Madoff gets 150 years in prison!

[DontSayBanana]

Everyone is jumping off a bridge, I think I shall too!

Spare us; it's easy to sound all pompous and prescient after the guy has already been convicted and sentenced- until this year, a lot of people more skilled than you and me in financial matters thought Madoff was the real thing.

[garbon]

I'm not saying that I'd do better at all (unlike you I don't pretend to be encyclopedia brown), but I don't feel sorry for them.

[Barrister]

I'm not saying that I'd do better at all (unlike you I don't pretend to be encyclopedia brown), but I don't feel sorry for them.

Holy crap - now there's a pop culture reference to something I hadn't even though of for 20 years or so...

[citizen k]

... a lot of people more skilled than you and me in financial matters thought Madoff was the real thing.

And others didn't. 

[Martinus]

This is all this guy got, for the financial horrors he put upon people, wiped them out, retirees, companies, as well as charities that got ruined by his schemes? He deserved much worse! Death penalty would have been proper, only mitigated by how much he cooperated to get some of the money back.

Seeing as how people practically begged him for financial horrors, no I don't agree.

People didn't ask to be financially ruined, charities gone out of business, families losing college money, etc. They just invested, as millions of us do every day.

It was obvious that the guy is a "miracle worker", a "magic Jew" that will conjure you money out of thin air.

Sorry, but I don't have much sympathy for greedy idiots.

[Jos Theelen]

I may be a grade A moron but the people who invested heavily in Madoff's shit without checking that he was legit maybe weren't very bright. From what I've read about Madoff (basically thread titles on Languish) it seems the guy was just collecting the Stupid Tax.

A lot of banks put their money in his fund. Maybe you should check if your own bank isn't one of them. You don't want to put your money in a bank ruled by morons.

[Monoriu]

Sometimes I wonder if I have the brains to say no if someone asks me to invest in a similar scheme. 

[Caliga]

I'm not saying that I'd do better at all (unlike you I don't pretend to be encyclopedia brown), but I don't feel sorry for them.

Holy crap - now there's a pop culture reference to something I hadn't even though of for 20 years or so...

Personally, I preferred Einstein Anderson, but yeah, good show garbo.

[Neil]

I may be a grade A moron but the people who invested heavily in Madoff's shit without checking that he was legit maybe weren't very bright. From what I've read about Madoff (basically thread titles on Languish) it seems the guy was just collecting the Stupid Tax.

A lot of banks put their money in his fund. Maybe you should check if your own bank isn't one of them. You don't want to put your money in a bank ruled by morons.

You're not going far enough.  Martinus is a moron himself for dealing with them.  In fact, Martinus is a moron in any event, but you should show more audacity in your attacks on him.

[KRonn]

I see, everyone is blaming the victims! How classic! Mad dog Madoff is the culprit here, not those duped by his schemes.

[Caliga]

I see, everyone is blaming the victims! How classic! Mad dog Madoff is the culprit here, not those duped by his schemes.

Yeah... while you can make an argument that these people ought to have been more careful, Madoff was once chairman of NASDAQ so he seems like someone who you could have trusted, and so well known that one might have assumed he was under a bit more scrutiny than he was in reality.

[KRonn]

There were charity groups that invested, along with individuals and businesses. I just don't see them all as greedy, stupid people. The ones who were stupid were the SEC who were being warned by those who had figured things out.

Also, I don't believe this is just about Madoff. He had a couple of hundred employees, and they all did the work, some wrote up the investment reports sent to customers. At least some of them, a certain core of people, had to know something. But I think most of them were just workers who wound up stunned by the whole thing.

[Caliga]

Well, that's probably part of the reason for the extremely harsh sentence... Madoff hasn't cooperated one bit with the feds in naming his accomplices, and he MUST have had some.  Remember, the guy did plead guilty--but you don't see that reflected in his sentence at all.

[Valmy]

It was obvious that the guy is a "miracle worker", a "magic Jew" that will conjure you money out of thin air.

Sorry, but I don't have much sympathy for greedy idiots.

Investing a pension fund is not exactly the same as greedy idiots.  Idiots maybe, but some investment dude was just trying to do his job and find a good place for his customers retirement funds?  You don't have sympathy for those people?

But anyway I am worried about the health of our financial sector and that is why guys like this need to be made an example of.  Your personal opinion that anybody who invests is a greedy idiot or not is irrelevent to the seriousness of the crime.  Last I checked you don't punish criminals less just because their victims were morons.

[Valmy]

Well, that's probably part of the reason for the extremely harsh sentence... Madoff hasn't cooperated one bit with the feds in naming his accomplices, and he MUST have had some.  Remember, the guy did plead guilty--but you don't see that reflected in his sentence at all.

He is trying to protect his family and wants them to get away with as much of the money as possible it seems to me.