...Bernie Madoff: An Issue of Ethics There are many ethical issues in the world’s news today, some bigger than others, and many that get swept under the rug. One particular ethical issue is at the core of a huge story that has dominated the news for months on end and has lead to more trying times on Wall Street. The story is about Bernie Madoff and the massive effect he and his ponzi scheme had on hundreds of people who trusted him. This paper will discuss the ethical issue underlying the conflict, the damage that resulted from it, and the leadership that acted to counter suit his disaster. Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme is sure to go down in history as one of the largest business scandals ever and should make every person stop and make sure there ethics are in check. Bernie Madoff exploited ethical theories much like a hawk swooping down to kill its prey. Bernie’s twisting of moral philosophy, virtue ethics, universalism and business ethics controlled both common and upper classes within predominately Jewish investors, prominent social groups, banks, successful foundations and charities. He wielded his genius in investments and securities tantalizing those who could not spot his cabal. Bernie’s acute cognizance of small investors and the ruling classe’s desire to believe in moral philosophic principles, rules, and values let to the contamination of right and wrong with financial deals earning him 50-65 billion dollars. Bernie literally earned the title of greatest Ponzi schemer...
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...Bernard Madoff was either the most ethically void individual or he just had no regard for ethics. He managed to pull off one the largest Ponzi scheme in history with very little help. He had a legitimate stock trading business on one floor and his illegitimate investment management business was on another floor (Ferrell, Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2011). The top executives in the company were family which leads to the question, did they really not know? This paper will examine the origin of the Ponzi scheme, a brief history of Bernie Madoff, and the fallout as a result of his fraudulent business. A Ponzi scheme is “a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors out of the money paid by subsequent investors rather than from legitimate profits (Fitzpatrick, 2010).” The Ponzi scheme was named after Carlo (Charles) Ponzi who fled Italy for America at the age of 21. In 1919 Ponzi developed a scheme to get investors to buy postage coupons in one country and then sell them for more money in another country (Wells, 2009). Instead of investing the money he used the pooled funds to pay investors. This lasted until 1920 when a federal audit confirmed he was bankrupt, he had scammed investors for more than $4 million (Wells, 2009). According to Wells (2009), the Madoff scheme “...may be the largest single fraud of any kind in history...” The estimated total of the Madoff scheme is $65 billion, it is the largest financial fraud in the history of Wall Street. On...
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...Introduction Operated through a complex, cryptic structure Bernie Madoff, CEO of Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS), perpetuated the most embellished Ponzi scheme the world has ever seen. The basis of the securities fraud that took place approximately between 1991 – 2008 was influenced by Bernie Madoff’s reliance upon an unqualified staff, outdated software, organizational seclusion, a personal halo effect, and weaknesses in the regulating body. Madoff had the confidence of the public, yet to pull off such an elaborate scheme, he relied on a startling number of family members, vital accomplices working on the illegal trading floor such as Frank D. Pascali, IT staff members, and a separate BMIS branch of international employees in the U.K. to seemingly legitimize the whole thing. Domestic and European institutional investors, friends and acquaintances of Madoff’s, and an additional couple of thousand people who had exposure to BMIS funds, trusted as much as their entire life or retirement savings. Investors were dumbfounded when the jenga-like pyramid came crashing down on them, despite many caveats from whistleblowers. Leading up to December 11, 2008, the date Bernie Madoff was taken into federal custody, he acted especially cross and frantic, specifically when the SEC was mentioned. Another sign of the impending collapse was Bernie’s reluctance to accept any more large sums of money, contrast to the usually receptive Bernie (Henriques). As a result of Madoff’s arrest, further...
