Cash 'Up in Smoke' After Ex-Nasdaq Chairman's Arrest in 'Ponzi Scheme'

[bijou]

NEW YORK —  Investors struggled Friday to understand how a former Nasdaq stock market chairman could hide losses of at least $50 billion in what he allegedly called "a giant Ponzi scheme."

Bernard L. Madoff, 70, was arrested on a securities fraud charge Thursday and released on $10 million bail after federal authorities said he ran a fraudulent investment business separate from his Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Outside those offices Friday, one man who said he had invested with Madoff said everyone who had put money into the firm "has got problems."

"I think at this point it’s all up in smoke," he told a gaggle of reporters. "That’s my personal feelings, but we’ll see."

No one who entered or exited the granite-columned office tower where the firm is housed during lunchtime said they worked for Madoff, and the lone investor who did speak on the condition of anonymity said he was told their offices were closed Friday.

FOXNews.com's calls to the firm were not answered.

Prosecutors allege Madoff ran a secret $17.1 billion investment-advising business that operated separately from his Manhattan securities firm, servicing between 11 and 25 clients.

...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,466146,00.html

BERNARD MADOFF » NY » 10022 Contributor Candidate or PAC  Amount  Date  FEC Filing 
MADOFF, BERNARD L
NEW YORK , NY 10022
BERNARD L. MADOFF INVEST.-SEC./CHAI
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $25,000
primary 09/12/08 

MADOFF, BERNARD
NEW YORK, NY 10022
SELF EMPLOYED/INVESTOR MERKLEY, JEFFREY ALAN (D)
Senate - OR
JEFF MERKLEY FOR OREGON $2,300
primary 04/24/08 

MADOFF, BERNARD L
NEW YORK, NY 10022
BERNARD L. MADOFF INVEST.-SEC./CHAI
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $25,000
primary 05/04/07 

MADOFF, BERNARD L
NEW YORK, NY 10022
BERNARD L. MADOFF INVEST. SEC./CHAI
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $25,000
primary 09/30/06 

Madoff, Bernard L.
New York, NY 10022
Bernard L. Madoff P.C./Chairman RANGEL, CHARLES B (D)
House (NY 15)
RANGEL FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 08/30/01 

MADOFF, BERNARD
NEW YORK, NY 10022
BERNARD L MADOFF INVESTMENT SECURIT
SECURITIES INDUSTRY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS ASSOCIATION FUND A $2,000
primary 11/03/00 

MADOFF, BERNARD
NEW YORK, NY 10022
CHAIRMAN CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)
Senate - NY
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON FOR US SENATE COMMITTEE INC $1,000
primary 01/13/00 

...more...

Hmmm...

[Chris]

His own kids turned him in.  The guy must be a real shit.

The FBI complaint quotes two senior Madoff employees as saying Mr. Madoff ran the investment arm on a separate floor of the firm's offices. The two employees said Mr. Madoff kept the financial statements from the firm under lock and key and was "cryptic" about the firm's investment business.

The complaint did not name the two senior employees. But according to people familiar with the matter, they are Mr. Madoff's sons, Andrew and Mark. Mark Madoff is the firm's senior managing director and chief compliance officer. Andrew Madoff is its director of trading.

Both complaints say Mr. Madoff told his sons he believed losses from his fraud exceeded $50 billion. That figure couldn't be confirmed. But such a loss is plausible, had money been flowing in and out for years: At the beginning of 2008, according to the SEC filing, his operation had more than $17 billion under management.


WSJ