Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

/Hope he likes salad tossed with a broom handle

Bernie might feel all high and mighty [from his prison cell] but I'd stop rubbing salt in the wound unless he doesn't like the rest of his family.... irate investors might not be able to get to him, but his family is out in the open...

The thing is he took advantage of peoples gullible/greedy/trusting nature.

Personally, I think a lot of them got what they deserved, but that said I don't want to live in a world where nobody is trusting/accepting of others, paranoid all the time, etc..

In short, don't flatter yourself Bernie, the world has gotten over your little stunt.

what a douche.

I hope your family gets nailed and end up living in cardboard boxes. Maybe then you'll stop being so damn smug.

To be fair, if what the article says is even partially correct, Madoff was being helped by people in the SEC. Some were just too incompetent to check the math, and some may have actively had a hand in letting things slide.

Madoff is the devil and should rot in jail for the rest of his known life, but the folks in charge of the SEC at the time should not be going without so much as a slap on the wrist. No consequences for such blatant incompetence will not fix anything for the future.

Driedsponge: To be fair, if what the article says is even partially correct, Madoff was being helped by people in the SEC. Some were just too incompetent to check the math, and some may have actively had a hand in letting things slide.

Madoff is the devil and should rot in jail for the rest of his known life, but the folks in charge of the SEC at the time should not be going without so much as a slap on the wrist. No consequences for such blatant incompetence will not fix anything for the future.

Oh yeah, but he doesn't have to be so smug about it. He hurt a lot of people, that isn't something to be proud of, even if he did "get away with it" for so long.

And people wonder why I think of investors/stock traders as criminals... :-)

/yeah yeah they're not all bad
//but most probably are

Not All That Much: Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

Um, catching stuff like what Bernie Madoff was doing is their freaking JOB. Of course they should be held responsible for their utter failure at doing what they are supposed to do.

Crosshair: Not All That Much: Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

Um, catching stuff like what Bernie Madoff was doing is their freaking JOB. Of course they should be held responsible for their utter failure at doing what they are supposed to do.

Especially since they've been tipped off about Madoff about five times before his kids ratted him out, and yet they never verified a single trade that his firm allegedly made. That would have caught Madoff for sure, since the Ponzi scheme never actually made a trade.

Crosshair: Not All That Much: Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

Um, catching stuff like what Bernie Madoff was doing is their freaking JOB. Of course they should be held responsible for their utter failure at doing what they are supposed to do.

if they aren't held responsible and things don't change, it will just happen again and everyone will be surprised. I am always amazed at how the government rarely takes responsibility for their mistakes.

Arkanaut: Crosshair: Not All That Much: Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

Um, catching stuff like what Bernie Madoff was doing is their freaking JOB. Of course they should be held responsible for their utter failure at doing what they are supposed to do.

Especially since they've been tipped off about Madoff about five times before his kids ratted him out, and yet they never verified a single trade that his firm allegedly made. That would have caught Madoff for sure, since the Ponzi scheme never actually made a trade.

Yep. Hate to say it -- but Bernie's right. He should've been caught a LOT sooner.

Driedsponge: To be fair, if what the article says is even partially correct, Madoff was being helped by people in the SEC. Some were just too incompetent to check the math, and some may have actively had a hand in letting things slide.

He wishes he had been caught earlier when there wasn't such a rush to lynch white collar criminals. When the fraud was smaller; the only way to avoid getting caught was to keep growing the scam. Pre-Enron or right after the Supreme Court made the sentencing guidelines advisory would have been a much better time to get caught. He might have left prison alive.

Just put him to death, the man is completely unapologetic about ruining the lives of thousands of people. Jailing him isn't even a porportionate response.

For us to be even, even steven? We'd have to execute him about 10 times.

/someone get the paddles

Super_pope: Just put him to death, the man is completely unapologetic about ruining the lives of thousands of people. Jailing him isn't even a porportionate response.

For us to be even, even steven? We'd have to execute him about 10 times.

/someone get the paddles



Isn't that one version of hell in the Islamic tradition? That you are continually regenerated and tortured to death until you "get it"?

"Oh baby, you are so talented! And they are so dumb!"

Arkanaut: Crosshair: Not All That Much: Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

Um, catching stuff like what Bernie Madoff was doing is their freaking JOB. Of course they should be held responsible for their utter failure at doing what they are supposed to do.

Especially since they've been tipped off about Madoff about five times before his kids ratted him out, and yet they never verified a single trade that his firm allegedly made. That would have caught Madoff for sure, since the Ponzi scheme never actually made a trade.

Werent they first tipped in 2001 or so?

UnoriginalAndrew: Yep. Hate to say it -- but Bernie's right. He should've been caught a LOT sooner.

Indeed... From that Frontline piece, it seems to me this should have been wrapped up in 1992 or so.

tenpoundsofcheese: I am always amazed at how the government rarely takes responsibility for their mistakes.

Because if they did people would question why these departments even exist. If the SEC can't even catch Bernie Madoff, why bother having them in the first place?

The SEC was created to function as a lifeguard for the system. As more time passes it is becoming clear that the SEC is a lifeguard who can't swim and just yells at the kids who are running slightly too fast or who don't have their diving board and/or water wings paperwork filled out in the proper color of ink. What's the point of having them if they can't do their job.

Say what you want about private companies, but they fire their incompetents far more often than the government does.

Tweeker: Werent they first tipped in 2001 or so?

By that Markopolos fellow, yes. However, rumblings had made their way to the SEC before that, and in 1992 a Madoff feeder fund was shut down, but the SEC investigation stopped at Madoff's door so great was his reputation on Wall Street.

Not All That Much: Yeah, how stupid of the SEC to not catch on to his massive fraud operation sooner. THEY should be held responsible!

Not doing the job they're being paid for? Yeah they're responsible for at least that much of this debacle. There'd have been a lot fewer victims if he had been collared earlier.

How does this sound as a reason for Madoff getting away with his scheme for so long. The SEC had its funding and powers gutted by the last three presidents. They didn't have the money to guard the market carefully. Since Bernie had run NASDAQ, he was considered a clean player. No one wasted time looking at him since he was assumed to know enough about the market to make a lot of money playing by the rules. Since there wasn't much the SEC could do and any investigations of Madoff would be expensive, all whistleblowers were ignored. The SEC needs an overhaul. It needs its powers and funding restored.

Does his prison have a pool? Stay out of the deep end Bernie.

It's those cheating referees that are destroying confidence in the SEC. Every year people claim that the SEC is the strongest conference, but I can't tell if it's just hype or not.

Bush knew what was going on but he did nothing.

Star-struck assholes.

Will be the downfall of the species.

GoodasGold: Does his prison have a pool? Stay out of the deep end Bernie.

He's a conman. He'll get by. I hear he's already doled out 200,000% of his upcoming prison show to cell-block investors.