Bernard Madoff arrested over alleged $50 billion fraudMalo je duži tekst, pa ga zbog preglednosti stavljam u spojler.

Reveal hidden contents

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Bernard Madoff, a quiet force on Wall Street for decades, was arrested and charged on Thursday with allegedly running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme in what may rank among the biggest fraud cases ever.The former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market is best known as the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the closely-held market-making firm he launched in 1960. But he also ran a hedge fund that U.S. prosecutors said racked up $50 billion of fraudulent losses.Madoff told senior employees of his firm on Wednesday that "it's all just one big lie" and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," with estimated investor losses of about $50 billion, according to the U.S. Attorney's criminal complaint against him.A Ponzi scheme is a swindle offering unusually high returns, with early investors paid off with money from later investors.On Thursday, two agents for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation entered Madoff's New York apartment."There is no innocent explanation," Madoff said, according to the criminal complaint. He told the agents that it was all his fault, and that he "paid investors with money that wasn't there," according to the complaint.The $50 billion allegedly lost would make the hedge fund one of the biggest frauds in history. When former energy trading giant Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001, one of the largest at the time, it had $63.4 billion in assets.U.S. prosecutors charged Madoff, 70, with a single count of securities fraud. They said he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million.The Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate civil charges against Madoff."Our complaint alleges a stunning fraud -- both in terms of scope and duration," said Scott Friestad, the SEC's deputy enforcer. "We are moving quickly and decisively to stop the scheme and protect the remaining assets for investors."Dan Horwitz, Madoff's lawyer, told reporters outside a downtown Manhattan courtroom where he was charged, "Bernard Madoff is a longstanding leader in the financial services industry. We will fight to get through this unfortunate set of events."A shaken Madoff stared at the ground as reporters peppered him with questions. He was released after posting a $10 million bond secured by his Manhattan apartment.Authorities, citing a document filed by Madoff with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 7, 2008, said Madoff's investment advisory business served between 11 and 25 clients and had a total of about $17.1 billion in assets under management. Those clients may have included other funds that in turn had many investors.The SEC said it appeared that virtually all of the assets of his hedge fund business were missing.CONSISTENT RETURNSAn investor in the hedge fund said it generated consistent returns, which was part of the attraction. Since 2004, annual returns averaged around 8 percent and ranged from 7.3 percent to 9 percent, but last decade returns were typically in the low-double digits, the investor said.The fund told investors it followed a "split strike conversion" strategy, which entailed owning stock and buying and selling options to limit downside risk, said the investor, who requested anonymity.Jon Najarian, an acquaintance of Madoff who has traded options for decades, said "Many of us questioned how that strategy could generate those kinds of returns so consistently."Najarian, co-founder of optionmonster.com, once tried to buy what was then the Cincinnati Stock Exchange when Madoff was a major seatholder on the exchange. Najarian met with Madoff, who rejected his bid."He always seemed to be a straight shooter. I was shocked by this news," Najarian said.'UNFORTUNATE SET OF EVENTS'Madoff had long kept the financial statements for his hedge fund business under "lock and key," according to prosecutors, and was "cryptic" about the firm. The hedge fund business was located on a separate floor from the market-making business.Madoff has been conducting a Ponzi scheme since at least 2005, the U.S. said. Around the first week of December, Madoff told a senior employee that hedge fund clients had requested about $7 billion of their money back, and that he was struggling to pay them back.Investors have been pulling money out of hedge funds, even those performing well, in an effort to reduce risk in their portfolios as the global economy weakens.Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities has more than $700 million in capital, according to its website.Madoff remains a member of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc's nominating committee, and his firm is a market maker for about 350 Nasdaq stocks, including Apple, EBay and Dell, according to the website.The website also states that Madoff himself has "a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark."The company's website may be found here: http:/www.madoff.com/(Additional reporting by Christian Plumb, Phil Wahba, Michelle Nichols and Dan Wilchins in New York and Rachelle Younglai in Washington; Editing by Andre Grenon, Bernard Orr & Kim Coghill)

Za ovog su Jezda i Dafina obični šibicari. :D Mislim da će ovakvi "biseri" tek isplivavati uvođenjem rigoroznije kontrole u američki finansijsko-investicioni sektor. Predugo su liberalni kapitalisti bili pušteni s lanca...

  Quote

According to the US Attorney's criminal complaint filed in court, Mr Madoff told at least three employees on Wednesday that the hedge fund business - which served up to 25 clients and had $17.1bn under management - was a fraud and had been insolvent for years, losing at least $50bn.

usa po funkcionisanju sve više liče na neku babana republliku. Piramidalna šema koja izgleda traje "for years" ?! pa za njih je CG (sa sve Prvom bankom) uređena država.

