It's one thing to be able to conduct a $50 billion Ponzi Scheme in America. I mean, that's pretty rich.
But it's another thing for the SEC to let it go on. And on. And on. And on.
After ENRON, you'd have thought the SEC would have learned. But instead, they just got worse.
America is run by monkeys, trust is now gone, and our reputation is worth sh*t. No investment should be trusted in this environment. Especially investments in America. When it comes to finance, we are now a third world country at best.
Thank you Chris Cox.
Monkey.
Someone throw some shoes at this guy, OK?
Madoff ‘Tragedy’ Said to Have Escaped Scrutiny by SEC
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators never inspected Bernard Madoff’s investment advisory business, alleged to be a Ponzi scheme that cost investors $50 billion, after he subjected it to oversight two years ago, people familiar with the case said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission hadn’t examined Madoff’s books since he registered the unit with the agency in September 2006, two people said, declining to be identified because the reviews aren’t public. The SEC tries to inspect advisers at least every five years and to scrutinize newly registered firms in their first year, former agency officials and securities lawyers said.
Madoff, 70, who had advised the SEC how to regulate markets and donated regularly to politicians, was arrested Dec. 11 and charged with operating what he told his sons was a long-running Ponzi scheme in the New York-based firm’s business advising rich people, hedge funds and institutions. His ability to avoid detection may fuel debate about the SEC’s effectiveness and the adequacy of its resources for policing money managers.
“Given what the SEC claims is the magnitude of the fraud, this is something you would hope an inspection would have uncovered,” said Mercer Bullard, a University of Mississippi law professor and former mutual-fund attorney at the SEC. “It’s hard to imagine a fraud of this alleged size not being accompanied by significant and pervasive compliance problems.”
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49 comments:
It's not incompetence.
This is intentional ideology.
Cox is the quintissential "deregulatory" "pro-business" pro-corruption Government-is-always-wrong-rich-people-are-always-right neocon brainstem. House Republican of course.
His entire purpose is to sit on top of jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute financial crimes, and then not do it.
Sec.gov, Cox Biogrpahy.
"Among the significant laws he authored were the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which protects investors from fraudulent lawsuits,
Meaning it protects insider trading executives from accountability from the private sector, given that we know the SEC has already been Deep Captured.
Keith,
What took you so long ? I thought you'd have posted this story couple of days ago.
Anyways, the bigger Bonzi scheme that hasn't blown up yet is Social Security.
Majority of Madoff's clients were the Palm Beach/Boca Raton country club crowd:the so-called "untouchables" and the nastiest most self-centered people I have ever met.
Most of them have LOST their fortunes...
AND I AM JUMPING WITH JOY AT THEIR TRAGEDY!!!
More Bonzi from NYC.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/nyregion/14lawyer.html?_r=1&ref=patrick.net
what your not saying is that a majority of investors invested because of the incredible returns sometimes %15 %20 %30 with no internet access (red flag) to their accounts and their own accountants (big red flag) who do the year end tax returns not saying a word because why? because they were all making money you know money "twas greed that killed the beast"
Yeah, sorry, ended up being away for the weekend a $50 billion Ponzi blows up
Always something...
Think about it though - everyone just shrugged this one off. $50 billion? Man, that's CHUMP CHANGE these days...
I think today's word (again) should be "diversification"
http://tinyurl.com/6zgbp3
For a half-century, Arnold and Joan Sinkin worked hard to raise their four kids, put a roof over their heads and build up a nice nest egg for retirement.
The Brooklyn-born couple moved out to Long Island and then down to Florida, where they planned to spend their golden years living off their nearly $1 million life savings.
That all came crashing down this past week when Wall Street legend Bernie Madoff's empire of fraud collapsed.
"I put my kids through college, made four weddings, did everything to put away some money," said Arnold Sinkin, 76, a retired carpet salesman, from the couple's condo in Boynton Beach, Fla. "Two days ago, it was all wiped out."
