Madoff fraud scandal chills Florida wealthy
Perhaps this train is moving slowly (yet steadily) - because there was a complete disconnect between the potential ramification of this scandal and how the market behaved today.
Hedge fund managers and other Wall Street professionals are scrambling to tabulate losses from Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud, but the financial pain for individual investors is already clear.
"I expect to get back zero," Susan Leavitt, an investor in Tampa Bay, Florida, said on Friday. "When he tells the Feds, he has $200 million to $300 million left out of billions, what can you expect."
Madoff was arrested in New York on Thursday and charged with orchestrating a large finance fraud through an investment-advisory arm of market-making firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Madoff's advisory business had $17.1 billion of assets under management but many investors may have had indirect exposure by investing through the hedge funds and other of the firm's clients. Madoff, 70, has said losses were about $50 billion, according to government complaints.
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More in the article.
To be continued...
Huge Update: The giant thief is one major donor to the Democrat party and candidates
Figures though - money men in New York have always been big time contributors to Democrats. Just look at the numbers for how much was contributed to Obama from Freddie/Fannie employees - AKA - the other huge defrauders!
Moonbattery: Dem Donor Bernard Madoff Busted in Massive Ponzi Scheme
Original Post:
Grasp the size of this fraud - 50 Billion Dollars. 10 Years ago, a similar thing would crash the market. "Luckily", you can't crash when you are already on the floor.
He ran a giant "Ponzi scheme", an unregulated giant investment firm that was insolvent and "he had for years been paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different, investors".
How does this guy sleep at night - knowing what he has done?
Foxnews: Ex-Nasdaq Chair Arrested on Fraud Charge in NYC
A former Nasdaq stock market chairman was arrested on a securities fraud charge Thursday, accused of running a fraudulent investment business that lost at least $50 billion before he confessed to senior employees it was a "giant Ponzi scheme," authorities said.
Bernard L. Madoff, his silver hair reflecting the lights of a federal courtroom, was released on $10 million bail secured by his signature and that of his wife. He declined to comment as he walked out of U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Madoff, 70, the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, maintained a separate and secretive investment-advising business that served between 11 and 25 clients and had a total of about $17.1 billion in assets under management, prosecutors said.
Late Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a civil securities fraud charge against Madoff and said it was seeking emergency relief for investors, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm.
Andrew M. Calamari, associate director of enforcement in the SEC's New York office, said the SEC was alleging "a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions."
A criminal complaint signed by FBI Agent Theodore Cacioppi said Madoff told at least three senior employees at his Manhattan apartment Wednesday that the investment adviser business was a fraud and had been insolvent for years, losing at least $50 billion.
Madoff told the employees he was "finished," that he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie" and it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," according to the complaint filed in court.
...(there's more in the article)
At this point - no one can be surprised to find how crooked those who were supposed to lead the economy turn out to be.
It's not easy being rich - even your supposedly wealthiest and smartest most trusted buddies turn out to be giant thieves milking out your last penny. "Luckily" - I'm not even remotely rich. And relatively young - so whatever I didn't have in riches, and have even less of these days - I still have a decent chance to buildup towards my older days. These harsh times are a lesson we should never forget as we move forward. More importantly, these lessons we should make sure our children and grandchildren are taught as well.
Nasdaq, banks, and governors deal the public with a huge blow to confidence. Not so surprising to find the public voting in droves to an un-experienced celebrity with a foggy background. If there's no one you trust - let the one you know the least about be your leader.
Personally, I doubt mister "Hope'N'Change" will be any of a solution to our mess. Recent Illinois developments convince me even further that we might have just gotten a very rotten apple from the get go. Not even one day in office and already blatantly lies about relationship with Illinois governor. Wouldn't expect any less from the guy who keeps throwing those who were closest to him over the years under the bus.
More proof "Hope'N'Change" presidency is about resurrecting Clintonesque corruption:
Crooked Carol Browner: Obama’s ethically-challenged energy czar
Yet another Clintonite has been wheeled out of the political morgue to serve in the Obama administration. Carol Browner, a neon green radical who headed the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993-2000, is widely rumored to be the president-elect’s choice for “energy czar.” But an ethical cloud still hangs over Browner’s EPA legacy. It doesn’t take a team of Ivy League-degreed lawyers to figure out that this is one more headache the Hope and Change crew doesn’t need.
In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, let me dust off the cobwebs and help out all the smarty-pants vetters on the Obama team with a little background on Browner’s stained past:
On her last day in office, nearly eight years ago, Browner oversaw the destruction of agency computer files in brazen violation of a federal judge’s order requiring the agency to preserve its records. This from a public official who bragged about her tenure: “One of the things I’m the proudest of at EPA is the work we’ve done to expand the public’s right to know.”
Asked to explain her track-covering actions, the savvy career lawyer Browner played dumb. Figuratively batting her eyelashes, she claimed she had no clue about a court injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on the same day she commanded an underling to wipe her hard drives clean. Golly gee willikers, how could that have slipped by her?
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Read it all...
No change, no hope. At least Obama didn't dig up any Carterites....
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