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...Elizabeth Thomas Business Ethics February 17, 2015 Professor Mari Hadley Summary and Discussion The author provides an overview of the case of Bernard “Bernie” Madoff, a businessman and investment manager who is believed to have stolen as much as $65 billion from his investors (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2014). Bernie Madoff was operating not only the largest Ponzi scheme in history, but is also believed to have perpetrated the largest financial fraud in history. His network of investors included many prominent people from the financial world as well as the social elite. Madoff’s criminal career came to an end in 2008 when the recession developed. His supply of available funds began to diminish, and he was no longer able to pay his investors. Madoff was subsequently arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to one hundred and fifty years in prison. The authors also discuss the question of how Madoff was able to maintain such a massive criminal operation over a twenty year period (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2014). In particular, the question is examined concerning why the Securities and Exchange Commission was not more thorough in its investigations of Madoff’s activities, especially after Harry Markopoulos had been warning the SEC for the better part of a decade that Madoff’s financial operations were questionable in nature. A discussion is also provided of how various warning signs were available, but how Madoff was able to manipulate potential investigators into failing to...
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...study is chronology of the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Bernie Madoff began his brokerage firm in 1960 and grew it into one of the largest on Wall Street, New York, USA .While doing so; he began investing money as a favor to family and friends, though he was not licensed to do so. Over a period of fifty years, these side investments became an investment fund that mushroomed into a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Bernie pled guilty without a trial on March 12, 2009, and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Thousands of wealthy clients, philanthropic organizations and middle class people whose pension funds found their way into Bernie’s investment fund lost their life savings. Background In December 2008, the highly respected American businessman Bernard Madoff made the headlines when the US authorities accused him of orchestrating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme which is the biggest financial frauds of all time and made of him “The Conman of the Century”. Bernard Madoff also called “Bernie" is a former American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, financier and the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market and held a seat on the government advisory board on stock market regulation. During his entire long successful financial career Madoff has been considered as a trustworthy, well respected and responsible man. Bernie epitomized the American dream indeed he started a legal investment business in 1960 at the age of 22 years old and became increasingly rich...
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...Russell Bettinger BUS-340 – Ethical and Legal Issues in Business 26 October 2014 Esther Lahargoue Analyzing Ethical Behavior Bernard Madoff was a renowned stockbroker, financial adviser, and served as the chairman of NASDAQ. Bernie Madoff is also solely responsible for the largest accounting fraud in all of American history. In December 2008, Madoff admitted to the federal authorities that the wealth management branch of his business, Ascott Partners, was a full on and elaborate Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Over the course of nearly two decades, Madoff took an estimated 65 billion dollars from his investor’s fortunes. What made Bernie Madoff successful in his fraudulent ways was the façade put up by the general public of being highly respected, well established, and an esteemed financial extraordinaire. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission caught a lot of heat for failing to investigate Madoff extensively and thoroughly. Madoff ended up being found guilty of eleven federal crimes and sentenced to 150 years in prison with restitution costs at around seventeen billion. The fallout from his master scheme went far deeper than anyone would have expected, as some of the businesses he had invested in and vice versa, were forced to close down temporarily. Enron was an energy company based in Houston, Texas. The scandal that happened within...
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...A Windfall Plagued by Poor Decisions BUOL 537: Legal, Ethical and Social Environment ABSTRACT Everyone in both the business and non-business sectors alike have probably heard of a financial ploy called a Ponzi scheme. However, many may not fully understand the details or how to protect themselves from such a financial risk. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment plan in which the investments of later investors are used to pay earlier investors, giving the appearance that the investments of the initial participants dramatically increase in value in a short amount of time. These types of financial schemes promise investors large interest returns if they provide money as a loan. As more new investors participate, the money that is contributed by later investors is paid to the initial investors, allegedly at the promised interest on their loans. This method works initially, but will then fold as more investors participate and choose to take withdrawals. Though these types of schemes have happened before, the first of this caliber was documented in the 1920’s by its namesake, Charles Ponzi. In 2008, Bernard “Bernie” Madoff was exposed for running the largest Ponzi scheme to date, conning investors out of over $65 billion over thirty years. INTRODUCTION Bernard Madoff was responsible for the largest reported Ponzi scheme in history. How did this happen? Who else knew about it? Why did it take so long for him to be exposed? This paper will endeavor to answer all of those questions...