The couple lost about 85% of their life savings and their retirement dreams are gone with the cash.
"Nobody in our lives gave us anything. We worked hard for every penny that we had," Joan Sinkin, 75, said through tears. "There's really no more lowlife than that man. My whole life fell apart."
How much does anyone want to bet the stock market goes up today? It's nice to see she SEC still hard at work keeping a clean game going.
Up is down, corruption is investment is the world of securities. Is it any wonder that I've lost confidence for the mystical world of stock traders/analysts/genius financial wizards? Madoff and Cox deserve to be hauled off to jail.
"Nobody in our lives gave us anything. We worked hard for every penny that we had," Joan Sinkin, 75, said through tears. "There's really no more lowlife than that man. My whole life fell apart."
December 15, 2008 11:03 AM
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I feel bad for them but I have to admit that I am really sick and tired of this entitled North American attitude where people are convinced theiy worked so hard for their money. Most of us don't know what working hard is anymore!
Come on, most rich Americans today, EVEN MORE if they were conservative and saved, have gotten rich thanks to exploding debt and market returns.
It's not as if they were really working for this wealth... somebody else was!
And it's not because you make 100K and you saved that you worked any harder than the poor shmuck who got lung cancer after 20 years of digging in a mine.
The punk Denninger locked me out for calling $1000 oil...
http://tiny.cc/rkCTZ
Bitch
How long had arnold and joan sinkin had their money with Madoff? This is just like homeowners who think they have lost money they never had.
Because most of 'their' million dollars was probably the unreal 30% returns Madoff had been telling them they were getting. Their actual contributions were probably something far less.
Oh, but they got Martha Stewart!
Thank God for that. She was really dangerous to the economy!
Nice catch, guys.
That is chump change compared to the billions the government has swindled from taxpayers.It is business as usual at the sec.
These daily announcements of the loss of illusory paper 'wealth' perhaps add new conviction to this financial advice:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."
(Matthew 6:19,20)
"AND I AM JUMPING WITH JOY AT THEIR TRAGEDY!!!"
You and me both. It's so nice to see the sleazy, scamming, entitlement rich brought to ruin.
In other circus Hedge Fund comedy news, Bloomberg headline:
"Third of Hedge Funds Face ‘Wipe Out’ After Slump, Godden Says
Bwahahahah! OH my god that's so needed. More rich people and their elitist, leveraged, financial scams going down the drain.
LTCM crash in 1998 was 3.28 billion
Keefer,
Small potatoes compare to what’s coming in Europe.
The entire European economy was built on hot air, they wanted to be just like us, but unfortunately they don’t have any natural resources to support them when the biggest ponzi scheme of them all blows up.
Its gonna get real ugly across the pond
What's most amazing to me about this story is the people who invested all or a large portion of their net worth in this hedge fund. Doing that takes enormous levels of greed and stupidity. Hedge funds basically tell their clients nothing about their investment practices. I repeat - hedge fund investors have almost no clue where their money is going! Fools and their money are soon parted never changes.
Smith & Wesson.
"Madoff Securities is the world's largest Ponzi Scheme," Mr Markopolos, wrote in a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 1999.
And this is why Obama should fire everyone but the secretaries at the SEC.
I know, let's make legitimate short selling of the financials illegal again. That will cure everything and make the SEC look competent again. Yeah, that's it.
How does Cox still have a job?? Oh yeah, because his boss is even more incompetent and corrupt.
People just amaze me. I see parallels between Bernard Madoff and Casey Anthony. Both had painted themselves into a bad corner and their desire for self-preservation kept their charade going until the end of the road finally made them turn around and go "Oh, well, yeah, I lied." A scheme can only be played for so long. Why do they think they can beat it? How do they sleep at night?
fruity pebbles said...
Oh, but they got Martha Stewart!..."
Yep. From Duke Cunningham to the auto bailout Kabuki, we shout THE SYSTEM WORKS(!!!) at the top of our lungs...
