Comments on: Bernie’s List – is your neighbor on it?

By: Bernard Madoff and Milberg Weiss, cont’d

Bernard Madoff and Milberg Weiss, cont’d — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:57:13 +0000

[...] action king Mel Weiss appeared on the list of Bernard Madoff victims (163-pp. PDF courtesy WSJ, via Christopher Fountain) and observed how ironic it seemed that someone who made great claims to expertise in sniffing out [...]

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:27:56 +0000

Scamsters would have to work much harder if there wasn’t so much dumb and/or greedy money in world….been that way for decades…unlikely to ever change

Bernie and his “investors” deserve each other…

By: Peg

Peg — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:09:16 +0000

Yes, I have neighbors and friends on this list. I still continue to be astounded both by the magnitude of the crime – and that someone could be evil enough to do this to purported “friends.”

By: christopherfountain

christopherfountain — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:43:26 +0000

I guess, like any court document, it’s a public record and fodder for the curious, like me. I did question the propiety of digging through the names but I figure 1000 reporters are sifting through the same list right now so it’s all coming out.

By: Stanwich

Stanwich — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:17:32 +0000

What I find very troubling is that not only did all these people lose money with Madoff, they now face the indignity of having their names splashed across the internet for everyone to see. I do know people on this list and I know they are probably very angry their names are out there for everyone to see.

This just compounds the injustice. Why and how did the WSJ get this info? What is the legality of releasing it to the public?

By: Inagua

Inagua — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:19:19 +0000

Of course Madoff needed the feeders. They provided over half of the putative value at the end. They were also very convient, as they only required one statement. But Madoff needed them desparately. Without them, the Ponzi would have blown up years ago.

By: christopherfountain

christopherfountain — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:02:55 +0000

I think he needed those feeder funds to keep the Ponzi going. Walter, with his European, South American and Greenwich contacts, probably enabled the scheme to go on longer than it otherwise would have. Just my guess, of course.

By: CEA

CEA — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:41:08 +0000

Madoff didn’t “need” Noel. He WANTED “feeder funds” because they were just one account (representing hundreds or thousands of people) that Madoff would have to make fake statements for, rather than each of those people having to be done individually.

Instead of meeting and gladhanding hundreds of people, all Madoff had to do was keep Walter happy. Walter deals with the monthly/quarterly/annual reporting to his clients, Madoff only has to fake trade tickets and K-1s for one entity: Fairfield Greenwich.

Madoff discovered that feeder funds were a high-octane way to get many people in, with less hassle for him (in terms of operations/back office, which was the crux of the scheme).

got it?