Bernard Madoff was a respected member of the financial community however in December 2008 it was discovered that he was engaging in a thirty yearlong Ponzi scheme resulting in a loss of some 65 million dollars in investments. Madoff had sufficient wealth of his own consequently it is difficult to discern if his choice to engage in a Ponzi scheme was based on greed or just boredom. However since the overall purpose of a Ponzi scheme is to collect substantial amounts of money it would be reasonable to conclude greed played a factor. Whatever the circumstance, Madoff saw the opportunity to commit fraud and rationalized his decision to do so.
Many factors played a role in his fluid manipulation of clients. Firstly, Madoff was a well-respected financier. He had started a legitimate business in the 1960’s trading stocks not listed on the Stock Exchange and later served as chairman of the NASDAQ for three years. He was very successful as a financial adviser, thus the positions he held in the financial world made him inevitable seem trustworthy enough to handle persons
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Ferrell too pointed out that “with the large financial portfolio Madoff managed, many indicated at least one red flag would have been the fact that he would have overtaken the market had he traded the options in the volumes necessary to meet his financial goals” (Ferrell 4). Many complaints about Madoff were reported to the SEC and each case became fruitless with lack of evidence or negligence. It would be easy to conclude that Madoff had some connections within the SEC that made sure that he was always found innocent of all charges. It was already established that Madoff had close connections with Jeffrey Tucker who served as an attorney at the SEC for eight years. Madoffs connections with Tucker could’ve have been a possible reason that Madoff fraud went undetected and unresolved for so long (Ferrell