“How did he get away with this for so long,” I asked.
“I wondered that myself,” he replied suggesting that the government was in on it, especially the Securities And Exchange Commission before whom he frequently made nice. One of his niece even married an SEC investigator
If you are thinking it was All in the Family, you may be right. But it wasn’t a Mafia type family on the Corelone- Soprano spectrum but an extended Financial community operating outside the law. He was one of players who do as much business with each other as they compete against each other. The notion of counterparties is pervasive in the financial industry where risks and deals are shared. No wonder, there is the suggestion that much of this industry runs like one big ponzi scheme.
Clearly the regulators had no interest in shutting him down even though for ten years one Boston based investigator petitioned the SEC to do so. I asked John Cofee, the Collumbia Law School’s expert on corporate crime about him:
“ I think our regulatory system failed and failed badly over basically the last six or seven years in failing to spot a Mr. Madoff, “ he explained, adding, “although in fairness Mr. made off has been a crook for almost 20 or 25 years and we can't just pick on the last couple of years there.”
Anther expert on corporate crime, Sam Antar who was convicted fior his role for long time fraud’s at New York’s infamous Crazy Eddie Electronic sstores said we sill don’t have all the facts.
“What's happening with Bernie Madoff,” he told me, “ is that he's protecting the second, third, and fourth tier from not just criminal liability, but civil liability in particular. He's protecting family members and close friends from possible civil liability, from having to pay back money to the victims.”
The Judge, Denny Chin, is likely to give Madoff a long sentence next week despite his age. In a high profile case such as his, the public will not accept another normal Wall Street “settlements” where fines are paid to avoid incarceration.
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