Virgil
12-11-2008, 11:26 PM
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYzclQY1HkVE&refer=home
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By David Voreacos and David Glovin
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff had confessed to employees this week that his investment advisory business was “a giant Ponzi scheme” that cost clients $50 billion before two FBI agents showed up yesterday morning at his Manhattan apartment.
“We’re here to find out if there’s an innocent explanation,” Agent Theodore Cacioppi told Madoff, 70, who is considered a pioneer of modern Wall Street.
“There is no innocent explanation,” Madoff told the agents, saying he personally traded and lost money for institutional clients. He said he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there” and expected to go to jail. With that, agents arrested Madoff, according to an FBI complaint.
The 8:30 a.m. arrest capped the stunningly swift downfall of Madoff and businesses bearing his name that specialized in trading securities, making markets and advising wealthy clients. Many questions remain unanswered, including whether Madoff’s clients actually lost $50 billion. The complaint and a civil lawsuit by regulators describe a man spinning out of control.
Madoff, a white-haired man, appeared in federal court in downtown Manhattan at 6 p.m., wearing a white-striped shirt and dark-colored pants. U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton described the securities-fraud charge against him and set a $10 million bond at a hearing where Madoff said nothing. Madoff later posted the bond, secured by his apartment and guaranteed by his wife.
Madoff’s firm had about $17.1 billion in assets under management as of Nov. 17, according to NASD records. At least 50 percent of its clients were hedge funds, and others included banks and wealthy individuals, according to the records.
The firm was the 23rd-largest market maker on Nasdaq in October, handling an average of about 50 million shares a day, exchange data show. It handled orders from online brokers for some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.
Scrambling to Unravel
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By David Voreacos and David Glovin
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff had confessed to employees this week that his investment advisory business was “a giant Ponzi scheme” that cost clients $50 billion before two FBI agents showed up yesterday morning at his Manhattan apartment.
“We’re here to find out if there’s an innocent explanation,” Agent Theodore Cacioppi told Madoff, 70, who is considered a pioneer of modern Wall Street.
“There is no innocent explanation,” Madoff told the agents, saying he personally traded and lost money for institutional clients. He said he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there” and expected to go to jail. With that, agents arrested Madoff, according to an FBI complaint.
The 8:30 a.m. arrest capped the stunningly swift downfall of Madoff and businesses bearing his name that specialized in trading securities, making markets and advising wealthy clients. Many questions remain unanswered, including whether Madoff’s clients actually lost $50 billion. The complaint and a civil lawsuit by regulators describe a man spinning out of control.
Madoff, a white-haired man, appeared in federal court in downtown Manhattan at 6 p.m., wearing a white-striped shirt and dark-colored pants. U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton described the securities-fraud charge against him and set a $10 million bond at a hearing where Madoff said nothing. Madoff later posted the bond, secured by his apartment and guaranteed by his wife.
Madoff’s firm had about $17.1 billion in assets under management as of Nov. 17, according to NASD records. At least 50 percent of its clients were hedge funds, and others included banks and wealthy individuals, according to the records.
The firm was the 23rd-largest market maker on Nasdaq in October, handling an average of about 50 million shares a day, exchange data show. It handled orders from online brokers for some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc.
Scrambling to Unravel
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