What a rotten place corporate America and DC is these days!

[Joanne98]

Martin Armstrong the Hedge Fund manager but actually more prominent for his outstanding market predicting computer model which hr refused to sell to the CIA sits in prison for 9 years now - 8 of them without any court ruling. He was accused of things which were never proven and basically he was punished for not joining the 'club'. Madoff who screwed up to 50 bil - imagine that number is bankrupt since years is facing up to 5 years. Thats what you get when you even steal a car I guess something is rotten in the US law system as its a 2 class system where the buddies or members of the 'secret club' get a different treatment, since he is an ex chairman of the Nasdaq. What is the SEC, FED and whoever has to have oversight of this things doing all day long as this man was able to do that for at least a decade. What brought the truth out was the simple fact the clients seeked to withdraw 7 bil due to the financial crises otherwise he would have kept going on - thats the irony of the story.

Excerpt from WSJ

Sons Turned In Madoff After He Allegedly Told Them His Investment-Advisory Business for the Wealthy Was 'Giant Ponzi Scheme'

Bernard L. Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and a force in Wall Street trading for nearly 50 years, was arrested by federal agents Thursday, a day after his sons turned him in for running what they said their father called "a giant Ponzi scheme."

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a civil complaint, said it was an ongoing $50 billion swindle, and asked a judge to seize the firm and its assets. "Our complaint alleges a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions," said Andrew M. Calamari, associate director of enforcement in the SEC's New York office.

In a separate criminal complaint, Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Theodore Cacioppi said Mr. Madoff's investment advisory business had "deceived investors by operating a securities business in which he traded and lost investor money, and then paid certain investors purported returns on investment with the principal received from other, different investors, which resulted in losses of approximately billions of dollars."

....

Both complaints say Mr. Madoff told his sons he believed losses from his fraud exceeded $50 billion. That figure couldn't be confirmed. But such a loss is plausible, had money been flowing in and out for years: At the beginning of 2008, according to the SEC filing, his operation had more than $17 billion under management.

Such a scheme would dwarf past Ponzi schemes. It would also be nearly five times larger than the accounting fraud that drove telecom company WorldCom into bankruptcy proceedings in 2002.


Excerpt from CNBC

Bernard Madoff Arrested Over Alleged $50 Billion Fraud

Bernard Madoff, a longtime fixture on Wall Street, was arrested and charged Thursday with allegedly running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, U.S. authorities said.

The former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market who remains a member of Nasdaq OMX Group's nominating committee, is best known as the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, the closely-held market-making firm he founded in 1960.

But the alleged fraud involved a hedge fund he ran from a separate floor of the building where his brokerage is based.

Madoff told senior employees of his firm on Wednesday that ''it's all just one big lie'' and that it was ''basically, a giant Ponzi scheme,'' with estimated investor losses of about $50 billion, according to a criminal complaint against him.

A Ponzi scheme is a pyramid-type swindle in which very high returns are promised to early investors, who are paid off with money put up by later investors.

Prosecutors charged Madoff, 70, with a single count of securities fraud. They said he faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million.
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GE got special treatment by the FED and Treasury to keep their freaking triple A and because Buffett invested there and they refuse to help out the car industry with 14 bil. - what kind of evaluation system is that which puts up to 3 mil. workers into jeopardy over Christmas (actually 10 mil with family members) as this bunch of rotten politicians which threw over a tril to the financial industry without making sure they lend this money to the industry or even more importantly ease the distressed mortgage owner conditions. Especially the Reps are even vicious idiots or stupid morons to start getting smart over 14 bil they should do a little math how much it cost to create 3 mil jobs - Obama plans to spend up to a tril to achieve that and that takes much time to do. Its unbelievable how cynical this corrupt bunch of people are who had over 8 years to fix the obvious and inevitable - everyone knew they were heading for bankruptcy for the last 2-3 years. They should be charged and prosecuted for their irresponsibility and misconduct of their office including the most disgraceful president ever. He leaves with an unbelievable negative track record. He doubled US debt brought a recession and a depression to his country just to name a few obvious ones not to mention the lies he had fabricated to start a pathetic war.

Continued>>>
http://behind-the-matrix.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-kind-of-rotten-place-is-america.html