Bernie Madoff - The Wizard of Lies

[canadianoutlaw]

Bernie Madoff documentary out on HBO now. Pretty entertaining with Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. Hard to believe its been almost a decade since the scandal broke. While watching all I could think about is how grateful I am for index funds!

[pistolpete]

Just watched this on Saturday and I thought it was great! Well done by DeNiro. Check it out!

[Hatton]

i have not seen it yet.  I agree with the canadian outlaw in that this is one thing you do not worry about if you manage your own money.

[Hank]

You still need to worry about the Enrons and the MCI Worldcoms, they'll just be a much smaller percentage of your overall holdings with S&P 500 or Vanguard Total Stock Market.

[hightower]

I just watched it too!  I was thinking the same thing the whole time...glad I can manage my own money now  I do truly feel sorry for the people that lost everything though.  That must have been absolutely gut wrenching to know that all of your life's work was just gone instantly.  They went from thinking they were multi-millionaires to finding out they had nothing.

[janettebournes]

I know a big criticism of the documentary was how much of the focus was on Madoff's family. It seems like people are still angry and cannot believe that a Ponzi scheme that big was perpetrated by just one man.

What does everyone think? You think the wife and kids were in on it too? Or Bernie actually duped everyone?

[hightower]

janettebournes wrote:

I know a big criticism of the documentary was how much of the focus was on Madoff’s family. It seems like people are still angry and cannot believe that a Ponzi scheme that big was perpetrated by just one man.

What does everyone think? You think the wife and kids were in on it too? Or Bernie actually duped everyone?

Click to expand...

It certainly seems like the family got hurt the most by his actions.  Not only were they deceived by their own father, but their lives were completely destroyed at the same time.  I don't think the wife or kids knew anything. I think that's why the film makers spent so much time depicting Bernie as so hostile towards his family when they would pry into his wealth and business dealings.  He was being an asshole because he thought he was protecting them from his wrong doings.  But, of course he was hurting them all along.  It was interesting that he didn't seem to feel any remorse until his wife decided to stop talking to him.  I think that was the first time he started to feel regret for what he had done.

[jfoxcpacfp]

I have read a couple of books on Bernie (fascinating) and, imo, the family just looked the other way. But, it's hard to know about family dynamics unless you were there. Actually a lot of people looked the other way. Harry Markopolos and his small circle were the heroes in this story and the SEC was almost as big a villain as Bernie.