Hey guys. Just finished writing this really interesting paper. Thought it would be cool to post it.
Bernard Madoff
“In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules.”
Bernie Madoff
This biography is about Bernard Madoff. Until only eighteen months ago today only several hundred clients and a handful of friends knew who Bernie Madoff was. Today several million people know exactly who he is and what he did. If one would have to define Madoff in a few words it would be “the biggest thief the world has ever known.” Because of him over $ 50 Billion of his client’s money was stolen.
Bernard Lawrence Madoff was born on April 29, 1938 in New York City, in the borough of Queens in a small Jewish family. His parents Ralph Madoff and Sylvia Muntner were immigrants in America. Madoff went to Far Rockaway High School and graduated in 1956. He attended Hofstra College and got a degree in political science. In 1959, Madoff married his high school sweetheart Ruth Alpern. They had two sons: Marc, born in 1964 and Andrew, in 1966. In 1960 Madoff founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) and was its chairman until December 11, 2008. Madoff started BLMIS as a penny stock trader when he was twenty-two. To open it he used the money that he had earned being a lifeguard and a sprinkler installer. The company bought and sold penny stocks (stocks worth less that $1). The company also provided financial advice to investors. His father-in-law who recommended his friends and their families to Madoff helped him. The company grew and was very successful over the next 45 years. Madoff’s company had important and famous people as clients.
In September 2008 the worlds financial markets crashed. Many investors panicked and wanted their money back, trillions of dollars. In December 2008 Madoff’s investors started asking for their money back but Madoff did not have it. He was having trouble finding $ 7 Billion when in fact his fund was supposed to be worth
$ 50 Billion. On December 9th 2008 he told his sons that “everything was just a big lie” and “it was just one big Ponzi scheme.” A Ponzi scheme occurs when initial investors are paid returns with new investors money, rather than with real growth of their investments. In other words Madoff’s fund had not grown in value, but he mislead his investors to think that their investment had grown. His reputation for paying such high returns attracted more and more clients. He sent out false financial statements, which lead his clients to think that they were making a lot of money. Madoff’s sons reported him to the federal authorities and he was arrested in his Manhattan apartment on December 11th 2008.
Madoff was charged with the following crimes: securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and theft from an employee benefit plan. On March 12th 2009 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 150 years in Butner Federal Correctional Institution.
Hundreds of Madoff’s investors lost all of their life savings. Many retired and elderly without incomes or pensions lost everything with Madoff. Madoff was a very bad man who ruined lots of people’s lives.
I chose Bernard Madoff for my biography because he has been in the financial news for a very long time. I am very interested in what goes on in the stock market because someday I would like to be working on Wall Street, as a businessman. Madoff is a good example of what not to become. Madoff is a crook and a liar and he definitely deserves to be in jail for the rest of his life.
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