In response to Ramesh’s question: “Weren’t most of the victims rich investors”? The answer is “no.” As someone who knows families who have been victimized by Maddoff, many were not “rich investors.” Prosperous, yes. But rolling in dough, no. And they were not all receiving astronomical returns on their investments with Madoff. Steady — suspiciously so, some might say — but nowhere near the 18–25 percent that was mentioned.
Madoff stole from families, charitable organizations, children’s hospitals, 80-year-old widows, dentists, rabbis, and people from all over the world who trusted him as they would any highly respected portfolio manager. They believed their investments with him were diversified. He went to great lengths to cook up phony reports of trades that never happened. Due diligence? What about our own SEC officials who failed to notice that there was no footprint on the stock market of the billions of dollars he claimed to be trading?
Madoff is an evil man who preyed on his community and the bonds of trust. We needn’t add calumny to his victims’ grief.
Maddoff will die in jail. But for many of his victims who have lost a lifetime of savings that is cold comfort, indeed.