Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Current Events and Musings => Political Forum => Topic started by: WhiskeyGirl on February 27, 2009, 02:45:19 PM



Title: Whistleblower: Many Suspected Madoff Fraud - SEC? AWL?
Post by: WhiskeyGirl on February 27, 2009, 02:45:19 PM
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...Markopolos, a financial analyst and fraud investigator, says a lot of people had serious doubts about what Madoff was doing. The proof is in the firms that didn't put money in his fund. "I would say that hundreds of people suspected something was amiss with the Madoff operation. If you look at who the victims were not, you'll notice that the major firms on Wall Street had no money with Mr. Madoff," he tells Kroft.


Was the SEC keeping track of Wall Street too?

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Markopolos tells Kroft there were ample ways the SEC could have figured out that Madoff was a fraud. For example, Markopolos concluded that for Madoff to execute the trading strategy he said he was using he would have had to buy more options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange than existed. All the SEC had to do was talk to people in the options industry, as Markopolos did. "I would talk to the people I had trading relationships with and ask 'Did you have a trading relationship with Mr. Bernard Madoff?' And they all said 'No. We don't think he's for real.'"


Where did all the money on Wall Street go?  Did someone make really big withdrawals overnight?

Some in Congress want to know about the bank investment bonuses, I think they should make the withdrawals and money movement records public, without identifying info of course, maybe just the really big ones.  Follow the money.


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Markopolos submitted information on Madoff to the SEC in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and finally last April of 2008. While a case file was opened and the SEC discovered that Madoff had misled them, the governmental watchdog agency never found the fraud. They are not trained to do that, says Markopolos. "What I found from my dealings with the SEC over eight and a half years is that their people are totally untrained in finance," he says. "Most of them are just merely lawyers without any financial industry experience."


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/27/60minutes/main4833667.shtml (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/27/60minutes/main4833667.shtml)

I wonder if these are the same people doing the stress tests?  Any clue about how these complex financial things work?  Are these the people making the big bailout decisions too?  Wow...I feel safer already.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

jmho


Title: Re: Whistleblower: Many Suspected Madoff Fraud - SEC? AWL?
Post by: WhiskeyGirl on February 27, 2009, 02:48:25 PM
Another telling quote from the above article -

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In a video of a roundtable discussion he participated in at the non-profit Philoctetes Center in New York obtained by 60 Minutes, Madoff can be heard saying, "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules. This is something the public really doesn't understand but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time."

Hmmm...because nothing is 'against' the law?  Profit by any means necessary are the moral and legal values at work?


Title: Re: Whistleblower: Many Suspected Madoff Fraud - SEC? AWL?
Post by: WhiskeyGirl on February 27, 2009, 03:10:39 PM
IRS Under Pressure to Offer Tax Relief to Madoff Victims

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In a press release, U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), said he has sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman asking him to allow victims to claim a theft loss on their 2008 taxes, and amend their tax returns dating back to at least 1995.

It looks like the Madoff problems started during the Clinton administration.  Aren't these the same folks that are now part of the Obama administration?  The ones fixing the problems?  Some of the same ones that didn't want to reform the problems during the Bush Administration?

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“Given this confirmation that Madoff Securities made no investments with its clients’ money, I believe it would be appropriate for the Internal Revenue Service to immediately issue guidance and allow Madoff’s victims to both claim theft loss on their 2008 tax returns and amend their tax returns dating back to at least 1995,” wrote Ackerman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

None of our watchdogs noticed that there were no investments?  On a side note, when I went to cash in a coffee can with years of coins, my LOCAL SMALL TOWN bank asked me all kinds of questions about where the money was from...apparently it was some federal requirement...

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/irs-pressure-offer-tax-relief-madoff-victims/ (http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/irs-pressure-offer-tax-relief-madoff-victims/)