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Bernie Madoff Fraud Essay

1104 Words5 Pages

Bernard “Bernie” Madoff was the mastermind behind the top fraud in Wall Street History. The scheme he created with new investors and old investors was in every news article in 2008. The illegal acts performed by Mr. Madoff will go down in history as one the top fraudulent actions in history. Not only did Mr. Madoff ruin his ego as a trustworthy businessman, but he also destroyed the reputation of his entire family including his sons and his wife who worked for Mr. Madoff. The scheme that Mr. Madoff completed before getting caught is called the Ponzi scheme. The Ponzi scheme is named after Charles Ponzi who is a criminal from Italy that created this type of investment fraud (Robb, 2012). The Ponzi scheme is when someone takes money from investors and promises them high rates of returns. However, the money paid back is other …show more content…

Madoff displays one of the worst unethical acts in the history of the world. Also, because of his unethical acts, there has now been new laws passed that govern the way people can invest and that govern investment agencies. Also, not only did Mr. Madoff’s fraud affect himself, his investors, and his family, it also affected charities (Ferrell, Fraedrick, & Ferrell, 2015). Due to Mr. Madoff’s unethical actions, charity companies now have agencies that govern their donations to ensure they are in fact, legal donations. Mr. Madoff is now in prison for the rest of his life while his family tries to rebuild from the unethical attributes brought to them. Also, there will always be questions that generate within this case. Mr. Madoff’s investors were generally smart people that obtain a lot of money. How did Mr. Madoff convince them to continue to invest? How did Mr. Madoff hide these unethical acts from these government agencies? Questions such as these are continuously being answered many years after this unethical act. A good thought to think about is that Mr. Madoff is in prison where he cannot commit fraud like this ever

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