From Riches to Rags.
Admitted operator of the largest Ponzi Scheme in history.
ONCE upon a time, about 20 years ago, a charming lifeguard sparked the burning desire of every Sauder student: to make money, and a lot of it. Twenty years later, the lonely man ponders in his jail cell; how his $50 billion rollercoaster ride ended in 150 years of imprisonment and his son’s suicide.
It all started with the Ponzi Scheme.
Essentially, Madoff attracted wealthy investors with a hefty and suspiciously high 9-10% return. For example, I could invest $1,000 in the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and would be promised a return of $100 each year – guaranteed. And where did Madoff get this money? From another investor. For years, Bernie effectively continued his chain of lies in secrecy, producing only paper-based statements for clients from an antique computer, involving only a dozen employees. Madoff’s scandal grew rapidly, soon described as the largest Ponzi Scheme in history.
Self-interest can organize the economy, but is effectively destructive when taken to the extreme. Some describe this ethical issue as pure evil.
However, Robert Chew, a former Madoff investor, urges us to react positively: “We’ve lost it all, but we’re choosing to get on with living”.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/bernard_l_madoff/index.html
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