Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
Yesterday J.P. Morgan agreed to forfeit $1.7 billion for its failure related to the Bernie Madoff fraud, plus several hundred million in fines. As part its deferred prosecution agreement, the bank agreed that it did not have the proper systems in place to catch Madoff. It’s easy to target the bank for compliance failures but … Continue reading “J.P. Morgan’s Madoff Failure”
It’s tough to see a hero fall. I didn’t consider Lance Armstrong to be a hero for riding. But what he did for cancer survivors was remarkable. Until recently, cycling was filthy with doping. Take a look at the podium finishers for the Tour de France. Only two of the podium finishers in the Tour … Continue reading “Lance Armstrong – A Lying Liar Just Like Madoff”
The Madoff scandal is one of the low points in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Every Congressional hearing or SEC-basher inevitably uses the failure to catch Madoff as evidence of the ineffectiveness of the SEC. In a continuing journey down the rabbit hole, the SEC’s Inspector General David Kotz released his 123-page … Continue reading “The Echoes of Madoff at the SEC”
The New York magazine interview with Bernie Madoff has finally been published. Steve Fishman spoke with Madoff on the phone (collect calls from Madoff’s prison) for several hours. And so, sitting alone with his therapist, in the prison khakis he irons himself, he seeks reassurance. “Everybody on the outside kept claiming I was a sociopath,” … Continue reading “Is Madoff a Sociopath?”
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Monroe L. Beachy, a 77-year-old Amish man from Sugarcreek, Ohio. They found the Bernie Madoff of the Amish. Beachy targeted his fellow Amish in his alleged fraud. He raised more than $33 million from as early as 1986. Beachy enticed investors by promising interest rates that were … Continue reading “The Amish Madoff”
One of the many repercussions of the Madoff fraud is how to treat investors who had money in his Ponzi scheme. There has been plenty written about how the trustee is treating the direct investors. He is only treating net cash. If you took out more cash than you put in, you are on the … Continue reading “Dealing with Losses From the Madoff Fraud”
How do you value fraud? When the Madoff ponzi scheme collapsed the claim was that there was $65 billion in losses. That was the total dollar value on the account statements given to investors. Of course, that number was fictional because there were not real assets behind those numbers. The trustee overseeing the liquidation of … Continue reading “Madoff Losses Down from $65 Billion to $20 Billion”
The SEC has charged Daniel Bonventre, Madoff’s Director of Operations, with securities fraud. “According to the SEC’s complaint, Bonventre was responsible for the firm’s general ledger and financial statements that were materially misstated because they did not reflect the manner in which investor funds were maintained and used. Bonventure ensured that BMIS financial reports did … Continue reading “Another Charge in Madoff Fraud”
Last Friday, the SEC published the exhibits for Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme (Report No. OIG-509). That was 536 separate exhibits tying to fill in the background on what happened with the SEC and Madoff. The one that caught my eye was exhibit 104 that summarized a June … Continue reading “How Did Madoff Go Bad?”
I will be covering today’s Senate Hearing (”Oversight of the SEC’s Failure to Identify the Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi Scheme and How to Improve SEC Performance“) along with several guest panelists via the interactive discussion below. Please visit this page today at 2:30 pm to join me, Bruce Carton of Securities Docket, Compliance Week editor … Continue reading “Madoff Hearing at the Senate Banking Committee”