Thread: A question of semantics, perhaps...

From a BBC story about Bernard Madoff.

His lawyers said he should be released until sentencing because he never made any attempt to flee while under house arrest at his Manhattan penthouse.

Though I'm sure his incarceration was driving him insane...

The guy should go to a real prison, not the country club kind like Martha Stewart did. Every asset that can be found should be distibuted among those who were conned.

Even with house arrest in a penthouse, I'm not sure I wouldn't be tempted to flee to South America if I were looking down the barrel of what equates to life in prison. Which is probably what the Judge was thinking also.

Instead of prison, where he'll get food, shelter, and medical care, I'd prefer him to be dumped in the streets of NYC and monitored to ensure that he remained homeless and hungry.

Is Madoff totally to blame? what about the investors that failed to do due diligence in his business before investing? if every year you get a 10+% return on investment even in down market years... you should at least be asking questions.

as is the rule with most things... if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

perhaps we should strip the investors of all their assets as well and let them live homeless in the streets as well.

the same greed that got him in trouble can be found in all the investors.. remember it was considered prestigious to be allowed to invest with Madoff

I hear what you're saying, but being foolish or stupid with your money is not a crime as such. Madoff was deliberately and massively defrauding. The investors were guilty of greed and lack of prudence, neither of which are crimes.

When BCCI went down in the early 90s, many of the savers were accused of greed -- the bank was offering savings rates far in excess of others. Again, they might have been blinded by greed, but they did nothing wrong.

Madoff deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail. The effects of his crime will be felt and suffered by individuals and their families for decades. He is scum.

Originally Posted by syslight

Is Madoff totally to blame? what about the investors that failed to do due diligence in his business before investing? if every year you get a 10+% return on investment even in down market years... you should at least be asking questions.

Nice. This reminds me of that line in Animal House when after wrecking Flounder's brother's Lincoln, Bluto said to Flounder, "You F'd up. You trusted us."

Originally Posted by Utopian

Instead of prison, where he'll get food, shelter, and medical care, I'd prefer him to be dumped in the streets of NYC and monitored to ensure that he remained homeless and hungry.

Not good. This guy would organize a homeless army that would scam enough money to start all over again. This guy on the streets would be the equivalent of Fagan in the novel Oliver Twist.

Originally Posted by Bladerunner

Not good. This guy would organize a homeless army that would scam enough money to start all over again. This guy on the streets would be the equivalent of Finnigan in the novel Oliver Twist.

"Finnigan?" Maybe you mean Fagan?

Originally Posted by syslight

perhaps we should strip the investors of all their assets as well and let them live homeless in the streets as well.

I think Madoff and the rest of the market has come close to arranging that for some already.

I do take your point and agree that the victims had some culpability as well. The original Ponzi, who used an international stamp swap as his investment front, had hundreds of people lining up to invest the day AFTER the Wall Street Journal broke the story of his scheme.