Posted on 12/16/2008 8:13:09 AM PST by dennisw
Mr. Madoff told clients he was using a fairly common options-trading strategy to generate modest but steady returns for more than two decades. The strategy involved buying stocks, while also trading options -- which grant the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell securities at pre-established prices in the future -- in a way designed to limit losses on the shares.
People who analyzed client statements said Mr. Madoff's firm couldn't have bought and sold the options he claimed because those totals would have outstripped total trading volume those days.
'Seemed Implausible' Some investment advisers steered clear of Madoff funds, in part because of discrepancies like these. "It seemed implausible that the S&P-100 options market that Madoff purported to trade could handle the size" of Madoff's estimated $13 billion in assets, wrote James Vos and Jake Walthour of advisory firm Aksia LLC last week in an explanation of why they didn't recommend funds that invested with Madoff to clients.
Other traders said that while the strategy, when properly used, does limit volatility, it generally wouldn't produce gains in a declining stock market. Account statements from Mr. Madoff's firm show small, steady gains each month, regardless of the market's direction.
Bernard Madoff Individual investors were tallying their losses. Carl Shapiro, a 95-year-old apparel entrepreneur and investor, had $545 million with Mr. Madoff -- creating what could become the largest personal loss yet in the scandal. Carey O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for the family, confirmed that Mr. Shapiro's charitable foundation, the Carl & Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, invested $145 million with Madoff.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Get a rope!
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This is an outrage. Only the government is allowed to make money disappear. It is government’s purpose and right. No competition allowed.
Poor dude. Must have gotten in on the "ground floor".
.
That desk sign was probably my inspiration.
I'd give him a pardon and a medal!
"Who is Bernard Madoff? (ran $50 billion Ponzi fraud)
Monday, December 15, 2008 9:03:06 PM · 7 of 20
BossLady to Liz
So basically....investors did not care HOW the money was made as long as they made it: no access to accounts....no account footprints....secretive organization.... From this angle...investors look as guilty as Maddog...."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2149408/posts
So I guess it just boils down to this:
I DON'T give a dam!
Madoff gave a major haircut to the left!
Taxpayers to bail out Palm Beach investors.
Judge signs order to protect Madoff investors
20 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday threw a lifesaver to investors who may have been duped in one of Wall Street’s biggest alleged frauds, saying they need the protection of a special government reserve fund set up to help investors at failed brokerage firms.
U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton ordered that clients of Bernard Madoff’s private investment business seek relief under a federal statute created to rescue cheated investors. Stanton also ordered that business be liquidated under the jurisdiction of a bankruptcy court and named attorney Irvin H. Picard as trustee to oversee that process....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jF_4G4a4XAV7qDQOp8KfWCykIrYQD953FCL82
Bernard Madoff should be tapped as Fed Chairmen.
Hey why not, he seems like a likeable guy and he came clean quickly (well, after the first 18 years or so). It’s not like there’s anything backing all the new money...anyway! The US dollar is becoming more of a Ponzi scheme every day.
QUESTION: You get paid on Wednesday, but there’s a two week lag. How much less will the dollar be worth from the day you earned it to the day you spend it?
ANSWER: Welcome to Mexico, senor!
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