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...Business ethics 1. Assignment 1: Questions 1) Analyzing the ethical frameworks needed in decision making, which ones best align to the eight ethical principles of the Global Business Standards of Codex. Without doubt, there always exists a dilemma when company decisions are being made. It is for this reason that ethical frameworks are utilized to ensure that appropriate decisions are made in the organization. Ethics.ubc argues that ethical frameworks act like “snake detectors.” They are there to ensure that “snakes” in the organization are easily recognized before they bite. In layman’s language, they offer guidance when making decisions. Some of the ethical frameworks put forward include: * The utilitarian approach * Rights approach * Fairness approach * Common good approach * Virtue approach Utilitarian approach This approach basically focuses on the consequences of a particular action (capsim.com). For example, it considers whether an action will eventually lead to greater good than other related actions. Therefore, the most ethical decision to be made will be that which will offer maximum benefits. Rights approach In this approach, the most ethical decision to be made will have utmost respect and protection for human rights (capism.com). In this case, people have the right to make their own decisions and everyone ought to be respected in the decisions they make. Fairness approach Just as the name suggests, fairness...
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...Case Study Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme: Reliable Returns from a Trustworthy Financial Adviser By Denis Collins Denis Collins is a professor of management in the School of Business at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. His research interests include business ethics, management, and organizational change. Contact: dcollins@ edgewood.edu A [person] is incapable of comprehending any argument that interferes with his revenue. Rene Descartes Overview This case study is a chronology of the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Bernie Madoff began his brokerage firm in 1960 and grew it into one of the largest on Wall Street. While doing so, he began investing money as a favor to family and friends, though he was not licensed to do so. Over a period of fifty years, these side investments became an investment fund that mushroomed into a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Bernie1 pled guilty without a trial on March 12, 2009, and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Thousands of wealthy clients, philanthropic organizations, and middle-class people whose pension funds found their way into Bernie’s investment fund lost their life savings. What to Do? Bernie Madoff, at age 69, owned three very successful financial companies—a brokerage firm, a proprietary trading firm, and an investment advisory firm. On December 10, 2008, the brokerage and proprietary trading firms, managed by his brother and two sons, were performing as well as could be expected in the middle of a deep recession. His investment...
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...Cynthia Knox RES/351 July 29, 2013 Ross Jackson Bernard Madoff’s ponzi scheme In this paper I am going to show hoe Bernie Madoff’s scheme people out of thousand and even million’s dollars of money. I will address the unethical behavior the injury that her people by taking their money and trust from them. What Bernie did hurt people not a company by making up fake investment company? How this could have been avoided is that people do research on the companies over even the person that is asking for large sums of money. These are the things that I will be addressing in this paper. Who is Bernie Madoff Bernie Madoff was born on April 29, 1938, in Queens, New York, Bernard was born to polish immigrants, work for many years as a plumber. Bernie married Sylvia his wife they had one daughter, son. Bernie had hard times during the Great depression so in 1950 he got involved in finance. Ponzi scheme The unethical research behavior was involved was the hedge funds scheme were he would have to sell or liquidate holding from one hedge funds to keep down pressure on the stock prices. When doing this it will keep the negative pressure off the stock exchange. Berine had celebrity connections from Kyra Sedwick, Kevin Bacon, Tom hanks, and many more people that invested in the hedge funds at first they were getting returns back at 10% return. The company was growing and he was hiring more family members. The person that was hurt by this scheme was his family...
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...Running head: INDIVIDUAL PROJECT: Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters 1 Individual Project: Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters Pamela Turner Professor Ann Nelson Contemporary Business 508 February 13, 2013 Strayer University INDIVIDUAL PROJECT: Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters 2 Individual Project: Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters Determine the most important five skills that a forensic accountant needs to possess and evaluate the need for each skill. Be sure to include discussion regarding the relationship between the skill and its application to business operations. The age of information technology there is a definite rise in computer crimes, financial frauds, employee thefts and securities scams, insurance and bank frauds. The forensic accountant searches out fraud and criminal transactions in banking, corporate entity or from any other financial records within an organization. Forensic accountants take a more proactive, skeptical approach in examining books of accounting. The base of a forensic accountant is accounting knowledge. The dispersement of the knowledge of auditing, internal controls, risk assessment and fraud detection. There must be a basic or general understanding of the legal environment. The legal environment is essential in order to support the litigation. A strong set of communication skills both oral and written (Houck, 2006). Forensic...
