SuperVillains Exist. Where are the SuperHeros?
Bernard Madoff is a supervillain. I make this claim, not because he has devastated a city or murdered a bunch of people, and certainly not because he runs around in tight spandex being a scourge to the police and peaceful citizens. No, its the volume of money he swindled- 50 Billion dollars– that puts him in the league of the fictional comic book villains of the Kingpin, Lex Luthor or Doctor Doom.
Bernie Madoff even has a comicbook name- His last name is pronounced “Made Off” as in, he “made off” with everyone’s loot. He should taste the fists of justice. Where is “The Tick” when you need him?
From the Times Online here:
Some of America’s wealthiest socialites were facing ruin last night after the arrest of a Wall Street big hitter accused of the largest investor swindle perpetrated by one man.
Shock and panic spread through the country clubs of Palm Beach and Long Island after Bernard Madoff, a trading powerbroker for more than four decades, confessed to a fraud that will cost his wealthy investors at least $50 billion.
Mr Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq stock chairman, was arrested on Thursday morning at his Manhattan apartment by the FBI. The SEC described the scheme as “a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions”.
Mr Madoff told the FBI that he was “finished”, that he had “absolutely nothing”, and that “it’s all just one big lie”. He said the investment arm of his firm was “basically a giant Ponzi scheme”, and that it had been insolvent for years.
A Ponzi scheme, named after the swindler Charles Ponzi, is a fraudulent investment operation that pays abnormally high returns to investors out of money put into the scheme by subsequent investors, rather than from real profits generated by share trading.
How did this man bypass all of the regulations that were supposed to be in place to protect investors? Is it just the greed of the rich investors that allowed this to happen? Rich fat cats saw that Bernie could bring in great returns- greater than regulated Wall Street brokerages, and they leaped at the chance to give their wealth to this criminal. Yeah, this guy was a supervillain, but excuse me if I don’t shed a tear for the victims.
A lot of Obama supporters [like Madofff is] just lost their stash!
According to Wall Street Journal:
New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon
GMAC LLC Chairman J. Ezra Merkin
Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman
Giant French bank BNP Paribas
Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc.
Neue Privat Bank in Zurich
Fairfield Greenwich Group
Tremont Capital Management of New York
Maxam Capital Management LLC
“I’m wiped out,” said Sandra Manzke, Maxam’s founder and chairman. The Darien, Conn., fund of hedge funds will have to close as a result of the losses, she said.
Milberg LLP
Seeger Weiss LLP
…
By hiring unofficial agents, tapping into elite country clubs and creating “invitation only” policies for investors, he recruited a steady stream of new clients.
…
Older, Jewish investors called Mr. Madoff ” ‘the Jewish bond,’ ” says Ken Phillips, head of a Boulder, Colo., investment firm.
The Judy & Fred Wilpon Family Foundation
Sterling Equities
Ascot Partners LLC
…
Mr. Madoff tapped social networks in Dallas, Chicago, Boston and Minneapolis. In Minnesota, he attracted investors from Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul and Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins
…
“If you were eating lunch at the club or golfing, everyone was always talking about how Madoff was making them all this money,” one investor says. “Everyone wanted to sign up.”
Jeff Fischer, a top divorce attorney in Palm Beach, says many of his clients were also Mr. Madoff’s clients. “Every big divorce that came through my office had portfolio positions with Madoff,” he says.
…
Mr. Madoff was considered a money-management legend; they would joke that if Mr. Madoff was a fraud, he’d take down half the world with him.
…
Fairfield Greenwich Group
Tremont Capital Management
Bramdean Alternatives
Banque Benedict Hentsch
Fairfield Sentry Ltd.
…
MY HEART BLEEDS
“IT’S HARD OUT THERE FOR A PIMP!”
I know he’s an obnoxious egomaniac, but Michael Savage has an excellent commentary on Madoff & the surrounding culture here:
http://www.knew910.com/podcast/savage.xml
This file:
Michael Savage 12/15/08 H1
Judge Signs Order to Protect Madoff Investors
“U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton ordered that clients of Bernard Madoff’s private investment business seek relief under a federal statute created to rescue cheated investors.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,467394,00.html
“and I would have gotten away with it if it wern’t for you meddling kids!”
Greg, yeah Madoff definitely looks like “old man Potter” who ran the local mill who tried to scare off the developers.