Najbolje je od svega sto su svi "iskusni" investitori stavljali pare kod njega jer su znali da radi nesto ilegalno - samo sto su svi mislili da je to insider trading a ne kradja & prevara.

Pa dobro i Lehman bro. je na dan kada je objavio propast bio tripl ej banka. onaj ko je u nju uložio pare, nije budala nego je prevaren.

  barrcode said:

Pa dobro i Lehman bro. je na dan kada je objavio propast bio tripl ej banka. onaj ko je u nju uložio pare, nije budala nego je prevaren.

što samo govori da američko finansijsko tržište uopšte nije regulisano kako treba, već se pod izgovorom "liberalnog kapitalizma" krade na veliko. Ostaje da vidimo da li će nakon ove krize uvesti efikasne mehanizme za kontrolu i bezbedan plasman kapitala.

Ih, "prevara". Kao da su npr. hedge funds postena radnja, ili ceo ovaj bailout biznis. Ovog su samo uhvatili.

  Buum said:

što samo govori da američko finansijsko tržište uopšte nije regulisano kako treba, već se pod izgovorom "liberalnog kapitalizma" krade na veliko. Ostaje da vidimo da li će nakon ove krize uvesti efikasne mehanizme za kontrolu i bezbedan plasman kapitala.

Nece, cak i da kazu da hoce nece jer su veliki novci u pitanju. Npr. hedz fondovi vec se vrte oko brojke od 1.2 triliona $ i rast ce se nastaviti jer oni funkcionisu i na forex berzi koja je najveca svetska berza koja ce i dalje da raste. Ako bi pukli povukli bi mnoge dole, mislim na banke pre svih, a neki od najbogatijih ljudi u na svetu su vezani za hedz fondove.Ukratko, zaboravi.Ali to mozda i mora tako, kapitalizam tako funkcionise izgleda. Stvaraju se razni baloni i to podstice rast, produktivnost itd. pa onda dolazi do zasicenja trzista robom, uslugama pa pucanja. Bas smo na forumu 92 pricali nesto o tome na temi $ i ima jedan teorija nastala od jednog ekonomiste u SSSR zvao se Nikolaj Dimitrijevic Kondratijev(covek je bio veliki revolucionar i podrzavalac je "Nove ekonomske politike" kao sto je ucestvovao u reformama u poljoprivredi da bi se 20-tih posvetio naucnom radu i pri tome je putovao u Nemacku, SAD i Kanadu da bi napisao svoj rad u kome kaze da je kapitalizma odrziv sto ga je kostalo gulaga i streljanja 1938). E taj Rus je je stvorio teoriju pod nazivom "Kondratijevljevi talasi" ili veliki ciklusi u ekonomiji. O cemu se ukratko radi,

  Quote

Кондратијевљеви таласи су дугорочни, полувековни привредни циклуси названи по руском економисти Николају Кондратијеву. У својој књизи Дуги таласи у економском животу из 1925. године тврдио је да је идентификовао те дуготрајне привредне циклусе. Емпиријска утемељеност Контратијевљевих таласа је слаба.Будући да концепт дуготрајних таласа суштински значи да је капитализам стабилан систем, као и да је марксистичка идеологија тврдила да је капитализам систем који се самоуништава, Кондратијев је завршио у стаљинистичком логору, где је стрељан 1938. године.

  Quote

The business cycle is supposedly more visible in international production data than in individual national economies. It affects all the sectors of an economy, and concerns output rather than prices (although Kondratieff had made observations about the prices only). According to Kondratieff, the ascendant phase is characterized by an increase in prices and low interest rates, while the other phase consists of a decrease in prices and high interest rates.Kondratieff identified three phases in the cycle: expansion, stagnation, recession. More common today is the division into four periods with a turning point (collapse) between the first and second two. Writing in the 1920s, Kondratieff proposed to apply the theory to the XIXth century:1790 – 1849 with a turning point in 1815. 1850 – 1896 with a turning point in 1873. Kondratieff supposed that in 1896, a new cycle had started. The phases of Kondratieff's waves also carry with them social shifts and changes in the public mood. The first stage of expansion and growth, the "Spring" stage, encompasses a social shift in which the wealth, accumulation, and innovation that are present in this first period of the cycle create upheavals and displacements in society. The economic changes result in redefining work and the role of participants in society. In the next phase, the "Summer" stagflation, there is a mood of affluence from the previous growth stage that change the attitude towards work in society, creating inefficiencies. After this stage comes the season of deflationary growth, or the plateau period. The popular mood changes during this period as well. It shifts toward stability, normalcy, and isolationism after the policies and economics during unpopular excesses of war. Finally, the "Winter" stage, that of severe depression, includes the integration of previous social shifts and changes into the social fabric of society, supported by the shifts in innovation and technology.It is tempting to expand the theory to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Some economists, such as schumpeterians, have proposed that the third cycle peaked with World War I and ended with World War II after a turning point in 1929. A fourth cycle may have roughly coincided with the Cold War: beginning in 1949, turning with the economic peak of the mid-1960s and the Vietnam War escalation, hitting a trough in 1982 amidst growing predictions in the United States of worldwide Soviet domination and ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The current cycle most likely peaked in 1999 with a possible winter phase beginning in late 2008. The Austrian-school economists point out that extreme price inflation in the absence of economic growth is a form of capital destruction, allowing either stagflation (as in the 1970s and much of the 2000s during the gold and oil price run-ups) or deflation (as in the 1930s and possibly following the crash in commodity prices beginning in 2008) to represent a recession or depression phase of the Kondratieff theory.

