50 billion dollar ponzi scheme

[Wm Holden]

NEW YORK - A Wall Street power broker for nearly 50 years who built an influential investment firm has offered no comment in response to allegations of a massive fraud that will cost investors at least $50 billion.

The New York Times, Ruby WashingtonBernard L. Madoff, chairman of Madoff Investment Securities is seen on his Manhattan trading floor in this photo taken Dec. 30, 1999 in New York. The former Nasdaq stock market chairman was arrested on a securities fraud charge Thursday. Bernard Madoff, 70, charged with securities fraud, declined to speak to reporters after a judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan ordered him released Thursday night on $10 million bail.

Andrew Calamari, associate director of enforcement in the Securities and Exchange Commission's New York office, said the SEC has filed a civil securities fraud charge as well, alleging "a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions."

The SEC said it was seeking emergency relief for investors, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver.

If the allegations are true, it may be the largest fraud ever blamed on a single individual.

Defence lawyer Dan Horwitz called Madoff "a person of integrity" and said he intends to fight the charge. If convicted, Madoff could face 20 years in prison and a fine of $5 million.

The case is based on what Madoff told two FBI agents and three senior employees of his firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

It would be a steep fall for Madoff, a former Nasdaq stock market chairman who founded his business in 1960 with $5,000 earned as a lifeguard on Long Island beaches, shortly after leaving law school.

His firm was a market maker, handling trades in some of the largest securities on various stock exchanges, matching buyers and sellers. Investigators say Madoff's crime originated in a separate and secretive investment advisory business.

The criminal complaint signed by FBI agent Theodore Cacioppi said Madoff told at least three senior employees at his Manhattan apartment on Wednesday that the advisory 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.

The employees understood Madoff's admission to mean that "he had for years been paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different, investors," said the complaint, which did not identify investors impacted by the scheme.

Cacioppi said one of the employees told him that Madoff was "cryptic" about the advisory business and kept its financial statements locked up. The FBI agent said another employee told him Madoff said last week that clients had asked for $7 billion in redemptions and he was struggling to meet those obligations but thought he could do so.

Cacioppi said two senior Madoff employees told him that Madoff said during the Wednesday meeting that he planned to surrender to authorities in a week but first wanted to distribute $200 million to $300 million to employees, family and friends.

Cacioppi said he and another FBI agent arrived Thursday at Madoff's apartment, where Madoff invited them in and acknowledged knowing why they were there.

"Madoff stated, in substance, that he had personally traded and lost money for institutional clients, and that it was all his fault," Cacioppi said.

The agent wrote that Madoff said he had "paid investors with money that wasn't there" and that he was insolvent and had decided "it could not go on" and that he expected to go to jail.

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities ranks among the top one per cent of U.S. securities firms, according to the firm's website.

In 2001, Barron's reported that Madoff's firm was one of the three top market makers in Nasdaq stocks and the third-largest firm matching buyers and sellers of securities on the New York Stock Exchange.

It was one of five broker-dealers closely involved in developing the Nasdaq Stock Market, where he served as a member of the board of governors in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, Madoff was viewed as a maverick, angering the New York and American stock exchanges by taking away some of their business by paying brokerage firms a penny a share to route orders through his system.



discuss please.

I've always felt we were being misled by wallstreet....

You?

watch the stock market tommorrow....

[MrGazinya]

Originally Posted by Wm Holden

NEW YORK -

Andrew Calamari,

I love Calamari...... With some dipping sauce

[CamaroSpike23]

shoot him.

[TAG UR IT]

Originally Posted by MrGazinya

I love Calamari...... With some dipping sauce

marinara....ooooh....especially Pappadeaux's calamari!

[Wm Holden]

Originally Posted by MrGazinya

I love Calamari...... With some dipping sauce

too tough...I prefer scallops

[zebra]

what about just some good ol' cheese sticks with the marinara?

Originally Posted by CamaroSpike23

shoot him.

what about dragging him behind the Camaro with Shunt's rope?

[Wm Holden]

Watch the market react on monday...

[The_Blur]

Originally Posted by Wm Holden

Watch the market react on monday...

This will be interesting amid bailout distributions and economic disaster.

[Wm Holden]

Heads or tails?

[Hylton]

20 years and a 5 million dollar fine for 50 billion dollars? Where do I sign up for that deal?

[Hylton]

Originally Posted by Wm Holden

Watch the market react on monday...

This news was out last week.

[Matrix]

You guys STILL dont get it do you!!!!

He's in the financial sector, hence a swift bail out will be forthcoming, no congress, no questions, no accountablility and a "dont do it again son" wink wink!


HOW MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wm Holden]

Originally Posted by Hylton

This news was out last week.

quietly out...

down 143 right now....see where it ends today.

[Eighty-Six Z]

Originally Posted by Hylton

This news was out last week.

Yeah it came out, but to little fanfare. Now that further details are out about how much he swindled, now its getting some play on the infotainment stations.