On Wall Street, his name is legendary. With money he had made as a lifeguard on the beaches of Long Island, he built a trading powerhouse that had prospered for more than four decades. At age 70, he had become an influential spokesman for the traders who are the hidden gears of the marketplace.
But on Thursday morning, this consummate trader, Bernard L. Madoff, was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents who accused him of running a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme — perhaps the largest in Wall Street’s history.
Regulators have not yet verified the scale of the fraud. But the criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madoff on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan reports that he estimated the losses at $50 billion. “We are alleging a massive fraud — both in terms of scope and duration,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the enforcement division at the Securities and Exchange Commission. “We are moving quickly and decisively to stop the fraud and protect remaining assets for investors.”
Peacenik woke up this morning and Conjure Bag was officially calling a depression. The Dow futures were way down. The goofballs on CNBC were freaking. Peacenik is on a day off and is now watching CNBC. Equador just defaulted on its foreign debt. GM just announced that it will shutdown for Jan. and part of Feb. Yes the news is all bad. The GOP had no problem giving $700 billion to the banks with no strings attached but $14 billion for the auto industry was too much unless the unions were destroyed. Oh, and by the way, this post has one of Wall Street's most respected persons admitting that his business was a Ponzi Scheme and $50 billion has gone poof. Why would anyone have money in the stock market? Lucky this is Friday. Peacenik is going to have a beer. Have a good weekend.