Duke was 1/10,000th of what we know is missing in Iraq; auto bailout 1/280th of what is committed so far(that we know about...)
It works because the average rube can't do arithmetic($6TRILLION bailout = $20k/capita)...
Nor use common sense; $20k assumes everybody pays. The poor can't; the rich won't...
Count on many multiples of that for the average middle class.
Up is down, corruption is investment is the world of securities. Is it any wonder that I've lost confidence for the mystical world of stock traders/analysts/genius financial wizards? Madoff and Cox deserve to be hauled off to jail
In the end days wrong will be right and right will be wrong. All will be settled, have patience. Chaos will reign to enlighten the slow witted. ( Couldn't help it, the Christain haters are forever calling believers stupid. ) The word stupid will be redifined HEE, HEE.
Hey if there is no devil there can be no evil, no right or wrong, confusing times.
Roccman said...
The punk Denninger locked me out for calling $1000 oil...
Guess he gave you the LALALALALALALA.
:-)
and yet no FedGov unionized employee will lose their job over this.
the AFGE, helping to keep dumb American bureaucrats unaccountable since 1932.
Roccman said...
The punk Denninger locked me out for calling $1000 oil...
What's so wrong with being an extreme bull?
"Nobody in our lives gave us anything. We worked hard for every penny that we had," Joan Sinkin, 75, said through tears. "There's really no more lowlife than that man. My whole life fell apart."
I hear this a lot. I never forget the people who gave so much to me. I am different in this respect. I always have the kindness of others to remember. But I am not a rich person living in Palm Beach either.
Awww, guys, leave the SEC alone. Those guys got their jobs thru politics, expecting to retire into publc employment. Now you guys are unreasonably arguing they should have been actually doing their jobs?
Where I live in Rhode Island public employees for years have been able to avoid being terminated or punished for nonfeasance, malfeasance and misfeasance based on the argument that the work culture trumped any employment rule or regulation. Thus, in Rhode Island, so long as no one in your state agency is doing their job, you can feel free not to do your own job.
GREAT POST FROM PEAKOIL.COM
I actually know a group of brothers that had invested in this scheme. They had been in with Maddoff for about 30 years. They made all of their money running a money management business through Maddoff. These guys were making about a 10% annual return on investment.
About 8 months ago I told these guys all about the major fall out that would happen once the stock market and housing markets went into free fall. In fact I told them that they should dump a major amount of cash into gold. I told them that there was a major economic storm on the horizon. None of them believed me. They kept telling me that everything was fine.
My GF just spoke to one of these brothers. They were almost completely wiped out last week. None of them had worked real jobs in years because they were managing all this money thorough Maddoff. They think they will all lose their houses. In fact they think that all of their clients are in a similar boat.
I kept telling them that a nuclear bomb in the financial markets went off about 6 months ago. None of them bought into what I was saying until today. I made very specific predictions about what would happen if they stayed the course. I told them what was happening to the world was like nothing they had ever seen before and that they should prepare.
This group of people kept telling me that they were not worried. They kept telling me that everything would be fine. In fact every time I saw them we would discuss the economy. I would point out that things were getting much worse as time went on. Every time they told me that their investments were doing fine.
To me this group of people just turned into zombies overnight. These guys are in their 50s. Last week they were buying art and spending money on cars. They have nothing left after this week. They are on the verge of moving in friends and family.
Hopefully less people will need such an abrupt wake up call in the future. The situation is bad and is getting worse.
The over arching story here is that an investment entity - in this case a hedge fund - pulled off a scam for a really long time. NOt just from 2005...this has been going on for years...anyone here, including myself could be snagged in this web without knowing so. The point is the overall confidence in our stock market is shot for a long time. For me, the market represented a way for me to make more cash and have a better life. I think this applies to many of you as well.
