One Big Question for the Madoff Gang
Yesterday Frank DiPascali, Jr. pleaded guilty to ten counts of fraud and other miscreancies in federal court. You remember Frank. He was the CFO of the Madoff gang. Didn't go to college. Started out pretty straight, probably. About 1980, maybe a little later, he began to get what the real picture was with the whole operation, since obviously no trading was going on anyplace. As the years went by, he worked closely with Bernie and the rest of the gang, many of whom are still at large, to fool and fleece a huge flock of sheep.
Some of the ruses they worked out would be funny, if you're the kind of person who finds rubber crutches amusing. In one case, show trades were displayed for visitors, with one side of the transaction taking place for the benefit of onlookers and the guy on the other end, supposedly in Europe or the Far East, playing his part in a room down the hall. If these geniuses had put as much effort into running an actual business as they did running their Ponzi, they might have made some honest money. Or maybe not. The markets are so notoriously unpredictable, unless you're a banker with a guaranteed bonus.
We sort of have the outlines of the whole sorry story at this point, with a few gaps still remaining for names that have yet to be filled in on the prison roster. One big question still remains, though. Here it is:
If I were Frank DiPascale, Jr., and I saw what was happening in the summer of 2008, I would have put aside perhaps ten or twenty million dollars very quietly and gotten the hell out of dodge. Same goes for Madoff, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, look at it this way: you've been a dirtbag for more than 25 years, a total, stone-cold crook taking the life savings from the wallets of the elderly, the charitable, your best friends and their families. Suddenly you don't have the moxie to make a clean getaway? What gives? Why didn't these guys run away? I sure would have. If I were Frank DiPascale, Jr., I'd be sunning myself someplace where the extradition laws were modulated by the friendly local constabulary, and all my new friends were calling me Pablo or Francois or Mr. Wemberly. But they all stuck around to face their victims and the wrath of a righteous public that now hates anybody that has money, even if it was legally obtained.
Sentencing of Frank DiPascale, Jr. will await his cooperation with the Feds. He probably won't get the 125 years he's up for, particularly if he keeps on wearing the fancy suit and tie he did at his hearing, rather than the sweatshirt and jeans he affected during his years as an accomplished white-collar criminal. Everybody's crazy about a sharp dressed man, particularly if he's singing like a bird.
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the scary thing is that Wall Street knew it was a scam.
Wall Street ‘red light’ on Madoff (but didn't rat him out) - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2158779/posts -
"Large Wall Street firms privately harboured suspicions about Bernard Madoff’s investment business, in some cases steering clients away from dealing with him, but were reluctant to share their concerns with regulators, according to US bankers.
Banks were sceptical that Mr Madoff could deliver the consistently high returns that he reported, and they were also put off by a lack of transparency at his investment firm. For these reasons, big Wall Street firms are notably absent from the long list of victims of Mr Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme.
Fabio Savoldelli, chief investment officer of Merrill Lynch Investment Management prior to its 2006 merger with BlackRock, sounded the warning internally years ago. One of Merrill’s financial advisers, who deals with clients worth tens of millions of dollars, recalled Mr Savoldelli’s suspicions of Mr Madoff’s returns eight years ago.
Two years ago, an internal Merrill report drawn up in connection with Merrill’s European fund of funds group, concluded the group should not deal with Mr Madoff, the financial adviser said. “We had a red light on doing business with him. There was no transparency.”"
I guess there is honor among thieves.
Madoff and his gang probably could have kept this going for quite awhile. His problem was that when the economy tanked, some of his investors wanted their money back and he couldn't produce it.
Don't for a minute be fooled that justice was served in any way. The only reason he received such a sentence is because he ripped of some very wealthy people (and a lot of not so wealthy). And he didn't help his case by saying he did it all himself. His entire family should be thoroughly investigated.
Whats left of the money is probably socked away in a bank in Israel or somewhere.
The undeniable strain of privledge and entitlement, the abject defiance and contempt for even a mite of expected contrition marks all these players, and all their kin on K, C, and Wall streets as well (I can envision seeing all of Bill Kristol's teeth beneath the blindfold), but in reality this dramatic display of privledge under pressure has existed for some time by some few people in America.
Think of old Nazi movies, heads held back, spit, split, shoot any who might presume equity of life station. Done with a sneer. Think of many congressmen in Washington. Think of all serious CEO players in corporations.
Think of the Bush Family.
If you were to write a book and make a movie out of some fiction wherein an repeatingly unrepentant, errant lad was so contumely entitled by dint of family privledge that he was made leader of the whole nation, and even though a consistent abject failure in all his endeavors, and which were marked by the same consistent comport of contempt, derision, and defiance at any idea of being held accountable for his innumerable paucities of real character or honorable action, your editor might return the manuscript, saying in red pencil: "Listen, pally, we live in incredible times, but you can't just stretch the rubber over the big head. Keep it real, will ya???"
In the end, several sons were lost in squander. Two, though, were eventually profiled in single words by weary jounrnalist--'smirky' and 'snotty.'