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...ABOSEDE. CAN BUSINESS ETHICS BE TAUGHT? “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it” claims billionaire Warren Buffett. “If we think about that, we will all do things differently.” Bernie Maddof and Martha Stewart had their reputation permanently ruined in the business world due to poor business decision making, likewise their involvement in financial crime and unethical business practices. If the above mentioned people had the opportunity of turning back the hands of time, they would have done things differently and be more ethical in their business practices. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that set new standard for ethical business practices for all U.S public company boards, management and public accounting firms. The bill was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals which cost investors billions of dollars. Many experts think business Ethics can be thought and examined in business schools, but the question is, is it possible to enforce or instill the act of doing right things and making right decisions at all times in the business world? Ethics is a branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. Where as, Business ethics is the study and examination of moral and social responsibility in relation to business practices and decision-making...
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...Ethics are the principles and values an individual uses to govern his daily activities and decision making. The ethical philosophy an organization displays in conducting business has effect on the productivity as well as the reputation of that business. In an organization, a code of ethics is a set of principles that guide the organization in its programs, policies and decisions for the business. The ethics that organization leaders use to manage employees do have an effect on the morale and loyalty of workers. It is the code of ethics leaders abide by that determines discipline procedures and generally acceptable behaviors for all workers in that organization. There is a retroactive effect when leaders possess high ethical standards as it encourages workers in the organization to meet that same level. In the financial market and within communities, ethical leadership enhances the company’s reputation. A way to improve the company’s business is to portray a solid reputation for ethics and integrity in the community. A major reason as to why ethical behavior among employees is important within an organization is to ensure workers complete their work with integrity and all honesty. Those employees who practices ethics to guide their behavior adhere to policies and rules while working towards meeting the goals of the organization. Quality in employees work is dependent on their ethical behavior. This can enhance the company’s reputation for quality products and service. A healthy...
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...Abstract Bernie Madoff’s investment business began as a side business that he started to manage investments for family and friends. Through word of mouth, he began attraction outside investors and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities was formed. However, a few people were not fooled and saw the danger behind the facade. A few people heeded the warning sign that were evident all around Madoff. They filed reports with the SEC on several occasions but they were too inexperienced to look deeper. In the end the story holds us not because of the engrossing details of the scam, but because of its human element. Madoff emerges here not as some master criminal, but as a sad man who sad man of weak character who committed one of the crimes of the century, instead of simply telling the truth. His story is not the story of ridiculous greed but more the picture of our unlimited aptitude for self-delusion. Bernard L. Madoff was arrested in December 2008 for defrauding thousands of individuals and organizations of billions of dollars for over two decades. The part of Madoff’s investment advisory company involved in private-investment or assess-management was where all of his illicit activities were carried out. In fact, most employees had no ideal he was stealing from his clients. Madoff had perpetrated an outsized Ponzi scheme, a Brobdingnagian con game (Lewis, 2012). In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty of soliciting funds to buy securities and failing to invest the money...
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...Introduction As long as the investment financial market existed, only one man was able to etched his name to the investment history as the greatest fraudster, and his name is Bernard Madoff. A brilliant fraudster that able to swindled over $50 billion from thousands of people using a type of investment fraud called "Ponzi Scheme." Using this type of investment frauds and his charming personality, Madoff stolen money from politicians, such as Senator Frank Lautenberg, famous celebrities, such as Kelvin Bacon, hedge fund directors, such as R. Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, universities, such as Yeshiva University, banking institutions, such as Union Bancaire Privee, and charitable organizations, such as Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. (Deborah & Strober, 2009) In that one day in the 11th of December in 2008, thousands people wake up to know the money that they entrusted to Madoff is nothing more than just a "lie." In other words, numbers that exist without any meaning. Madoff's Biography Born in Queens, New York, Madoff established himself from a humble blue collar workers, who earned his money from lifeguarding and installing sprinkle systems, to a genius international million dollar investor, who stolen billions of dollars from his clients. His investment firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Security (BMIS), based in New York, but its clients are as far as from European, South America, and even Asian financial market; a feast which few investment firms able to accomplish...
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