Running Madoff scam thread

... since we've hit a couple of aspects but not the whole story, which at this point appears that it's going to be going deep into 2009.

And the big story: Kevin Bacon — six degrees of broke?
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/12/madoffs_latest_victims_kevin_b.html

Another victim: Eric Roth, screenwriter of Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button. Found out he'd lost everything the same day he found out he had gotten a Golden Globe nomination for Benjamin Button.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12272008/news/nationalnews/bilked_of_all_his_benjamins_146064.htm

And Madoff may be planning an insanity defense. I'm sorry, but being a sociopath is not the same thing as being insane.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/12/28/2008-12-28_bernies_fundamental_defense.html

Federal judge has ordered Bernie to list all his assets, which may soon be somebody else's assets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqRRFqt8HJoM&refer=worldwide

 

So where's the money? Switzerland? Lichtenstein? The Cayman Islands?

 

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/almost_since_the_news_broke.php

That's another reason I thought this topic needed a running. The answers are going to come, but slowly and in drips and drabbles.

CNBC had a really good Madoff documentary last week.

 

Another victim: the cover line of this book. $500 million lost in a Ponzi scheme doesn't sound so impressive anymore.

 

The money doesn't necessarily have to be anywhere. It may just be gone. The whole scheme is dependent on a constant stream of cash coming in to pay out the people who are withdrawing from their accounts under the false assumption that they made money. There is no real profit; it's just taking money from one person to pay the fraudulently reported earnings of another.

 

Its with the guys who cashed out last year - and the year before. And the year before that.

 

right, as i understand it, the $50 billion is what the investors thought they had based on the bullshit earnings statements

i assume the actual amount is maybe a third of that?

so they didn't lose as much as they thought they had

not that that's any consolation

 

So Madoff siphoned off nothing?

 

Yeah. I hear he did it all out of the goodness of his heart.

If he hadn't put it all in derivatives of McClatchy stock, all those millionaires would be billionaires today.

 

That's what I'm saying. The whole "You must sell your assets" thing doesn't mean much if Madoff has a few billion stashed in a foreign bank.

 

And those people might be asked to give it back.

 

As a service to the curious who are stupid in the ways of finance (not me of course), can someoeone provide a gannett-style, 5 grafs, USA Today version of what the hell happened?

Thanks.