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| Madoff monitored by feds; Obama reacts to scandal |
| 2008-12-19 |
| Bernard Madoff spent his first day under electronic monitoring Thursday as President-elect Barack Obama said the scandal brought on by the disgraced investor "has reminded us yet again of how badly reform is needed." The effects of the $50 billion fraud has spread around the globe, and a Michigan-based foundation created to grant money to get healthy food into urban areas is among the latest to say it is going out of business because of the scandal. Obama mentioned the Madoff saga as he named three veteran regulators to help clean up financial debacles that he said occurred because government overseers "dropped the ball." The Securities and Exchange Commission has come under fire for failing to detect Madoff's alleged deception despite repeated warnings, especially from a Massachusetts investor who has been sounding the alarm for the past decade. He told a colleague in the late 1990s when he first noticed something was amiss, "This has to be a Ponzi scheme," according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Madoff had his bail conditions modified Wednesday. He must be at the Upper East Side residence from 7 p.m to 9 a.m. and wear an ankle-bracelet to monitor his movements. His wife was ordered to surrender her passport. Cameras awaited Madoff as he walked out of the courthouse Wednesday toward his black SUV. Minutes later, a smirking Madoff was swarmed by more cameras as he entered his apartment building, with the scrum at one point turning into a shoving match between Madoff and a journalist. Madoff's chaotic return to his $7 million apartment came on a day when the fallout over the scandal spread through the nation's capital, with the Securities and Exchange Commission taking heat and Congress jumping into the fray. The chairman of the House capital markets subcommittee, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., announced an inquiry that will begin early next month into what may be the biggest Ponzi scheme ever and how the government failed to detect it. The SEC is also looking into the relationship between Madoff's niece and a former SEC attorney who reviewed Madoff's business. Madoff, who has already surrendered his passport, made his appearance in the courthouse to shore up conditions of his bail package. The judge had required him to find two additional co-signers to vouch for Madoff, but he was apparently unable to find anyone as the cloud of scandal swirls around him. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I can't figure this out--I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop and see more people indicted. After all, you'd think *somebody* else in this organization was helping Madoff shuffle these funds around and knew this all a big scam but was willing to keep his mouth shut for a big payoff, right? However, after reading through the indictment, nobody else is mentioned. Madoff basically just came forth and confessed to his senior employees--and then the FBI--that it was nothing but a Ponzi scheme. I just can't believe there wasn't at least 6 other people helping him conceal this all this time. |
| Posted by: Dar 2008-12-19 15:54 |