Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme Essay

In December 2008, one of the largest Ponzi scheme surfaced when Mark and Andrew Madoff reported the works of their father, Bernard Madoff to the federal authorities. A Ponzi scheme is an investing scam that promises high rates of return with little risk to investors. The operator generates returns for older investors by gaining new investors. Bernard was arrested on December 11, 2008 and charged with securities fraud. He pled guilty to 11 counts and was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison-the maximum possible prison sentence. A reported $17.3 billion was invested into the scam by Bernie’s clients and only about $2.48 billion have been returned to these victims as of September 2012.

Bernie Madoff was one of the most prolific Ponzi-scheme artists in history. Madoff schemes netted him millions of dollars. Mr. Madoff used his BMIS Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities a New York Limited Liability company, to commit fraud, money laundering, and perjury. This is just a few things that Mr. Bernard Madoff has done to many innocent investors, who believed in Mr. Madoff, and everything he stated. Due to Mr. Madoff’s action he has changed so many people’s lives. Some have lost everything, some committed suicide, and others just humiliated by Mr. Madoff. This paper is to tell you about Mr.

Madoff was able to align himself with wealthy individuals, leaders involved in foundations, business entities, and government. This gave him unlimited access to different groups of investors. Among Madoff’s Ponzi scheme victims, it is easy to find wealthy individuals, charitable organizations, and its stakeholders, such as employees, communities, vendors, and even the government.

At first, Madoff was in a broad sense unusual Ponzi manipulator. The extraordinary model was social, connecting with, and set out to bewilderment others with his cerebrum, his thoughtfulness, his thriving. Madoff sharpened a sort of energized spirit about his character, turning that radiant speculation that people would overlook: He won trust not by endeavoring to influence people that he was gorgeous making to move, yet expected that they were well-known. People who may never have fallen for the excellent Ponzi progressive were totally debilitated by Madoff's hypothesis.

Fraud in the financial community is consistently hidden in "style." Since its beginnings in the "great depression," to now, "the great recession" fraud has undoubtedly taking many forms and styles. Subsequently, many non suspecting patrons have been severely damaged as result of this greed and corruption. Many of America's largest and most established individuals are not exempt from this form of style manipulation. As we will soon see, many individuals, including Bernie Madoff, have both the ability and incentive to commit fraud. In today's fast paced information age, fraudulent activities are now becoming more difficult to detect, and even more difficult to prove. To begin, I believe it necessary to show how fraud has affected our current economic state. I will then venture as to the means in which Bernie Madoff committed fraud and the implications on current business prospects.

Bernard Lawrence “Bernie Madoff” is an American former stock broker, investment adviser, non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of what has been described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history. (Bernard Madoff, 2011) This paper discusses the massive Ponzi scheme that Mr. Madoff created and those that were affected by it.

There is very little in the way except conjecture as to the motivation to why Madoff committed theses frauds for so long, and it appears that he is not telling either except that in 2009 where he said that in 2008 when admitting to his sons that his whole business was “just one big lie” to which the next day Madoffs sons reported him to authorities that led to his subsequent arrest. It seems as though it was not an attack of Madoffs conscious that led him to the confession, but it was because of the nature of how ponzi schemes work where the bulk of investors comprising the lower segment of investors pay for the few higher investors profits, which eventually there is no money left to pay back the vast majority of lower tier investors any profits since really the only money involved is the deposits from these investors themselves and not interest earned or investments (Henriques, 2009).

The SEC gave Madoff even more clout then he already had in the industry. When you combine backing from the SEC and a quality reputation of providing high returns, sets up for an investor hotbed. Madoff;s time was running out however, his consistent success made other investors/ firms inquisitive about where he received his money

This paper introduces Bernard L. Madoff a fraudster who orchestrated a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. The paper discusses elements that make up a Ponzi scheme and explains what a Ponzi scheme is. The paper goes on to introduce some of the victim’s and examines some reasons why someone might fall victim to a Ponzi scheme. The paper describes the three elements making up the fraud triangle and how they relate to the fraud and the fraudster. This paper covers Bernard Madoff’s background and history and how he committed the fraud analyzing the fraud triangle. The paper describes ways to correct the issue, accounting principles violated, and recommendations for a fix. Finally, the paper looks at internal and external controls violated and ends with a conclusion.

Bernie Madoff began his career as an investment broker in 1960, where he legally bought and sold over-the-counter stocks not listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). From the 1960’s through the 1990’s, Madoff’s success and business grew substantially, mainly from a closed circle of known investors and friends through word of mouth. In the 1990’s Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities traded up to 10 percent of the NASDAQ on any given day. With the success of the securities business, Madoff started an illegal money-management business, promising his investors consistent returns from 10-12 percent, unheard of returns at the time, which should have tipped off most investors that something was amiss.

Madoff investments functioned as a third-market provides, by directly executing orders over the counter from retail brokers, bypassing the exchange specialist firms. The firm started as a penny stock trader, until he secured a loan of $50000 from his father-in-law, which he used to set up Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. His business grew over time, and in order to compete with the members of the New

Operated through a complex, cryptic structure Bernie Madoff, CEO of Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS), perpetuated the most embellished Ponzi scheme the world has ever seen. The basis of the securities fraud that took place approximately between 1991 – 2008 was influenced by Bernie Madoff’s reliance upon an unqualified staff, outdated software, organizational seclusion, a personal halo effect, and weaknesses in the regulating body. Madoff had the confidence of the public, yet to pull off such an elaborate scheme, he relied on a startling number of family members, vital accomplices working on the illegal trading floor such as Frank D. Pascali, IT staff members, and a separate BMIS branch of international employees

Introduction: Bernie Madoff was a well-respected financier, his company Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC was very well known and even helped launch the Nasdaq stock market. Madoffs company was well trusted and he even had celebrity cliental such a Steven Spielberg, Kevin bacon, and Kyra Sedgwick. Madoff came from a low income family however, he was able to start his company from getting a $50,000 loan from his in-laws and he using money that he had saved from side jobs such as lifeguarding and installing sprinkler systems to found his company. The successfulness of Madoff’s company came from the company’s ability to adapt to change and us modern day computer technology. As his business grew he stated employing family members to help “His younger brother, Peter, joined him in the business in 1970 and became the firm 's chief compliance officer. Later, Madoff 's sons, Andrew and Mark, also worked for the company as traders. Peter 's daughter, Shana, became a rules-compliance lawyer for the trading division of her uncle 's firm, and his son, Roger, joined the firm before his death in 2006”(Bernard Madoff Biography 2016) Unfortunately on December 11th 2008 Bernie Madoff became well known for a whole new reason. He had been accused of performing an elaborate Ponzi scheme and he had been reported to the federal authorities by his own sons. A year later he admitted to the investigators that he had lost $50 billion dollars of his investors’ money and pled guilty to 11

Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff is a former American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, and the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market. He is very successful in his early life. Madoff founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960 by buying and selling over-the- counter stocks that were not listed on the NYSE. As he became more successful, he moved the company’s headquarters from Wall Street to the famous “Lipstick Building” on Third Avenue. After that, Madoff started to help his investors to manage their money. He used Ponzi scheme to cheat his clients by promising of consistent returns of 10 to

On Dec. 11, 2008, Bernard Lawrence Madoff confessed that his vaunted investment business was all "one big lie," a Ponzi scheme colossal in volume and scope that cost investors $65 billion. Overnight, Madoff became the new poster child for Wall Street gall, greed and