Bernard Madoff – 50 Billion Reasons to Invest in Hard Money – Private Mortgage Loans
Bruce Madoff, President and founder of a New York firm that invested money for hedge funds and wealthy individuals and institutions, has been charged with operating a long-running Ponzi scheme that could cost investors billions of dollars. If this turns out to be true, it could be almost as large as the Enron scandal and will jeopardize the financial well-being of many individuals and institutions.
Ponzi schemes such as the one Madoff perpetrated are named after a 1920’s fraudster named Charles Ponzi. It is a “rob Peter to pay Paul” scheme whereby unsuspecting investors are sucked in by a fraudster making promises of unbelievable interest rate returns. Meanwhile he is just using that new money to payoff earlier investors. Once no new recruits can be found, the house of cards collapses, much like Madoff’s did when he could not meet $7 Billion of payouts to his investors.
In reading about this fraud, several very important lessons stand out: Read more
