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codypomeray’s journal

madoff

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I think the fact that Madoff's bail was revoked and that he will be spending the rest of his life in jail is great. The unfortunate thing is that many more are getting away with robbing the American people and driving this country into this current recession.

I was getting new front tires about a month ago when I ended up speaking with the gentleman in the waiting area of Mavis. A few of his good friends had lost all of their savings with Madoff. We started talking about it because it happened to be on the little tv sitting on the table in the corner. The gentleman explained how the friends of his got involved. It happened at an exclusive private country club in Florida. Apparently Madoff had "two guys" who would carefully screen propsective investors who would only be accepted if they were in a certain income bracket. He also explained that there was a "referral" system through other members to Madoffs guys. After all of these "formalities" the prospective investors would begin investing with Madoffs firm.

While listening to this, I was watching the cars being serviced in the garage area through the large glass window. My silver jetta, another guys blue gti, and then this gentleman's jaguar. My mind was spinning trying to imagine the lifestyle one must have had before being swindled by Bernie Madoff. Meanwhile the guy with the jaguar looks at us and says "wow am I happy I didn't get referred by anyone, and I wasn't considered special enough to invest with that firm." He then began to ramble on about how he was leaving for florida in the morning.

It was all kind of bizzare in a way. Everyone has been touched in one way or another by this recession. Some more than others. Nothing profound here, just wanted to share that story
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💬 4 comments

  1. james ·

    I just read Madoff's statement in which he pled guilty and explained how he committed his crimes. It is baffling. He ran a very successful investment firm which dipped a little with the market in the early 90's. So, he just puts all the investment money into a bank account and makes false reports. If someone wants some of their money, he just pulls it from the bank account.

    One little market when in the same time the DOW has gone up nearly 400%. That is just some crazy shit.

  2. joshua ·

    Really the scary thing about all this is how it was the elites that primarily got ripped off by Madoff - you know, the supposed smartest of the smart, the most financially savvy Americans? Beyond the startling amount of money that was lost, that should give everybody pause. Madoff was Chairman of Nasdaq for God's sake - how much more credibility does one need? It was the most brilliant con ever perpetrated. I'd put the house on a bet that his kids and family were somehow involved in hiding some of this money, but will never be touched because of the plea deal.

    I'm pretty much an intolerant zealot when it comes to defending our market system, but EVERYBODY has to realize that more effective regulation (not more, just a lot better) is needed if we're ever going to prevent this from occurring again.

  3. codypomeray ·

    Joshua I completely agree with you. Better regulations, a less politicized securitied and exchange commision. Oversight needs to be rigid in order to keep this from happeneing again and our country as a whole needs reevaluate its values, and realize that in order to consume, we first have to produce ideas, products that others want to buy. Our country has been living on empty calories and transfats for years. Our public health issue was a parody for our economic health. The american dream is not white pickett fences for everyone with two cars in the drive. It has to be reworked!

  4. dcoffee ·

    amazing how someone can get so rich doing so little, producing nothing of real value. Glad he's been caught and made an example of. Interesting that local folks got swindled too.

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