  Quote

Most cycle theorists agree, however, with the "Schumpeter-Freeman-Perez" paradigm of five waves so far since the industrial revolution, and the sixth one to come. These five cycles areThe Industrial Revolution—1771 The Age of Steam and Railways—1829 The Age of Steel, Electricity and Heavy Engineering—1875 The Age of Oil, the Automobile and Mass Production—1908 The Age of Information and Telecommunications—1971

Naravno ovo je skoro nedokazivo ali ne bih bio sklon odbacivanju nekakvog ponistavnja pa ponovnog rasta sa nekog nivoa, ne bih bas rekao na svakih 50-60 godina iako Kondratijev bas to kaze i prilaze cak sinusoidu(sto ce reci izrazitu pravilnost) kao prikaz maksimuma, stagnacije(nula), minimum pa ponovo stagnacija uostalom vecina zna kako izgleda sinusoida. Ja se ne bih sa time slozio jer je covek suvise promenjliva kategorija ali bih mu dao na znacaju neko ponavljanje tj. trziste se samo regulise ali ne na onaj nacin kako se zamislja danas.

Edited December 25, 200816 yr by No7

Inace jedna zanimljivost.

  Quote

Linč je, kako podseća kanadski ekonomista, bio jedan od kreatora američkog zakona o finansijskoj modernizaciji, usvojenog 1999. godine, nakon čega su stvorene i formalne mogućnosti za stvaranje piramidalnog kapitala, što je na kraju dovelo do kraha hipotekarnog i kreditnog tržišta u SAD. U SAD je, inače, pre donošenja zakona o finansijskoj modernizaciji, na snazi bio ruzveltovski Glas-Stigalov zakon, usvojen 1933. godine, kojim su bile predviđene oštre mere u borbi protiv korupcije, finansijskih špekulacija i korišćenja insajderskih informacija na tržištu akcija.

  Quote

On takođe ukazuje da u Obamnom ekonomskom timu ubedljivo preovlađuju predstavnici finansijsko-poslovne elite, koji su SAD i doveli do sadašnje teške ekonomske pozicije. Kao primer Obamine nedoslednosti Čosudovski navodi i slučaj Džima Linča, koji će u budućoj američkoj vladi biti savetnik predsednika za realizaciju antikriznog programa.

Kada se vec pominje Ponzi i piramidalni sistem. Zanimljivo zar ne?A evo malo i razonode iz filma,

Edited December 25, 200816 yr by No7

  Indy said:

Ih, "prevara". Kao da su npr. hedge funds postena radnja, ili ceo ovaj bailout biznis. Ovog su samo uhvatili.

Sta je tacno pa ilegalno u hedge fondovima?

  Quote

što samo govori da američko finansijsko tržište uopšte nije regulisano kako treba, već se pod izgovorom "liberalnog kapitalizma" krade na veliko. Ostaje da vidimo da li će nakon ove krize uvesti efikasne mehanizme za kontrolu i bezbedan plasman kapitala.

Pre bi rekao da se pod izgovorom regulacije (Fed, kartel rejting agencija, i sl.) krade na veliko.

  barrcode said:

Pa dobro i Lehman bro. je na dan kada je objavio propast bio tripl ej banka.onaj ko je u nju uložio pare, nije budala nego je prevaren.

Ne kapiras. Veliki broj ljudi koji je ulozio pare kod Madoffa je "znao" da on radi nesto ilegalno, jer jednostavno nije moguce imati toliku zaradu ako radis sve po propisima. Samo sto su oni mislili da on to ima insajderske informacije koje koristi pri trgovanju (sto je zabranjeno ciniti) a ne da otvoreno krade pare od svojih klijenata. Nije ista situacija kao sa Lehmanom gde su prevareni "iskreni" investitori.

  hazard said:

Sta je tacno pa ilegalno u hedge fondovima?

