Overview of the Bernie Madoff Investment Fraud

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

What were the weaknesses in the “control environment” of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC?

The capacity for greed Bernie Madoff possessed was staggering; in fact, he was so proficient at luring in investors that his firm stole approximately $65 billion dollars and at one point Bernie Madoff was worth approximately $800 million (Lozada, 2010). The theory that best depicts this behavior is anomie, which dates back to 1591 as a blatant disregard for the law (Hagan, 2013). It is ironic to say the least that Merton’s theory of anomie first appeared in 1938 and viewed anomie as a phenomenon that occurs when attempting to achieve societal goals causes deviant behavior. An interesting fact is that Bernie Madoff was born in April of the same year (1938) that Merton summed up the theory of anomie that would define Bernie Madoff’s

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 required a $100,000 minimum to invest, was by invitation only, and made each client feel like they were his only client (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2018). He was a highly successful business man who was respected and trusted for his knowledge of investments. Madoff had clients begging him to invest their money. The reason, he claimed he could make 10 to 12 percent on returns for investors no

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.

Synopsis A childhood friend summed up the driving force in Bernie Madoff’s life: “Bernie wanted to be rich.” As a youngster growing up in New York City, Bernie realized that Wall Street was the greatest wealth creation machine the world had ever known. So, after graduating from college in 1960, he set his sights on joining the exclusive fraternity that ran Wall Street by organizing his own one-man brokerage firm, Madoff Securities. Madoff was one of the first individuals to recognize that computer technology provided the means to “democratize” Wall Street by establishing a system that made securities trading much more efficient and much cheaper. In the early 1970s, Madoff and several other individuals

Looking back it’s easy to see the mistakes made by the investors of Bernard Madoff, how he got the rich and famous to foolishly invest their money with very little or no due diligence. He made the return of 10 to 12 percent annually look so good that investors begged to be included. Who wanted want to be a part of the impenetrable financial products or the better than average returns offered by Mr. Madoff. Sadly, if investors had

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.

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

To combat this assumption it turns out large amounts of money of the value of $300million was invested in Bernard Madoff accounts in the form of pension funds. Some officials knew that the unscathed performance of Madoff securities were too good to be true as their prices consistently climbed up in spite the financial crisis. However, still they pawned its own shareholders’ funds with the hopes of jumping on the same band wagon as Madoff and reaping further profits. Another angle at probing the case was that the CEO, directors as well as executives were only looking out for themselves. Evidently they had direct benefits in the form of handsome compensation packages for retaining high profile clients such as Madoff and Wise which

Bernard Madoff had full control of the organizational leadership of Bernard Madoff Investments Securities LLC. Madoff used charisma to convince his friends, members of elite groups, and his employees to believe in him. He tricked his clients into believing that they were investing in something special. He would often turn potential investors down, which helped Bernard in targeting the investors with more money to invest. Bernard Madoff created a system which promised high returns in the short term and was nothing but the Ponzi scheme. The system’s idea relied on funds from the new investors to pay misrepresented and extremely high returns to existing investors. He was doing this for years; convincing wealthy individuals and charities to

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.

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC operates as a securities broker/dealer in the United States and internationally. It provides executions for broker-dealers, banks, and financial institutions. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in New York, New York. As of December 15, 2008, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC is in liquidation.

But the halo effect wasn’t Bernie Madoff’s only hook for reeling wealthy people in, he also utilized his Jewish heritage to take advantage of investor biases according to personal preferences of his particular ethnic background. Those affected in Minneapolis are also cited saying that his aura did play a monumental factor in their consideration to invest with him.