Who is Bernie Madoff
The Madoff investment scandal is the Ponzi scheme that former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff confessed to in 2008. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pled guilty to 11 federal crimes and admitted to operating what has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by an individual. On June 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison with restitution of $170 billion. According to the original federal charges, Madoff said that his firm had "liabilities of approximately US$50 billion. This is the world largest scandal. Bernie Madoff will go down in American history along side of Billy the Kid, Jessie James, and Butch Cassidy.
Bernie Madoff is serving a 150 year sentence in …show more content…
He was head of the NASD, a member of its board of governors, and chairmen of its New York region. Madoff’s was also a NASDAQ Stock Market’s board of governors and sat as chairmen for its executive committee and trading committee. He has also been in business since 1960.
The hedge fund worked by taking money from investor’s not just big fat-cat billionaires and celebrities but also humbled investors, banks and even charities. Unfortunately they all lost money in this investment. In a fund that is ran to regulation a trader would take the funds intended for investment and play them in the market after research is performed in the hope for a gain on return. But what Mr. Madoff did was, he took the money held on to it. And never put it into the market. He would take money from new investors and pay off dividends form old investments. He would pay high profile clients up to 46% on return. Not only were is phony numbers attractive but Mr. Madoff was a charming man who people look up to like a super hero for little kids. One potential investor said that he had reached out to Madoff in hope that he could invest with his firm but was turned down after Madoff said he would only deal with individuals who had 20 million or more to invest with. He also went on to say that his friends called him a fool for waiting so long to get in touch with this financial god and now they are the …show more content…
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office has also charged Bonventre with conspiracy, tax fraud and securities crimes. According to the SEC’s complaint, Bonventre was responsible for the firm’s general ledger and financial statements, which were materially misstated because they did not reflect the manner in which investor funds were maintained and used. Bonventure ensured that BMIS financial reports did not reflect the firm’s massive liabilities to investors or the corresponding assets received from investors. To hide the fact that BMIS normally operated at a significant loss, the firm used more than $750 million in investor funds to artificially improve reported revenue and