July 02, 2009 10:38 pm
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We hope that the greed master of Wall Street, Bernard L. Madoff, has invested wisely.
Madoff, as every New Yorker and most Americans know, was sentenced June 29 to 150 years in prison for a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. In short, Madoff charmed people into a pyramid investment relying on future investors to feed the profits for former investors.
We’ve been estimating how Madoff, 71, can benefit from his time in prison. He often told investors they could triple their investment in 45 days. If he invests $1 now and gets fellow inmates to join his new fund management plan, he should show a $2 profit in two months. If we expand to other prisons and triple the investment every two months for 150 years, well, that $65 billion will seem like a drop in the bucket.
We know. This sounds heartless.
It’s no less cruel than Madoff’s callous treatment of the thousands of investors who were taken in by his fraud. Burt Ross, the former mayor of Fort Lee, N.J. was taken for $5 million.
Another investor, Miriam Siegman, lost 40 years of savings. She lives in Manhattan on a monthly Social Security check for $800. She thinks about shoplifting.
And Madoff’s wife, Ruth, can express only grief for the victims. She’ll reportedly keep $2.5 million. She can still face civil lawsuits. Her every move for the rest of her life will be taunted by New Yorkers.
Life savings disappeared.
And all the victims received was a judge’s validation of their grief.
To date, 543 of 10,000 claims have been processed from Madoff’s burned clients. They are owed nearly $3 billion. But only $231 million can be covered through the Securities Investor Protection Corp., which is authorized by Congress to guarantee brokerage accounts for a maximum $500,000.
SIPC should have been monitored better by the Securities Exchange Commission. Firms pay minimal fees into SIPC, but those fees are far from protecting billions taken in Ponzi schemes.
A call for reform is self-explanatory.
Ponzi schemes have been ongoing since the early 1900s when the original con man, Charles Ponzi, became a national villain for a fraudulent pyramid investment.
It will happen again. It may be happening now to someone you know. Take the time and check on your investments.
Bernard Madoff was evil. But he’s not alone.
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