As far as that elderly couple (retired carpet salesman), I feel bad for them. It's not unheard of to consolidate your investments, maybe not smart, but not nessarily lazy of greedy or condemnable.
Maybe your Fidelity, Schwab, ING, or PW 401k has some coin in here....maybe your bank that runs your payroll had some $ in Madoff through second tier investments. try not to be so cavalier.
This won't be the last one. This is the first one. And many insti. investors will not admit that they were burned to0.
Perhaps we need to start rioting like the Greeks, heard their police ran out of tear gas over the weekend.
Here is a MarketWatch story - lots of charities and 401k's will be decimated...http://tinyurl.com/6qkfm6
Not all investors are greedy!
Not all Americans are consumers!
Hey MSM:
Many investors are workers who contribute to their 401k's - we are not pigs, or greedy! And if we are financially stable that's not a bad thing!!!
Also, many Americans are not just consumers - does this worn out reference bother anyone else?
No you got it wrong bud. Some of Madoff's family members worked for the SEC.
Bernie Madoff's niece married Eric Swanson. And Eric Swanson is:
"...served at the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1996 to 2006, rising to the title of Assistant Director in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations' market oversight unit in Washington. His duties included supervising the Commission's inspection program responsible for regulatory oversight of trading on the securities exchanges and ECNs."
I suspect the cash is in Israel in a bank. They'll now proceed to get TARP.
and what's the deal with charities playing in the market with donation money.I was under the impression they were non profit.
Keith can you post last night's 60 minutes report :"A Second Mortgage Disaster On The Horizon?"
As far as that elderly couple (retired carpet salesman), I feel bad for them. It's not unheard of to consolidate your investments, maybe not smart, but not nessarily lazy of greedy or condemnable.
--
It is lazy. And when you expect market returns to do the heavy lifting, you deserve what you get.
Investing is risky and people are finally starting to wake up.
If returns were guaranteed, there would be no risk and you'd get the risk free rate = 0%!!!!
There is NO risk-free investment, you could always lose everything. Anybody who does not realize this is a fool.
And a fool and his money are easily parted.
How much do carpet salesmen make and is it hard work?
Scamerica.
What we have now, clearly before our very eyes, is at least 8 years of a govt completely in dereliction of duty.
This is a constitutional crisis.
This govt for the last 8 years has completely refused to uphold the constitution and do it's duty.
This has been a completely criminal organziation, obsessed with shaking down American citizens for every nickel they have.
The United States Federal govt and the Wall St criminals it protects ARE the enemies of the constitution.
Typical citizen's response?
Do we have to watch "60 Minutes" before "Survivor's" 2 hr final episdoe is on?
(Remember when Kerry called them all criminals? He was RIGHT!)
I feel sorry for the retired Florida couple too. Although at their age, they must have known the old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...
Me, I got schooled in that lesson about 8 years ago with a corrupt financial manager that cost me big bucks. Never again, people. Never again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Madoff and Cox are just examples of the "rot" that infests every level of Wallstreet and Financial institutions.
Truly, there is no hope with the existing financial system. It is rotten to the core.
guy n. cognito said...
"and yet no FedGov unionized employee will lose their job over this."
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It's snowing outside! Must be the union's fault!
Unions can be really bone-headed. But explain to me how the deliberate inaction by political appointees and managers is the fault of the civil servants whose job it is to follow that person's directives? Are you saying they're in on the deal? Or are you saying that Cox is in the right and being hampered by his employees? Or are you simply unaware that the people at the top are not part of the union?
It does us no good in terms of holding unions accountable for their bullshit if people are blaming them for things which are in reality not their fault. It distracts from the real issues and hampers the work of those who would like to reign in the abuses which are happening in unions.
Don't feel too sorry for the Sinkins. They have a big house on Long Island adn the guy is head of Palm Beach CC. That botox wife of his claims they are small people ( yea right with several million in assets) Boo Hooo they lost 1 million. I don;t have anything close to that and I am not devastated.
