A Ponzi Scheme Essay

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.

Describe a Ponzi scheme. Find several examples of other Ponzi schemes that have occurred in recent years.

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.

Madoff’s scheme to defraud his clients at Bernard Lawrence Madoff Investment Securities began as early as 1980 and lasted until its exposure in 2008. Bernard carried out this scheme by soliciting billions of dollars under false pretenses, failing to invest investors’ funds as promised, and misappropriating and converting investors’ funds to benefit Madoff, himself, and others without the knowledge or authority of the investors. To execute the scheme, Madoff solicited and caused others to solicit potential clients to open trading accounts with Bernard Lawrence Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS) on the basis of a promise from him. He promised to use investor funds to purchase

What is right or wrong? People base their values of right and wrong on what they have learned from their experiences (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2018). What one person sees as wrong, may be a normal for another. Most people are taught to work hard, save money, and invest for a future retirement. However, when it comes to money, some people lose all principles and standards of behavior. There were several ethical issues in the Madoff case. They include: stealing, cheating, lying, misrepresentation, and deliberate deception. Madoff used the Ponzi scheme or the money pyramid to make his money. In the Ponzi scheme, money was taken from new investors and given to existing customers as earning without being invested. Was this right or wrong? Throughout this case study ethical concerns can be seen on both sides, the investors and Madoff’s.

Convictions of the Bernie Madoff conspirators prove the Ponzi scheme could not have been the work of one person. Furthermore, the conspirators each played a critical role in facilitating the Ponzi scheme and concealing it from regulators, and auditors. For instance, Annette Bongiorno, was employed for Madoff for approximately 40 years as his secretary (Lappin, 2014). Consequently, Bongiorno was charged with manufacturing the false statements sent to clients that indicated they were worth a lot more than they actually were. Moreover, Bongiorno transferred $50 million of client’s funds into her own private account (Lappin, 2014).

According to Investopedia.com, “A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors.” Charles Ponzi was a businessman in the early 1900s. His scheme was promising his client’s 50% return within six months. When in fact, Charles Ponzi was using later investors’ money to give back to the early investors. This financial scheme has been repeated several times since then but in smalls ways changed. The most famous in recent news is Bernie Madoff. Bernie Madoff was a hedge fund investor. As a very famous hedge fund investor, Bernie Madoff was entrusted with individuals’ entire savings (cbsnews). In return, Madoff “cooked” his books and almost always had a positive return. Only in one month out of the year did Bernie Madoff record a down month. According to a 60 minute episode, this is equivalent to a hitter in baseball hitting, .960 (cbsnews). In the end Bernie Madoff lost almost all of his investor’s life savings. So this is another case of the Ponzi except at a bigger scale. These examples prove that although one could be wealthy, they always want

Schneeweis &Szado (2010, p.9) suggested that ffinancial fraud in general and Ponzi schemes in particular continue to maneuver investors. A Ponzi scheme is frequently described as a securities fraud in which the investment manager is in fact taking money from new investors to fund redemptions from current investors. These strategies are often discovered when new investors cannot be found to offset redemptions from current investors. The Ponzi method received its name from Charles Ponzi, who marketed an investment based on managing the International Postal Reply Coupons. Ponzi suggested that an arbitrage opportunity existed because he could exchange U.S. dollars into the necessary foreign currency, and use the foreign currency to purchase postal reply coupons. The postal reply coupons could be redeemed for U.S. postage stamps, which could then be sold for U.S. dollars. Ponzi promoted unusually high returns to investors when in fact he simply used the new investment to pay of the previous investors. While the scheme soon collapsed, there are similarities between him and the Madoff scheme. For example, Madoff sold primarily to the Jewish community and also Ponzi sold primarily to the immigrant community of the North End of Boston, to which he belonged. Along with that, the validity of Madoff's strategy was a subject argued by the public press (Barron's) as well as by individuals (Markopolus) on the grounds. Comparable to Ponzi's investors, Madoff’s investors, have received

Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme is considered to be one of the top grossing Ponzi schemes that have been at the forefront of white collar crime. As stated on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website, “a Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to earlier investors by the contribution of new investors that promises to generate high returns with little or no risk” (Sec.gov). These schemes take advantage of people who put their faith in the offender out of trust or any other personal reason and in the case of Allen Stanford it is no different.

A Ponzi scheme is a fake investment operation where the operator of an organisation or an individual pays returns to the investors from new capital paid to the operator by new investors to the operation rather than from the money that’s earned by the operator. The operators of Ponzi schemes lure new investors by offering high returns in the form of short term returns that are very consistent or very high.

The premise of a Ponzi scheme is more smoke and mirrors. Investors are made to believe they are receiving a return on their investments when in actuality their return is just a new investment from a new investor. This is just a vicious cycle of money coming in, money going out. Eventually, a Ponzi scheme will run out of new investors leaving those waiting for an unfunded

TO: Dr. Anthony M. Sadler FROM: Noora Al-salmi SUBJECT: Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme DATE: 20 April 2017 This memo aims to discuss the most important facts about the Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme and demonstrate my position in this case study. Bernie Madoff is a very well-known criminal that committed the biggest fraudulent scheme in U.S. history. He was an active member of the financial industry.

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.

A Ponzi scheme is an illegal business practice in which new investor’s money is used to make payments to earlier investors. In many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier-stage investors and to use for personal expenses, instead of engaging in any legitimate investment activity. The returns are repaid out of new investors’ principal, but not from profits. This can continue as long as new investors line up with cash, and old investors don’t try to withdraw too much of their money at once.

A “Ponzi Scheme” is an investment fraud that involves the payment of alleged returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often seek new investors by showing potential in their company; they entice investors to invest funds in opportunities claimed to generate high returns with little or no risk. In many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier-stage investors and to use for personal expenses, instead of engaging in any legal investment activity.