There are now some articles which are detailing the other Ponzi schemes which are coming out in the wake of l’affaire Madoff. One thing that is notable: the next biggest scam is an order of magnitude less significant. That is, while Bernie Madoff’s scam was on the scale of billions, the next ones in the rank order are on the scale of hundreds of millions. If you haven’t read The New York Times‘s piece which speculates on the psychological roots of Bernie Madoff’s skill at extracting money from the wealthy, you should read it. It’s nothing surprising, most people I’ve discussed the details of Bernie’s modus operandi immediately assume some sort of sociopathy. I would note though that sometimes there is a fine line between salesman and con-artist. In modern America the distinction seems obvious, but in a world of haggling and caveat emptor these were two faces of the same coin. Additionally, a commonly quoted number for the compensation forms sent to those conned by Bernie are 8,000. But this doesn’t include everyone who was screwed by the funds-of-funds. It seems that Bernie Madoff will be a name that will echo down the generations, because thousands of families have likely lost their perches in the upper class because of this fiasco. There will be children later this century who might be told that but for Bernie Madoff they would have been American aristocracy (though to be fair, many will not be told that because of Bernie Madoff many of their forebears became American aristocracy)….
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