Just in time before Christmas: $50bn fraud
That’s the size of losses estimated by Bernie Madoff, who was just arrested.
Some say it might be less, like $20bn.
So much for “hedge funds are going down with dignity” (FT column a week ago):
In an awful year for everyone, hedge funds have remained a beacon of free market principles. It is small comfort, but it is something.
One amazing detail is that regulator was informed a decade ago that Madoff is running a giant Ponzi scheme:
A wrinkle in the case is the complaint dating back nine years to the SEC by a securities industry executive named Harry Markopolos. He contacted the agency’s Boston office in May 1999, telling SEC staff they should investigate Madoff because it was impossible for the kind of profit he was making to have been gained legally.
First Posche, now this. Not a good month for hedge funds.
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