I believe Madoff thought he could keep it going another 10 years plus or until he croaked, but didn't anticipate the financial meltdown. Now here's the interesting part which no one seems to have picked up on yet. All his "helpers" such as Merkin, Fairfield, his whole family, etc. who certainly knew what was afoot were told to invest a good portion of the hundreds of millions Madoff was giving them (Placement fees!!!) into MadoffI Inc.so when it collapsed - as they certainly knew it would - they could say, "I was a victim, too!". That would be their cover.
where could he go not to many places iin the world where he could run and hide
Israel!
Nowhere to go where they wouldn't eventually get caught and repatriated.
They didn't run because hitmen will find you wherever you are.
So Madoff made off with tons of money and lived the life of Reilly, or rather a Rockefeller or du Pont. When Leona Helmsley, the Queen of Mean, was headed for the slammer, one of her associates sought my help in keeping her out (I do consulting on solving all kinds of problems with imaginative ideas). My suggestion was for her to immediately take out full page ads in major newspapers with the headline: I AM A CROOK. Then the explanation she wants to help indigent people, offering $500 loans to those in need. Just come to any of her hotels to receive this non-recourse loan, one per person. Lines of people would extend for miles and shut down traffic, business and schools. The National Guard would have to keep order. The President would have pleaded with her to stop giving out money in that fashion. With this leverage Leona could then have made a deal: either house arrest or a Presidential pardon. And she would mail the checks. She turned down my plan as "too expensive" and went to jail. After cleaning toilets, eating food with mouse droppings, physical and emotional abuse from other prisoners, Leona regretted not accepting my plan. Madoff could have utilized this same idea, prior to confessing his heinous crime, actually giving away OPM and having clout when he did finally squeal. Then the Feds would be happy with a plea bargain he hoped for and never got.
Too funny! Just like our representatives they had been getting by with the scam for a lifetime & the people they were taking were perfect fools with no chance of facing reality. The SEC didn't believe Madoff was running a Ponzi after being told how many times?
WMD & all that didn't exist but Bush took US to Iraq anyway?
Bnaks & all we're bailing out contributed $64 million to our representtaives who stopped public debate into whether derivatives were a risk to the world financial system even though Brokksley Born testified 17 times before Congress.
Warnings by a US commission led by Gary Hart in 1996 that commercial airlines could be used as bombs.
www.nxtrevolution.net
Full finacial disclosure by all our rperesnetatives & family will tell US more than the die hard individuals of both parties want to know.
We've been taken in the greatest scam the world has ever seen & there's really no placeor reason to run. Why, the people will never ask. We've been raised patriotic, greatest country in the world, we're free, constitution says so.
The American people are fools being played like a fined tuned violin. Bush did exactly as bin Laden planned, we're going broke just like planned because he knew campaign finance, & the crooks we pay to represent US would repeat the banking scandals of the 1980s because they got away with it then, & would again as they have.
A friend, a bankrupt, victim of greed, ex-stock broker told me everyone was in on the Madoff scam.
The only doubt was how long you could play the man before you got caught with your pants down a Ponzi.
They didn't run because they honestly thought that they'd never get caught. And because they thought the gravy train would roll on forever they most likely spent all, or most, of their ill gotten gains foolishly. When all of your stolen money is tied up in material things (grossly overpriced cars, boats and multiple million dollars homes) it pretty difficult to quickly liquidate and leave the country.
I think you are closest to the truth. Money brings power and power brings arrogance. They thought they will never get caught. They probably thought they were right too, and deserving of all the ill gotten profits. I don’t think it was difficult for any of them to think of an escape route, to get an off shore account (they all have them), to fly, run or whatever, they were just arrogant enough to think they can buy their way out as usually. But if one goes (and he went) they will all go sooner or later. I think for many of the ‘gang’ it was clear what’ll happen but I am not surprised to hear many still do same and think now, they are the ones that will get away. And perhaps they were the ‘sacrificial lambs’ and perhaps now the dust is down the ‘business ‘ will go on till the next big blow-up. There will always, till the end of time, be crooks. Unfortunately.
Simply because those who are the best deceivers are those who are themselves self deceived.
Maybe the most obvious answer is the right one. Maybe Madoff just thought he couldn't pull it off. Think about it. Making a successful escape takes planning. Setting up an offshore account etc. He would have to do that without anyone noticing. Then lets say he did it and got away with it. But then he turns up. Do you think that some of the people he has ripped off, some of whom are still wealthy and powerful, would not have hired a "Dog the Bounty hunter" type to literally kidnap him to bring him back to justice? Just sayin'
Why didn't they run away? Because prison is the safest place for them to be. You can't run far enough from justice when it is the Mossad and other similar organizations serving it to you.
when you're in prison your whereabouts are known and you have scant opportunity to change them
Bernie Madoff and his gang are representative of Wall Street, the only difference is that Madoff was easy to target because he was only one guy. Being no doubt, well-represented and protected by the likes of AIPAC and all the others from NYC to Tel Aviv who are deep in this scam, it was fairly easy to pull this one off and make it look good.
Now, I darethe government to look into the shenanigangs of each and every single CEO on Wall Street! I'm willing to bet that each and every single one of them will go down for as much or more than Madoff. However, doing so would be an incredible task, a monumental undertaking, not to mention, that many 'elected' officials would be going down as well. An investigation of that magnitude would shut down Wall Street so, instead, they try to make an example of Bernie Madoff. Ha! I wonder if that's working yet...
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