Ne zna se.

Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet (65) blueblood French financial executive - despondent over losing $1.4 billion of his and his clients' money to arch swindler Bernard Madoff - committed suicide by slitting his arms in his Midtown office. Komshija

http://www.blic.rs/svet.php?id=71535

  Quote

Princ Mihajlo Majkl Karađorđević, sin kneza Aleksandra i unuk kneza Pavla, bio je savetnik za odnose sa klijentima Rene-Tjeri Magona de la Vilišea, francuskog investitora koji je u utorak u Njujorku počinio samoubistvo iz očaja zbog 1,4 milijarde dolara novca njegovih klijenata koje je proneverio američki biznismen Bernard Mejdof.

  hazard said:

Sta je tacno pa ilegalno u hedge fondovima?

Nisam rekao da je ilegalno, rekao sam da je prevara.

  No7 said:

Nece, cak i da kazu da hoce nece jer su veliki novci u pitanju. Npr. hedz fondovi vec se vrte oko brojke od 1.2 triliona $ i rast ce se nastaviti jer oni funkcionisu i na forex berzi koja je najveca svetska berza koja ce i dalje da raste. Ako bi pukli povukli bi mnoge dole, mislim na banke pre svih, a neki od najbogatijih ljudi u na svetu su vezani za hedz fondove.Ukratko, zaboravi.

Ma znam, nego se pitam šta će sve da ispliva na površinu.

  No7 said:

Ali to mozda i mora tako, kapitalizam tako funkcionise izgleda. Stvaraju se razni baloni i to podstice rast, produktivnost itd. pa onda dolazi do zasicenja trzista robom, uslugama pa pucanja. Bas smo na forumu 92 pricali nesto o tome na temi $ i ima jedan teorija nastala od jednog ekonomiste u SSSR zvao se Nikolaj Dimitrijevic Kondratijev(covek je bio veliki revolucionar i podrzavalac je "Nove ekonomske politike" kao sto je ucestvovao u reformama u poljoprivredi da bi se 20-tih posvetio naucnom radu i pri tome je putovao u Nemacku, SAD i Kanadu da bi napisao svoj rad u kome kaze da je kapitalizma odrziv sto ga je kostalo gulaga i streljanja 1938). E taj Rus je je stvorio teoriju pod nazivom "Kondratijevljevi talasi" ili veliki ciklusi u ekonomiji. O cemu se ukratko radi,

Tu treba napraviti suštinsku razliku između dve stvari.Jedno su ekonomski ciklusi zasnovani na naučno-tehnološkim dostignućima (industrijska revolucija, informatičko društvo itd.) a drugo baloni koji se veštački izazivaju u američkoj ekonomiji. Baloni su nužno zlo kad nemaš zdravu ekonomiju, već metastazu korupcije, mešetarenja i vojnog intervencionizma. Da uprostim do kraja, baloni služe za navlačenje malih i naivnih igrača u mutnu vodu punu ajkula kako bi velike ribe postale još veće.

  hazard said:

Pre bi rekao da se pod izgovorom regulacije (Fed, kartel rejting agencija, i sl.) krade na veliko.

Pa da, na to sam i mislio – stvara se privid regulacije tržišta kapitala. Zbog osnovnih načela liberalnog kapitalizma (tipa: tržište se samo od sebe reguliše, a svako ko tvrdi suprotno je komunjara i zalaže se za petoljetke) taj državni upliv i kontrola se svode na minimum. Sad se ispostavlja da je čak i ta minimalna regulativa fingirana i bušna ko majka devet Jugovića...

Edited December 26, 200816 yr by Buum

  Buum said:

Zbog osnovnih načela liberalnog kapitalizma (tipa: tržište se samo od sebe reguliše, a svako ko tvrdi suprotno je komunjara i zalaže se za petoljetke)

Tako uglavnom i jeste. Ako neko nije primetio, liberalni kapitalizam odlicno funkcionise, neuporedivo bolje od bilo koje alternative. Sad se svi njime bave, kad je kriza. To je slicno tvrdnji da je letenje avionom losa ideja onda kada dodje do pada nekog aviona. Ili, moderna medicina ne valja, jer eto nemamo lek za svaki oblik raka. Ekonomija je, koliko vidim, prilicno daleko od egzaktne nauke, a ekonomski agenti daleko od stoprocentno racionalnih bica, pa nije nikakvo cudo da ponekad ceo sistem ode u nepredvidjenom (i nezeljenom) smeru. Cinjenica jeste da otkad je nastupila ova kriza Kejnezijanci dizu glavu, a i kad su oni bili u punoj kontroli, imali smo booms & busts. Mozda tako mora da bude.

Edited December 26, 200816 yr by Indy