Madoff-Where's The Money?
June 29th, 2009 by Jon Taplin
OK, so Bernie Madoff will spend the rest of his life in jail. But the question of what happened to the money still remains.
The central problem being played out among Madoff victims is that only a small fraction of the nearly $65 billion that disappeared has been recovered.
So he didn’t earn 10% a year on the invested money with some fantastic stock picking skill. Even if he had left it in a money market account earning 2%, it wouldn’t explain how most of the $65 billion has disappeared, unless as I speculated in January it was just a money laundering operation for some very bad people who made sure they got whole.
“Life in jail…” I wonder, will anyone be following up to see which of the federal prison facilities this creature ends up in, what the nature of his “confinement” and actual restrictions is, whether he will be let out on furloughs (remember Willie Horton!) or given compassionate commutation, how much was spent on “corrections consultants” to make sure his “time” is as easy as possible and who paid for the consultants, where the money came from to pay his attorneys, track every clemency petition, you know, every Real World element of this past the bald and bare announcement of the 150-year sentence? and make sure people who are convinced that there’s justice in America at least hear if an appeals court overturns the sentence or sends it back for “proceedings consistent with this order” that palliate the poor man’s suffering?
Nah, the sentencing was the denoument, the satisfied crowd’s leaving the theater, back out into the dark streets…
“Life in jail…” I wonder, will anyone be following up to see which of the federal prison facilities this creature ends up in, what the nature of his “confinement” and actual restrictions is, whether he will be let out on furloughs (remember Willie Horton!) or given compassionate commutation, how much was spent on “corrections consultants” to make sure his “time” is as easy as possible and who paid for the consultants, where the money came from to pay his attorneys, track every clemency petition, you know, every Real World element of this past the bald and bare announcement of the 150-year sentence? and make sure people who are convinced that there’s justice in America at least hear if an appeals court overturns the sentence or sends it back for “proceedings consistent with this order” that palliate the poor man’s suffering?
Nah, the sentencing was the denoument, the satisfied crowd’s leaving the theater, back out into the dark streets…
Madoff? “Where’s the money?” He madoff with it, and obviously he’s too many steps ahead of the feds to figure out whence. We don’t pay or recruit feds talented enough to figure out how to out-distance the Madoffs of this world. Hence they offer pleas that cover their own inability, their own underpaid incompetence. The 150 years covers their own ass, while meanwhile it will take them that long to understand the instruments he used to fox them.
That’s my suspicion, anyway.
Madoff? “Where’s the money?” He madoff with it, and obviously he’s too many steps ahead of the feds to figure out whence. We don’t pay or recruit feds talented enough to figure out how to out-distance the Madoffs of this world. Hence they offer pleas that cover their own inability, their own underpaid incompetence. The 150 years covers their own ass, while meanwhile it will take them that long to understand the instruments he used to fox them.
That’s my suspicion, anyway.
That would explain why he was willing to turn himself in.
If a guy has that kind of money he could find a place to hide unless he felt safer in the joint.
That would explain why he was willing to turn himself in.
If a guy has that kind of money he could find a place to hide unless he felt safer in the joint.
$65b includes the fabricated gains, the real number is less.
$65b includes the fabricated gains, the real number is less.
“65b[B] includes the fabricated” part? Really? Do you doubt the reports by that much?
Because that discpency in itself would be of huge import…
Are you quite sure?
“65b[B] includes the fabricated” part? Really? Do you doubt the reports by that much?
Because that discpency in itself would be of huge import…
Are you quite sure?
“65b[B] includes the fabricated” part? Yes.
Really? Yes.
Do you doubt the reports by that much? You misread the reports; $65b is the amount investors thought they had after many years of compounding; the actual amount of money invested in Madoff is less.
Because that discpency [sic] in itself would be of huge import…
Are you quite sure? Yes.
“65b[B] includes the fabricated” part? Yes.
Really? Yes.
Do you doubt the reports by that much? You misread the reports; $65b is the amount investors thought they had after many years of compounding; the actual amount of money invested in Madoff is less.
Because that discpency [sic] in itself would be of huge import…
Are you quite sure? Yes.
Hm there’s another Dan posting here. But I am the Real Dan.
If it’s true that Madoff’s money came from organized crime, the lesson from the past nine months is that if you steal from the mob, the law will come and put you away for 150 years. If you steal from everybody else, you get a golden parachute and some bad press.
Hm there’s another Dan posting here. But I am the Real Dan.
If it’s true that Madoff’s money came from organized crime, the lesson from the past nine months is that if you steal from the mob, the law will come and put you away for 150 years. If you steal from everybody else, you get a golden parachute and some bad press.
Well, as far as I can gather, the total amount invested was closer to $13.5bn. $65bn was the total of what people thought their accounts were worth.
It seems that Jeffry Picower, one of Madoff’s big clients, and initially listed as one of his “victims”, actually withdrew $5.1bn more than he invested – netting him far more than Madoff himself.
Good article here:
http://www.propublica.org/feature/madoff-client-jeffry-picower-netted-5-billion
Of course, the trustees in the Madoff case are going after him. Two more like him, and now you know where the money went.
Well, as far as I can gather, the total amount invested was closer to $13.5bn. $65bn was the total of what people thought their accounts were worth.
It seems that Jeffry Picower, one of Madoff’s big clients, and initially listed as one of his “victims”, actually withdrew $5.1bn more than he invested – netting him far more than Madoff himself.
Good article here:
http://www.propublica.org/feature/madoff-client-jeffry-picower-netted-5-billion
Of course, the trustees in the Madoff case are going after him. Two more like him, and now you know where the money went.