Why Are Bernie Madoff's Co-conspirators Not Being Pursued?
vinny
Who is Bernard Madoff, the man behind the $50 billion fraud?
Christopher Bollyn
"So he spends the rest of his life in jail - is that justice? People's
lives are ruined," said Adriane Biondo of Los Angeles, one of five
members of her family who lost money with Madoff. "He's sitting in
jail? That's awesome," she said sarcastically. "Where's the money,
Bernie?"
- AP Report, March 12, 2009
Is the Prosecutor Protecting Madoff's Fellow Conspirators?
Update of 17 March 2009
"People tend to think of the Israeli War of Independence as gung-ho
Jews-Arabs stuff; it wasn't that at all. It was more Bonnie and Clyde,
Chicago type of stuff. The people in the Stern Gang were violent, but
they had a droll sense of humor. Some of them used to dress up to rob
banks. They loved to put on masks and little moustaches." - Avi
Nesher, Israeli film director and partner of Sharon Harel, commenting
on his movie about the Stern Gang, to the New York Times, 9 October
1981. Harel father was Yossi Harel, the former head of Israeli
intelligence.
When Bernard Madoff read a statement in court recounting his crimes on
March 12, "he sounded like a man reading a speech he hadn't bothered
to rehearse," according to Joe Nocera of the New York Times. Madoff's
performance was most unsatisfactory for those who lost their life
savings in his immense fraud. They, of course, want to know where
their money went and who was helping Madoff carry out the biggest
fraud in U.S. history. The only thing that was made clear during
Madoff's hearing was that he is refusing to help the government build
a case against anyone else, which indicates that there are other
people involved in this massive fraud.
"Did we get answers? Not at all," said George Nierenberg, a filmmaker
whose family lost "almost everything," said after the hearing.
Nierenberg, who was allowed to speak during the hearing with Judge
Denny Chin, expressed his dismay that Madoff was not being charged
with conspiracy:
Nierenberg: "I know that the operation - Madoff's operation was
massive, that he didn't commit these crimes alone and I don't
understand why conspiracy isn't part of one of his pleas. Just to
produce the reams of documents that were received and the elaborate
data that went into them must have required an army of people to
produce. And we all know that Madoff wasn't around a lot at his
operation. There were other people who handled it when he was gone.
The Court: I gather your point is that I should reject the plea
because the government has not charged conspiracy?
Nierenberg: No. The question is - I'm not suggesting that you reject
the plea. What I'm suggesting is that there is an additional crime
that was committed that wasn't included in the plea that needs to be
considered.
Joe Nocera, a business journalist, oddly added his opinion as fact in
the New York Times and International Herald Tribune stating that
Madoff's fraud was a simple Ponzi scheme and that "there is no money"
to be recovered:
One woman argued that the judge should force a trial because it would
allow for the "opportunity to find out where the money is."
But of course there is no money. That is the point of a Ponzi scheme:
the fraudster uses money from new investors to pay old investors,
pretending that payment is their "gain."
How would Mr. Nocera know if this is a Ponzi scheme or not? Is he
simply taking Madoff's word that this was a Ponzi scheme? If Nocera
has information to support his statement, why doesn't he present it?
How does Nocera know, for example, that the Madoff scheme is not a
massive theft which is posing as a Ponzi scheme? Why would there be
such a high-level cover-up in the Madoff case if this were a simple
Ponzi scheme? Why would the prosecution be willing to ignore the other
people who were involved in the Madoff fraud?
The failure of the prosecution to bring charges of conspiracy against
Madoff suggests that the U.S. attorney is indeed ignoring the network
behind the crime, as Mr. Nierenberg said, by failing to address the
fact that other people must be involved. This point was addressed by
Christopher Caldwell, the editor of The Weekly Standard, in an article
in the Financial Times:
To top it all off, there have been no charges of conspiracy against
Mr. Madoff. That means that, as far as prosecutors are concerned, and
as far as we are permitted to speculate, this make-believe investment
history was his own creation. He must have been one of the hardest-
working men of his generation.
Is the prosecution playing along with Madoff to protect the other
conspirators involved in his fraud? If they are, why would they? Who
are these other high-level conspirators who are being protected?
It appears to me that this is indeed the case. In this regard, the
Madoff investigation is similar to the 9-11 investigation: evidence of
a larger conspiracy is being avoided and ignored. After three months
of investigation, it is outrageous that charges of conspiracy were not
included in Madoff's plea. He must have had conspirators in his
office, in his family, and at his banks. It is simply not possible
that he carried out this huge fraud all by himself and managed to keep
it concealed from his family and business partners for 20 years. That
is not believable.
