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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |||
| Madoff's fund may not have made a single trade | |||
| 2009-01-17 | |||
Bernie Madoff's investment fund may never have executed a single trade, industry officials say, suggesting detailed statements mailed to investors each month may have been an elaborate mirage in a $50 billion fraud.
"Our exams showed no evidence of trading on behalf of the investment advisor, no evidence of any customer statements being generated by the broker-dealer," said Herb Perone, spokesman for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Madoff's broker-dealer operation, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, underwent routine examinations by FINRA and its predecessor, the National Association of Securities Dealers, every two years since it opened in 1960, Perone said. Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market who was a force on Wall Street for nearly 50 years, allegedly confessed to his sons the firm's investment-advisory business was "basically a giant Ponzi scheme" and "one big lie," according to court documents. He estimated losses of at least $50 billion from the Ponzi scheme, which uses money from new investors to pay distributions and redemptions to existing investors. Such schemes typically collapse when new funds dry up. Each month, Madoff sent out elaborate statements of trades conducted by his broker-dealer. Last November, for example, he issued a statement to one investor showing he bought shares of Merck & Co Inc, Microsoft Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and Amgen Inc among others. It also showed transactions in Fidelity Investments' Spartan Fund. But Fidelity, the world's biggest mutual fund company, has no record of Madoff or his company making any investments in its funds. | |||
| Posted by:Fred |
| #21 But somehow they never found anything wrong with what their former boss was doing. Possibly because an SEC compliance officer was married to Madoff's niece, who was the Madoff Investments compliance officer. Love, Madoff And The SEC YJCMTSU |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-01-17 21:26 |
| #20 RoadSide America ain't big enough to hold AP. Also, don't prsecute Madoff... draft him. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-17 19:23 |
| #19 Apparently the SEC or someone actually did go out to inspect Mr. Madoff's books several times in recent years based on serious accusations of fraud. But somehow they never found anything wrong with what their former boss was doing. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-01-17 18:03 |
| #18 Florida fund manager 'missing' An American fund manager responsible for millions of dollars of investors' money has been reported missing by his wife in Florida. Police said they were searching for Arthur Nadel, 75, and investigating his investment company in Sarasota after clients complained of missing funds. Big donor to democrat causes apparently. Not sure it's important enough to make a Rantburg TM post of it's own. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-17 15:55 |
| #17 Something happened between the old man and the two pups, who squealed on him. They were eyeball deep in the sheeeit just like him Yeah. Like the gig was up and he's 80 and won't have to spend as much time in jail. Especially since he's free on bail and will probably skip the country anyway. In the meantime, the pups will feign ignorance in the hopes of not having to spend any time in jail. Then, when this all blows over they will dig up the gold coins buried under the oak tree and drown their sorrows with drinks by the pool in a foreign country. I'd be happy if they just put all the regulators who had to look the other way in jail. Without them, the scam artists never would have gotten as far as they did. |
| Posted by: Glolusing Barnsmell3409 2009-01-17 15:53 |
| #16 I hear it's so cold in NY Bernie Madoff has to keep his hands in his own pockets. /ducks for cover. |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-01-17 15:45 |
| #15 It's global warming™ I tell ya! It was +43F last night. Raining heavily. Roads an ice rink. I was overheated, trying to cool down. My only solace, late night Rantburg. The fever was peaking, I posted the youtube video, kept getting Roadside America. So I assumed that I was not getting the post through. Desperate to maintain communication with fellow rantburgers before I succumbed to the malady, I kept reformatting like a madman, a madman, I tell ya! Then a successful post. Hooray!!! Ima saved! Then I looked at the trail of postings. Seven of them! I had almost created a pyramid scheme with them. I was ashamed. I asked for forgiveness from the mods. But it worked. The rain stopped, the temperature outside fell to 35F. Thank you Moderator Dr. White for cleaning up the trail of wreckage that I wrought in this article. Time for breakfast. G'Day, all. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-01-17 14:38 |
| #14 I consider FINRA, SEC, NYSEC all to be auditors as well. They probably suspected too. One guy was running a crusade with the SEC to get Madoff exposed. Why did he keep getting stonewalled? Lots more here we haven't seen. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-17 14:11 |
| #13 The word in the conspiracy nut and anti-semitic circles is that everyone looked the other way until he started stealing from Jews. |
| Posted by: Slonter Lumumba2615 2009-01-17 13:07 |
| #12 Something happened between the old man and the two pups, who squealed on him. They were eyeball deep in the sheeeit just like him. Would like to hear the "true confessions" involved. The whole pack ought to be coated in honey and staked to barren ground as buzzard grub. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2009-01-17 12:53 |
| #11 Re: Enron's fake trading floor |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-01-17 12:15 |
| #10 Maybe an audit of the auditors is in order. Hah! A three person shop in upstate NY, one of whom was the secretary and another was over 80. The problem was criminally negligent regulatory oversight (the SEC) and lack of due diligence by the major organizations which invested substantial funds. It should have been easy to at least catch sight of the rat. |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-01-17 09:39 |
| #9 Har! AP visits the Muffler Man! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-17 09:13 |
| #8 Deacon, like Madoff, there is a method to AP's madness. Open the first keyboard, give it a 3 bar 4-4 count and open the next, then the next, and so on. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-17 09:04 |
| #7 AP, I think the cold up there has finally addled yer punkin. Either that or yer finger froze to the submit area. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-01-17 09:01 |
| #6 No ACTUAL trading going on eh? Well, that certainly answers the quesiton... "was there anyone else involved besides Bernie." This affair is about to become very, very interesting. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-17 08:46 |
| #5 Encore! It is astounding that it wasn't discovered by FINRA or the SEC. Pulling something like this off so big for so long is pretty amazing. Kinda makes you wonder if the employees weren't the only ones aware. Maybe an audit of the auditors is in order. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-17 06:41 |
| #4 Inflation hides fraud. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-17 04:25 |
| #3 A ponzi scheme from the begining and nobody or hardly anybody noticed. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-01-17 02:34 |
| #2 KBK---my dawg would have done a better job than the SEC! And while we are on the subject of con men, marks, flim-flam artists, and general bunko, let's get some music to accompany our article about Madoff: The Entertainer, by Scott Joplin:
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| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-01-17 01:49 |
| #1 And Madoff's sons, who apparently run the brokerage side on the 18th and 19th floor, never noticed that there were no trades coming from the investment operation? "Hey, Dad, how about sending some business up here? Who's giving you the better price?" That SEC audit is looking increasingly incompetent. As in, my mom would have done a better job. |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-01-17 00:29 |