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#17
I'm sure you're aware that it would have been virtually impossible for one man to run a Ponzi scheme of this size.
How is it that the sons had NO IDEA what was going on?

I guess Ponzi schemes are the ultimate expression of "past results are no guarantee of future performance"! Well, except inversely...that *is* pretty much guaranteed.

And Jeff, unfortunately, it wasn't just the extreme rich who got ripped off. It's been reported on this station that many institutional investors also had their clients' money in this scheme.

The guy is 70 years old, his sons turned him
in.

How much can anyone punish a 70 year old man?

Greed is an addiction, just like drugs or gambling. In the case of financial greed, it's caught up in the one upmanship of Holylwood and Hampton paries. Just like doctors and lawyers everyone wants to have the "best guy (gal)"

Another point scored for John Bogle and Warren Buffet. Don't put your faith or your money in any money manager. If you don't want to become an investing expert, just invest steadily, in good times and bad, in the broad market through low-cost index funds that don't try to beat the market. Historically, including all major downturns and the Great Depression, you would make 8-10% per year.

one of the groups that reportedly lost $$ in the Madoff scam was GMAC Financing --
ISN'T THAT GENERAL MOTORS? AREN'T THEY THE FOLK THAT GIVE CAR LOANS?????

Hi show--

What's with the audio today? I thought it was just the mayor, but it's happening with the current guest as well. I guess it has to do with the guest being on the telephone, but Brian's voice is so much louder and clearer, it's weird.

Politicians risk their careers for a few hundred thousand dollars. One thing you can say about the finance guys, when they steal, they dont fool around.

On the question of why people keep falling for "extraordinary" returns, it seems that one of the sneaky things this guy did was make fairly typical, steady 10%, 12% returns. He "made" much what a well-run mutual fund would do. Thing was, he seemed to do it year after year, and most funds don't do that.

Is that what makes America great?

but isn't the WHOLE stock market a big scam or at least a game of roulette

schadenfreude

My holiday spirits are strangely lifted, watching the extreme rich being ripped off by the corrupt extreme rich. A nice turn of events.

this mother of all thieves was arrestd this morning (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081212/bs_nm/us_madoff_arrest)

I hope they hold him without bail, and that he NEVER again walks out of prison.

Without a govt bailout or some other successful exit strategy for the poorest, last investor -- isn't ANY company that takes investor money without transparently nothing more than a Ponzi scheme? Seriously, what exactly defines a scheme versus a legitimate business. Sad question I know but seems quite justified.

2 wks ago i picked up a John Grisham novel while on vacation -- The Partner. Halfway through the book, the Dreier and then Madoff stories began to unfold... I literally could no longer justify reading Grisham, no offense to him and of course the scam victims...but this is GAWJUSS...ya can't make this stuff up!

PS why did Madoff's own sons blow the whistle on him? would love to know the rest of that story!

Is it strange that his name is pronounced "Madeoff"? As in he made off with my retirement money. What a strange coincidence.

But Mary, that one investment firm got them "in" with Madoff, which clearly was worth all the money.
This is a black eye on the entire investment community, and will have repercussions far beyond the Palm Beach club on which the media has been focusing.
The SEC - is it a regulatory agency or is it a multi-ethnic fraternal order of do-nothings?
They ignored Markopolos' insistence that Madoff be investigated at everyone's peril.
What is the SEC? This is the question we should be asking, not so much Madoff.

In Saturday's Times coverage, one "investment firm" lost all of its clients' funds because they were 100 percent invested with BM. Can someone please explain precisely what companies like this one do to earn their fees?