As I have pointed out earlier, Madoff's has very close and long-
standing business ties to the directors and owners of two of Israel's
largest banks, which were privatized in the 1990s: Bank Leumi and
Israel Discount Bank. The IDB, at least, has a long history of money-
laundering and illegal money transfers.
Jacob Ezra Merkin, who funneled hundreds of millions if not billions
of dollars to Madoff's fund, is part owner of Bank Leumi. These
relationships strongly suggest that Madoff's scheme was a massive
theft being disguised as a Ponzi scheme in which fellow high-level
Zionists played key roles.
If this is the case and the Madoff fraud is nothing but a huge Zionist
fund-raising scheme in which untold billions have been stolen, then we
would expect that the role of the prosecutor would be played by a
Zionist agent playing the role of a tough, but not too tough,
prosecutor. It should come as no surprise that this is, in fact, the
case.
-=DirtBag©
Because Bernie didn't cooperate. Now they have to investigate and figure
out who to squeeze for info. This all takes time and often times they
miss several key players for lack of obvious evidence or because
investigators get called off the case and into something new and more
pressing.. and start loosing their way. For Bernie it was perfect.
PeterL
> Who is Bernard Madoff, the man behind the $50 billion fraud?
>
> Christopher Bollyn
>
> "So he spends the rest of his life in jail - is that justice? People's
> lives are ruined," said Adriane Biondo of Los Angeles, one of five
> members of her family who lost money with Madoff. "He's sitting in
> jail? That's awesome," she said sarcastically. "Where's the money,
> Bernie?"
I got news for you Adriane, your money is gone. You are not getting
any back (well some).
>
> When Bernard Madoff read a statement in court recounting his crimes on
> March 12, "he sounded like a man reading a speech he hadn't bothered
> to rehearse," according to Joe Nocera of the New York Times. Madoff's
> performance was most unsatisfactory for those who lost their life
> savings in his immense fraud. They, of course, want to know where
> their money went and who was helping Madoff carry out the biggest
> fraud in U.S. history. The only thing that was made clear during
> Madoff's hearing was that he is refusing to help the government build
> a case against anyone else, which indicates that there are other
> people involved in this massive fraud.
>
What is his motivation for helping the government? He is already
going to do a life sentence. It's not like he'll get out.
> "Did we get answers? Not at all," said George Nierenberg, a filmmaker
> whose family lost "almost everything," said after the hearing.
> Nierenberg, who was allowed to speak during the hearing with Judge
> Denny Chin, expressed his dismay that Madoff was not being charged
> with conspiracy:
He may yet be, if they found enough evidence.
catalpa
"vinny" <nob...@nymu.eu> wrote in message
news:e74c9a1a17f747a4...@mixmaster.nymu.eu...
>
> Nierenberg: "I know that the operation - Madoff's operation was
> massive, that he didn't commit these crimes alone and I don't
> understand why conspiracy isn't part of one of his pleas. Just to
> produce the reams of documents that were received and the elaborate
> data that went into them must have required an army of people to
> produce. And we all know that Madoff wasn't around a lot at his
> operation. There were other people who handled it when he was gone.
>
It was not a massive operation. Madoff had a bunch of low paid clerks using
computers to produce fake statements every month. It is not very difficult
to write computer software to come up with fake trades based on the size of
the customers account and create fake trade confirmations and monthly
statements. Very easy to create reams of documents using computers.
Nobody had to do anything when Madoff wasn't around as no real trading was
taking place. Madoff just had to be around to dummy up the numbers for the
monthly statements.
Visual649
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/madoff/
..."In the mid-1960s, Bernard Madoff tapped money from Jewish
businessmen at exclusive country clubs with the promise of steady
guaranteed returns on their investments. He then set his sights on
Europe and Latin America, brokering deals with powerful hedge fund
managers and feeder funds from Buenos Aires to Geneva. Billions of
dollars were channeled to Madoff’s investment firm, and his feeders
became fabulously wealthy. The competition wondered how the man could
produce such steady returns in good times and bad. There were
allegations that Madoff was “front-running” or operating a Ponzi
scheme, which the SEC investigated several times over the last two
decades. But Madoff remained untouched until December 11, 2008, when
he admitted it was all “one big lie.” FRONTLINE correspondent Martin
Smith unravels the story behind the world’s first truly global Ponzi
scheme—a deception that lasted longer, reached wider and cut deeper
than any other business scandal in history. ..."
-=DirtBag©
Yea lets waste more money giving him another 50 years.
I say go after his wife Ruth and possibly his sons too...