Thread: Madoff

I'll be honest. I just want to see criminals like him die. He should be killed. He has killed at least one person already, the guy who was forced to 'commit suicide.' Others have probably died as well but we just don't know of them yet. He may have been in the know but who knows. One dead. Economic crimes result in deaths and enormous amounts of pain for their victims. Families break up and dreams are lost. Those commit financial crimes deserve life without parole at the least, especially this turd. Their families deserve to be stripped of all their assets if they come from the ruining the lives of others as they are. If there is a death penalty, it should be extended to dirtbags like this. Kill him and any of his assistants. Some of those working at the SEC deserve death too. Everyone investigating him should be banned from govenment and financial jobs forever. Let them work at McDonald's.

Speaking of Fraud and the SEC, a few years ago Microsoft was said to be manipulating their quarterly earnings by using accounting tricks (cookie jar) to boost and smooth their earnings. It was no really a secret, everyone knew it, earnings were too stable to be real. A bit like Madoff.

It was technically not completely illegal and it's difficult to prove. They had a former MS accountant that went to testify and brought the case to the SEC as it was a SEC regulatory violations. Guess the result ? SEC couldn't find anything wrong and just advised MS to follow procedure.

Bill Gates was probably laughing madly at this as his stock took another 10 point the following week

they should jail a few SEC inspectors too,

there was a recent article in the WSJ about how he almost got caught, and they still manage to let him go through

he actually declared he wished he was caught then, that is 8 years ago. Wouldn't have made much difference, he was already in the hole for several billions.

Why didn't he kill himself when he had a chance ?

Originally Posted by Butterfly

..........Why didn't he kill himself when he had a chance ?

No honour, proves he's a sleaze bag.

On the other hand, people were far too quick to give him all the money and forgot that there is always risk with any investment and 'putting all the eggs in one basket' is a schoolboy error. If it sounds too good to be true then it usually is, Madoff's returns just weren't possible over such long periods but no-one said anything for so long as their greed was being satiated, apart from that initially dismissed accountant/mathematician that eventually was the main 'whistle blower'. Perhaps people's greed and expectations should also be diagnosed as a result of this as this desire to self enrich prevailed over rationality in many. It is worth remembering that many institutions declined to invest with him as they could feel something was wrong, there are tricksters everywhere and of all levels.

A fool is easily separated from his/her money. What makes it worse or harder to swallow is if the person parted with their money through greed to get more back, harder to take for many.

Not defending him (Madoff), got what he deserved, but there is always more angles to these stories that can/should be contemplated.

Also agree about the SEC and it's inspectors, bunch of incompetent fools that should be reprimanded or face charges as well.

Most of the people with any brains at all who lost money to Madoff knew he was a crook. They thought he was front running trades in his brokerage business to achieve his "magical" returns. This form of illegal insider trading did not offend their consciences and they learned something about crooks: you can't trust them. To that degree many of his victims deserved what they got.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Not defending him (Madoff), got what he deserved, but there is always more angles to these stories that can/should be contemplated.

agree perfectly,

Originally Posted by BobR

This form of illegal insider trading did not offend their consciences and they learned something about crooks: you can't trust them.

again, this is exactly the root of the problem. They wanted to believe in a dream and thought they were getting a steal. And yes, it was

Originally Posted by Butterfly

there was a recent article in the WSJ about how he almost got caught, and they still manage to let him go through

The sec ignore this guy, repeatedly for 8 years...

I think the SEC doesn't really care, they usually go after the small guys, easier to prosecute

when it's a big fish, it's expensive and politically costly if things go wrong

Originally Posted by Spin

Originally Posted by Butterfly

there was a recent article in the WSJ about how he almost got caught, and they still manage to let him go through

The sec ignore this guy, repeatedly for 8 years...

This one person happened to be right, but 99.99% of the time when you have someone screaming fraud or conspiracy about something that everyone thinks is legitimate, they are not only wrong, they are crazy. Madoff was wealthy and powerful, and even in the USA you do not frivolously challenge someone like that if you want to keep your job and pension. That's the reality of life. Granted that is one thing America does reasonably well; the rich are not completely above the law like they are here, but even there a civil servant to be careful about accusing or confronting the rich and powerful.