Seven Red

“How are the mighty fallen! Collector of bad and doubtful debts. But that’s the most notorious bloody robber you’d meet in a day’s walk…”  – James Joyce, Ulysses

Some of you may remember my pointless rant about the shittiest post-college job ever, in which I discovered the definition of genius. I was very squirrelly about the company at that time, noting only that it was located in the Lipstick Building at 53rd and 3rd. But, since events have intervened, I guess it’s fair enough to out the whole thing now: the job was at Bernard Madoff Investment Securities. I mention this now, because the Ultimate Boss, ole mister Bernard Madoff hisself, was yesterday arrested and charged with securities fraud after claiming that the whole operation was a – and I quote here – “Ponzi scheme.” To wit:

A criminal complaint signed by FBI Agent Theodore Cacioppi said Madoff told at least three senior employees at his Manhattan apartment Wednesday that the investment adviser business was a fraud and had been insolvent for years, losing at least $50 billion.

Madoff told the employees he was “finished,” that he had “absolutely nothing,” that “it’s all just one big lie” and it was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme,” according to the complaint filed in court.

The employees understood Madoff’s admission to mean that “he had for years been paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different, investors,” said the complaint, which did not identify the investors impacted by the scheme.

Yikes. This guy used to stroll through operations from time to time in his $6000 suits, checking with the Operations Manager on all manner of things. I should say that BMIS was not some small, fly-by-night chop shop: the guy was a leading member – in fact – of the NASD, and instrumental in founding NASDAQ.  Oh well…

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