of clowns? Let the economic deadwood of the world fall back to earth, and be forced to get real jobs, I say.
In the world of predatory economics, it's dog eat dog. Some dogs have been eaten. Now lets move on.
So because the victims were rich, it's okay? That's ridiculous, and it also completely mischaracterizes and generalizes about the victims, which includes retirement funds and charities. Possibly the worst post I've ever seen from you
Not because they are rich, but how they got to be rich. They preyed on others to get where they were, and now they have become the pray. Fitting end to their fortunes, and I for one do not feel one bit sorry for them.
So what did The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity do that it deserved to be defrauded?
There are plenty of other Jewish charities that will take up the slack - Jewish National Fund, for one. Without their devotion to the land of Israel, and their planting of trees and building of reservoirs, Israel would still be a desert.
How did they "prey on others"?Not because they are rich, but how they got to be rich. They preyed on others to get where they were, and now they have become the pray. Fitting end to their fortunes, and I for one do not feel one bit sorry for them.
Bernie Maddoff, the great leveler, did more to close the economic gap between the filthy rich and the poor than any program ever devised by any Liberal. He has caused many millionaires to go bankrupt, and even completely ruined a few billionaires in the process too. The price tag for those caught up in Maddoff's ponzi scheme? More than 50 billion dollars. The number is probably even much higher than that, but many will not come forward, having to admit in shame that, as predatory as they were, they were taken as prey by Maddoff himself.
Who were the people that Maddoff fleeced? Slum lords, owners of sweat shops, and of course the rentier class (also known as the money for nothing class) - Those who made money without having produced a shred of goods or services. How could they do that? By being the economic predators they were.
Yes, Maddoff is going to prison, but in the process, other predators are now in ruin, and that is good. Liberals may complain that we need more government to stop predators like Maddoff and his bunch. To them, I say no way. The market has a system of justice all of its own built right into it. What you are now witnessing is "market justice" at work. After seeing the mega fallout and destruction from this event, why would anyone in their right mind ask for government intervention, which would be nowhere as just as what has happened to this group of clowns? Let the economic deadwood of the world fall back to earth, and be forced to get real jobs, I say.
In the world of predatory economics, it's dog eat dog. Some dogs have been eaten. Justice is served. Now lets move on.
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