This is just a case of sweet justice for those elite Palm Beach snobs that would step on you if you get in their way. I've been among them and it aint pretty. You should realize their demise is due to their elitism and close knit ghetto like cliques. They have this arrogant gall about them, looking for handouts on TV. Don't you wonder how they got on TV? Most likely contacts with some TV bigwig at the CC.
Throw some more damn shoes!!
"Majority of Madoff's clients were the Palm Beach/Boca Raton country club crowd:the so-called "untouchables" and the nastiest most self-centered people I have ever met.
Most of them have LOST their fortunes...
AND I AM JUMPING WITH JOY AT THEIR TRAGEDY!!!"
the way they cheat and swindle one another, it's too bad these jokers aren't like dudes from 150 years ago. if they were we (HP'ers and S&A 'ers) would be entertained with news of daily pistol duels fought in the financial district in NYC. i suspect it would make for great entertainment!
"I feel sorry for the retired Florida couple too. Although at their age, they must have known the old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is..."
I don't. They are well into their 70's and still have money invested in stocks or mutual funds that invest in stocks??? WTF???? In my opinion, when you reach Grandpa Walton status, you have no business putting up the life's savings in a stock fund of any kind.
Paul E. Math said...
How long had arnold and joan sinkin had their money with Madoff? This is just like homeowners who think they have lost money they never had.
Because most of 'their' million dollars was probably the unreal 30% returns Madoff had been telling them they were getting. Their actual contributions were probably something far less.
____________
Yep. I was chatting with a fried of my parents yesterday, said he has 5 acres in suburban NY he bought 30 years ago, has used it to live on and run his business. Now he's retiring and isn't sure what he wants to do. "Even last year, we could get $450K-$500K an acre. Now the lots are going for only $215K! Now we can't sell even if we wanted to!!".
Talk abut an exercise in self control on my part. He probably picked up the land for $4-5 HUNDRED back then. And raised his family and made is career on it to boot. Now all he can see is a huge $million loss. Feels poor, paralyzed and cheated.
Flaming self-centered, entitlement ridden, spoiled idiot.
Well boys and girls, deflation orrrr? the final collaspe of the mother of all ponzi schemes, " GLOBALISM", one and the same.
Schindlers List:
"For a half-century, Arnold and Joan Sinkin worked hard to raise their four kids, put a roof over their heads and build up a nice nest egg for retirement."
Usually, the Jews I know are reluctant to admit when they do something stupid with their money (and that is not very often, I say with respect). I wonder how this Sadie and Irving feel down at the dominoe room today after being publicly humiliated on National Television?
In their 70's and fully invested in a hedge fund?
You deserve to be poor. Back to the Kibbitz schleppos...
I need some carpet for my garage for my Porsche to park on. Can you help me out Irving?
DIE U PIGS
tee hee hee haw haw haw greedy white people screwing each other. you made sure you were the only ones with vast amounts of money and power. doesn't get funnier than this. black folks love it, now you know how it feels. better start buying those beans, rice and flour because after your thieving white folks finish with putting your 'portfolio' into their 'portfolio' that is all the money you'll have left, a bag of beans, some rice, and a couple of biscuits. just like you did us for the 300 years here. it has finally happened. justice. so very sweet. so lets have the next hedge fund blow up, the next ponzi scheme failure. there are sure to be more, i realish the thought. i get goose bumps waiting for the next morning paper to read about who screwed you next. black folks never had anything and so therefore there is really nothing for us to loose so we should weather this recession just like another day in America. Gave our jobs to mexicans and left us to be scavengers and then called us savages and animals lets see how you will be when you get a taste of your own medicine. There will be other legalized robberies because these are WHITE people, stuck you up and you gave your money willingly and yet you are terrified when you see a black man walking down the street worried he is going to rob you. you ought to be worried about your own kind. Just like the indians said "white man speaks with a fork tongue". tee hee hee haw haw haw comeupance is a bitch.
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