{"id":2192,"date":"2008-12-12T17:58:07","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T16:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.martinvarsavsky.net\/?p=2192"},"modified":"2008-12-12T18:07:15","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T17:07:15","slug":"bernard-madoff-the-biggest-solo-scam-artist-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.martinvarsavsky.net\/?p=2192","title":{"rendered":"Bernard Madoff, the biggest solo scam artist in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been reading about Madoff <\/a>and how he screwed thousands of investors out of $50bn. Now my question is: Is he a terrible trader who would raise money and lose it and pretend to make more or is he just a thief with billions in a secret bank account? There are so many things in this story that do not make sense to me:<\/p>\n

-why did not more investors find out what some found out and that is that his auditors were a nonexistent accountant in Brooklyn. $50bn invested and nobody investigated him before?<\/p>\n

-why is the penalty for his crime only $5m in a fine and 20 years? Can\u00b4t the government take away all of his net worth and distribute it among his creditors?<\/p>\n

-how could he get away with paying $300 million in bonuses before giving himself up to the police? Why can\u00b4t the government get that money back?<\/p>\n

-did he really have no partners in crime?<\/p>\n

And there\u00b4s more and more. I just can\u00b4t believe the amounts involved. The financial world is seriously rotten. On my side I only want to own bonds and shares directly and in a very diversified portfolio in different countries and currencies.<\/p>\n

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