Call me crazy, but why start a ponzi scheme if you know you're eventually going to get caught?

[tridim]

It's fairly obvious that Madoff was working in collusion with Bush's SEC to hide his scheme. That's the Occam's razor explanation. If true, this opens up a whole new set of questions. Why did the SEC let him continue his scheme for so long? What was the real goal? Well, looking at the wreckage it appears that the goal was to completely wipe out the wealth of lots of Jews. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, guilty plea or not.

:tinfoilhat:

Now, which powerful American family has a long track record of screwing the Jews? Hmmm..

I hope the guilty plea doesn't halt a deeper investigation, because there is a lot more there than one jerk who stole some money.

[MineralMan]

1. Well, he certainly missed his window for

getting out of the country to live on his loot. Paraguay will just have to do without this one member of Bushco.

[cabluedem]

18. he isnt in a US prison yet. Who knows? He might do a "Ken Lay". nt

[havocmom]

2. Hopes of keeping it going until you die?

:shrug:
Seems all the market players and schemers were trying to find ways to hold up the scam and buy just a little more time....

[zipplewrath]

4. We won't know for awhile

We'll all have to wait for the book of course, but I suspect it started out as a relatively legitimate attempt to do investing. However, it quickly devolved into a Ponzi scheme where he though he was just "riding out a rough patch". Ultimately, he got in so deep there was no getting out. He could keep it afloat as long as the withdrawls were keept small enough. The market collapse had people asking for large chunks of cash to cover other losses and it sunk him. Basically he could survive most things, but not a run on the bank.

[havocmom]

15. I think the whole of Wall St is trying to keep it up til they die

Failure to force all wage earners and their employers to keep the market afloat a bit longer (via trying to make Social Security go into market) really hurt the scheme IMHO.

[GodlessBiker]

3. Very bad judgment.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. Because you don't think you're going to get caught.

That powerful American family with the long track record seems to be getting by just fine...

Simplistic, but again, Occam's razor.

[haele]

6. 'Cause if you plead guilty, you don't have to tell where the money is.

And it's harder for investigators and your victims to find the fruits of your fraud and recover it. Or so I've observed.

Once the trial for the initial crime is over, the case is pretty much closed. There has to be a new investigation assigned to recover the money, and that in itself takes time and money the judicial system might not be able to spend.

Haele

[FormerDittoHead]

7. That's the part I don't get. You'd think he'd have a real good exit strategy.

Many investment schemes start out as legit, but fail to sustain its market success and then start covering up its failure.

I believed that it was somehow a legitimate thing up until 2008's market fall, and when his math models failed to work, he refused to report the truth and started to rob Peter to pay Paul when Paul wanted out of the market.

But now I read the thing was a scam from the start.

The classic ponzi scheme fails on the middle tier. Take Amway, the class of people on the bottom get screwed out of their 'membership fees' by not selling to 20 of their friends. I get how that works.

But this deal was like *everyone* gets screwed except for a handful at best.

It only makes it that much worse for him. I only wish there was a just punishment for his ruining so many people's lives.

[Stevenmarc]

8. There's an old saying, Locks exist to keep the honest people out.

[CJCRANE]

9. It's a simple choice:

a) be a billionaire for several years, possibly indefinitely
b) don't be a billionaire

Most of us don't have the connections or lack of scruples to choose (a).

[tridim]

12. c) Set it up so those in power (who also have no scruples) make certain..

..that your secret stays secret.

The whistle was blown on Madoff in 2003 and nothing was done until 2008. Why?

[Tesha]

10. "The problem with playing 'chicken' is knowing when to flinch." --Bart Mancuso

Madoff didn't flinch in time.

Tesha

[el_bryanto]

11. I'm not sure - i think Greed might be a good motivation as well

And all criminals should know they might eventually get caught - and yet they continually commit crimes.

Bryant

[Baikonour]

13. He's a sociopath.

Sociopaths don't think like that.

[Myrina]

14. ... because you can amass and hide so much money ...

... that once you've served your term at Club Fed, you can spend the rest of forever on a yacht somewhere.

[Speck Tater]

16. Humans see short term pleasure more clearly than long term consequences.

Tobacco companies and drug dealers rely on that principle, and it's never failed them.

[tridim]

17. Yea, but tobacco and drug companies don't target a specific group of people with their poison.

Maddoff and Bush's SEC targeted Jews almost exclusively with this scheme. Maddoff falls, BushCo walks, mission accomplished.