So Bernie gets his free place in a secure retirement home, but where is the money. Perhaps the feds should start digging on Mt Sion?

A con man doesn't differentiate his victims on the basis of religion, however it is very regrettable that Madoff appears to have used his faith to cheat his fellow jews.

that is rather making the facts fit your argument.

inter alia, it happened that Madoff was Jewish, so it would be natural for his circle of (Jewish, as it happens) acquaintances to be his first point of contact ..... which is somewhat different from what you are implying

On a positive side and with good behaviour he will do a 100 at mosthope TLFBT is taking note!

cynic turn that around and think of the victims that were drawn to Madoff because of his jewish faith.

indeed .... and further, his CV was impeccable ..... but what man in the street would not think this guy was the bee's knees, and furthermore, he neither made nor delivered anything extraordinary or extravagant .... just a good basic return of 8/10% pa or thereabouts.

for myself, i got screwed for rather a lot by Lehmans who were similarly AAA rated

certainly a lesson to be taken from this for some shall we say less sophisticated investors is don't let your religious beliefs come before common sense and most certainly don't put all your eggs in one basket.

If he is going to serve a hundred years, at least it must be a healthy environment to live in.

Perhaps, the jail may be turned into a health farm!

halifax .... that is a preposterous statement! ..... "religious beliefs" do not remotely come into the equation ..... nor for that matter do things like "less sophisticated investors" ...... if, as an ordinary man in the street, you are introduced to the King, you do not ask him to prove his identity or, in this instance, given the quality and business background of the investors in Madoff's portfolio of clients, would you doubt his veracity of anything else.

have you been gulled? ..... in this instance, yes you have, as was anyone with money in Lehman's (me) or any number of other "sound" institutions that collapsed, but that does not make you naive or stupid or even just plain greedy.

I imagine Hank 'the hatchet' Paulson is not on your Christmas card list cynic

Chanukah!
did not think Paulson had any involvement with Lehman's, other than arguably, as Secretary of State to the Treasury, he should not have allowed it to fold.
for myself, though it cost me a large slab of my pension fund, i have put it completely from mind

I gather one of Alan Sugar's associates took a big bet on a Lehman recovery which did not happen. Looks like Barclay's and the likes of Goldman have benefitted from it's demise, sorry to hear about pension erosion but always best to move on...I applied for a fund of hedge fund due dilligence job a few years ago which involved contacting hedge funds with a questionnaire to assess their expertise/honesty. The questionnaire looked quite superficial which perhaps tallies with how Maddoff slipped through the net

Cynic's right - no-one "expects" a trusted bank (UK or elsewhere) to go belly up due to questionable practices by their own (well-paid) executives.
We saw this at Northern Rock and RBS - not to be outdone Scotland also shreded HBOS and lunacy of Lunacy, that solid British Bank ( LLOY) thought they'd take a "punt" on finding something nice . . . . . only shareholders were not allowed to stop the Execs . . . . this was something to do with UK Gov not wanting another NRK on their watch . . . . but LLOY didn't spot this, otherwise they could have extracted a "Better-deal" - and I suspect, even that wouldn't have been cheap enough.
LLOY employees at C&G will be rather upset that without a "By your leave" LLOY execs have closed their business. - - - - DYOR - - - -

MADOFF:-
I understand that by admitting liability Bernard alone will be punished; yet there are few that believe he acted alone.... it is unlikely that those close to him didn't have doubts and there were close-employees who benefited from the incomming-funds . . . . all IMHO.

i agree ..... Madoff cannot conceivably have acted on his own .... that by no means implies that his wife had any knowledge either, though innocent or not, she will undoubtedly bear the public opprobrium of all

cynic suggest you tune in to CNBC and watch some of Madoff's victims tell how they were taken in by "this nice jewish boy" and then listen to some professional investors that did not invest with him after doing their research and not being influenced by his apparent jewish beliefs.

?????????????????/
i am sure you don't mean it, but you sound almost like a representative for BNP.

as so often, it is incredibly easy to find peeps who, in this instance and after the event, will say, "Oh I never ever trusted that guy", and of course it happens that they proved to be absolutely right.
However, there were at least as many very smart (goyim) cookies who were well and truly gulled.

clearly you are not jewish or you might have a better understanding.
for sure, being jewish gives you entree with other jews, just as does being a member of a golf club or a freemason or any number of "clubs" - i.e. if you are a co-member, it gives you a handle ..... however, it does not mean that others will blindly follow; it merely helps open the door.

far more culpable, it seems to me, were the FSA (or whatever the US equivalent are called) who were given all the info and ammo they needed several years ago to shut Madoff down there and then, but they willfully chose to ignore it.

CynicI know Im not a fan of yoursbut that does not stop me admiring your views and honestyparticularly on the Gaza conflictScotty gave a few arseholes a hard time on these BBwhich IMHO they deservedbut you were one that he got wrongI cant figure how you would get on with Mr. Potty???you must skin him at Golf? There you goI aint all bad!

cynic yes the US SEC are very culpable in not following up the many warnings they received over the years and their lack of response should be investigated.
Unfortunately you have chosen to miss the point we are trying to make. Madoff deliberately used his Jewish background to persuade investors both directly and indirectly that it was safe to invest in his firm. Many of those investors appear to have had little or no understanding of the stockmarket etc but mainly relied on him being a trustworthy Jew.We feel most sorry for the elderly Jews that invested their hard earned life savings in Madoff's scam and now are left with next to nothing to live on. How Madoff has the gall to just stand up and say he is sorry without revealing the whereabouts of the money he stole is beyond belief, may he rot in jail for the rest of his natural life and thereafter may he rot in hell with his fellow ponzis for eternity and beyond.
Your remarks about the BNP are insulting, as we will never in any way condone the activities of that vile racist group of thugs. Madoff has let the whole Jewish community down and undermined the trust investors held previously.

On a slightly less serious note this whole financial disaster may give Hollywood a great opportunity for a screenplay perhaps with say somebody like Robert De Niro in the leading role.

My money is on Jerry Springer....

i am glad you feel insulted ..... i think it's pretty insulting to throw around allegations about Madoff's jewish background being his major selling weapon.

leave the emotions and ethnic background nonsense out of it
to my mind there are are only a couple of major issues, neither of which have any bearing at all on Madoff being jewish


1)
He was an ace con-man who easily convinced many very wealthy and sophisticated investors in all sorts of walks of life to place their savings in his apparent safe hands

that Madoff was jewish was an almost total irrelevance.
it was his business background of having been non-exec chairman of Nasdaq and founder of one of the most successful MM businesses in USA that would readily have convinced most that he was a singularly trustworthy and financially sound and knowledgeable guy


2)
US SEC were supremely culpable in refusing to act at all on the info that was passed to them several (10?) years ago.
i actually wonder how long it will be before a class action is brought against them fro gross negligence.

A very wealthy Jewish man once told me never trust anyone whose name ends in Ski or Sky I never understood why, he also told me that Jewish children are brought up to believe they are better than other humans I have found tha to be true, most of the Jewish people that I have met in my life have that arrogent, I am better, or richer than you attitude.