Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

wise-picks — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:17:15 GMT

after all we've seen over the last few months - are we just seeing the tip of the iceberg???

what's next?

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

majik13 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:50:48 GMT

You all think this is bad, just wait for the mutual fund industry to take a couple of more hits and they'll make 50 billion look like pocket change.

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

DogSalmon — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:32:49 GMT

the corrupt are now fearful. send them off.

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

anniecolby — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:55:45 GMT

J828:

ndpndnt:

when do they investgate the big 3 and arrest them?.

Are they crooks? I think they're just bad businessmen.

They havent offered to give back any of the money. Crooks in my books.

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

NightTrading101 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:14:56 GMT

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had billions of fraud mortgages, why Surprised at this guy!

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

J828 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:00:50 GMT

ndpndnt:
when do they investgate the big 3 and arrest them?.

Are they crooks? I think they're just bad businessmen.

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

CMGCapital — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:02:31 GMT

interesting write up on StockHighlights.blogspot.com

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

ndpndnt — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:21:50 GMT

when do they investgate the big 3 and arrest them?.

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

J828 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:15:53 GMT

How do people miss what he's doing? I mean, he's doing this with a huge some of money. Did people investigate and think it wasn't possible because of the numbers???

$50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Whinnwon — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:26:35 GMT

Madoff's Investors Facing Billions in Potential Losses

Investors scrambled on Friday to assess potential losses from the $50 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Bernard Madoff, a day after the arrest of the prominent Wall Street trader.

Prosecutors and regulators accused the 70-year-old former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market of masterminding a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions through a hedge fund he ran.

CNBC.com

Bernard L. Madoff

Hundreds of people, investing with him through the fund's clients, entrusted Madoff with billions of dollars, industry experts said.

"Madoff's investors included captains of industry, corporations (some of which are publicly traded) that used Madoff almost as a high-yielding cash management account, endowments, universities, foundations and, importantly, many high-profile funds of funds," said Douglas Kass, who heads edge fund Seabreeze Partners Management.

"It appears that at least $15 billion of wealth, much of which was concentrated in Southern Florida and New York City, has gone to 'money heaven,'' he added.

Federal agents arrested Madoff at his apartment on Thursday after prosecutors said he told senior employees that his money management operations were "all just one big lie" and "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme."

Madoff is the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, a market-making firm he launched in 1960. His separate investment advisory business had $17.1 billion of assets under management.

About a dozen angry investors gathered on Friday in the lobby of the Lipstick Building in midtown Manhattan, where the market-making firm and advisory fund are both headquartered, demanding to know the fate of their money.

One woman who declined to give her name said that when she called the firm's offices on Thursday she was told it was "business as usual."

Another investor groused, "Business as usual? Of course it's business as usual. We're getting screwed left and right."

Police later evicted the small group from the building.

The two most prominent hedge funds that invested with Madoff were the $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry, run by Walter Noel's Fairfield Greenwich Group, and the $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund, run by Kingate Management.

Video: The latest on the scandal.

Fairfield Sentry and Kingate Global were among a small group of hedge funds to report positive returns for 2008; the average hedge fund was down 18 percent, according to data from Hedge Fund Research.

"People who came to us for portfolio construction were often already invested with Bernie Madoff, he had hundreds of clients," said Charles Gradante, who invests in hedge funds as a principal at Hennessee Group. 'Now his whole legacy is destroyed. He was God to people."

In a Ponzi scheme, a swindler uses money from new investors, who are lured with the promise of high or consistent returns, to pay off earlier investors.

Prior to Madoff's arrest, investors had wondered how he was able to generate annual returns in the low double digits in a variety of market environments. Many questioned how U.S. regulators were able to ignore numerous red flags with regards to Madoff's fund.

"Many of us questioned how that strategy could generate those kinds of returns so consistently," said Jon Najarian, an options trader who knows Madoff and is a co-founder of optionmonster.com.

In May 2001, Barron's reported that option strategists for major investment banks said they couldn't understand how Madoff managed to generate the returns that he did.

"We weren't comfortable with Madoff," said Brad Alford, president at investment adviser Alpha Capital in Atlanta. "We didn't understand how his strategy could generate the kind of returns it did. We will walk away from things like that."

Investors overseas were also reeling from the alleged fraud.

Benedict Hentsch, a Swiss private bank, said it had 56 million Swiss francs ($47 million) of exposure to Madoff's investment advisory business.

UniCredit SpA's fund management unit, Pioneer Investments, has exposure through its Primeo Select hedge fund, two people familiar with the matte said.

Bramdean Alternatives said almost 10 percent of its holdings were exposed to Madoff, sending shares in the UK asset manager crashing.

CNBC reported that Sterling Equities, which owns the New York Mets baseball team, had accounts managed by Madoff.

Madoff said "there is no innocent explanation' for his activities, and that he 'paid investors with money that wasn't there," according to the federal complaint. Prosecutors also alleged that Madoff wanted to distribute as much as $300 million to employees, family members and friends before turning himself in.

Charged with one count of securities fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate civil charges.

A U.S. federal judge is expected later Friday to hold a hearing on whether to put assets under Madoff's control into a receivership.

Madoff's lawyer, Dan Horwitz, said on Thursday, "We will fight to get through this unfortunate set of events." His client was released on $10 million bond.

Madoff is a member of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc's nominating committee. His firm has said it is a market-maker for about 350 Nasdaq stocks.

He is also chairman of London-based Madoff Securities International, whose chief executive, Stephen Raven, said the firm was 'not in any way part of' the New York-based market-maker.

"Our business activities are not involved in any way with the U.S. asset management company with which the reported allegations appear to be concerned," Raven said.

WallStreetSurvivor

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

Re: $50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)

$50. Billion Dollar Giant Ponzi Scam;Uncovered (Mastermind: Bernard L. Madoff)