Who’s Worse: U.S. Banks or Bernie Madoff?
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The Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme is back in the news this week with two big headlines. The most recent involves new allegations that the Securities and Exchange Commission illegally destroyed files for at least 9,000 preliminary investigations over the last two decades -- including documents that pertained to the jailed former money manager.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Madoff's victims can only fight to recoup the amount of their principal investment, not (fictitious) profits earned by the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. That's welcome news for Irving Picard, the attorney in charge of liquidating Madoff's assets.
It's been nearly three years since Madoff was arrested, but the story still grabs headlines owing to the fact that so many questions have yet to be answered. Harry Markopolous, the Madoff whistle-blower and the focus of the new documentary Chasing Madoff, tells The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task that interest in the case remains because justice has yet to be served. He compares the $65 billion injustice to the bailout of U.S. banks, which hit taxpayers with a multitrillion-dollar bill.
"It is not over. You can see that the criminals -- the white-collar criminals -- got away with the biggest bank heist in history," says Markopolous, who is also the author of No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller. "It was the same in the Madoff case. Only nine people have been arrested in the Madoff case. Well, it's way too few. Same like the bankers. They had the biggest bank heist in history, and they got away with it. Not one person went to jail, and they got bailed out and paid themselves bonuses."
After you watch the accompanying video, tell us what you think. Do you believe that the actions of the U.S. banks have been as bad or worse than the Madoff Ponzi scheme?
