Bernie Madoff's Staff on Trial
Bernie Madoff, secure in prison, always said he was the only one who knew what he was up to. He claims that only he perpetrated and for 30 years carried out the greatest Ponzi scheme. It strains credibility, but he's apparently stuck to his guns.
Now five members of his staff are on trial, and the prosecutor claims they knew exactly what was up and aided and abetted the crime. The trial may last for months, so we'll have to wait and see what can or can't be proved here.
It still stuns and fascinates to think about the enormity of Madoff's scam. And as time goes by, people forget how many were taken in by it. The fellow who came out and claimed he knew all along - an implied that anyone with an ounce of financial acumen should have smelled something fishy - has had the effect of making us believe we would have known what was up if we had confronted the Madoff scheme.
But I doubt it. The fact is, many of the "smartest" people in the investment world believed Madoff had some combination of insider's knowledge or perhaps even a touch of trading magic, and either invested their own or clients' money, or accommodated Madoff in various ways. For example, in my own limited experience with this, I ran across a gentlemen who worked for Fidelity - yes, mighty Fidelity - who invested some of Madoff's ill-gotten gains for him with Fidelity. No one suspected a thing; that I'm sure of.
So as you read about this trial, if that's something that interests you, try to remind yourself exactly how astounding this conspiratorial operation really was. It really is breathtaking, isn't it?
Now five members of his staff are on trial, and the prosecutor claims they knew exactly what was up and aided and abetted the crime. The trial may last for months, so we'll have to wait and see what can or can't be proved here.
It still stuns and fascinates to think about the enormity of Madoff's scam. And as time goes by, people forget how many were taken in by it. The fellow who came out and claimed he knew all along - an implied that anyone with an ounce of financial acumen should have smelled something fishy - has had the effect of making us believe we would have known what was up if we had confronted the Madoff scheme.
But I doubt it. The fact is, many of the "smartest" people in the investment world believed Madoff had some combination of insider's knowledge or perhaps even a touch of trading magic, and either invested their own or clients' money, or accommodated Madoff in various ways. For example, in my own limited experience with this, I ran across a gentlemen who worked for Fidelity - yes, mighty Fidelity - who invested some of Madoff's ill-gotten gains for him with Fidelity. No one suspected a thing; that I'm sure of.
So as you read about this trial, if that's something that interests you, try to remind yourself exactly how astounding this conspiratorial operation really was. It really is breathtaking, isn't it?
Five former employees of Bernard L. Madoff's former firm generated "millions of pages of lies" that allowed the convicted financier's Ponzi scheme to continue, prosecutors told a jury on the first day of a criminal trial in Manhattan federal court.More...
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