en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:07:29 GMT 15 By Alyson Velati
    It has been the talk of the country. It is one of the greatest financial scandals of our time. Bernie Madoff is the center of this mass hysteria.      Madoff, who founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Securities LLC and was the non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, was arrested on December 11, 2008. He was accused and convicted of administrating a Ponzi scheme. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is known to be the most widespread investor fraud scandal committed by one person. Supposedly, this scheme dates back to the 1980’s. Court papers point out that Madoff's firm had about 4,800 investment client accounts in November 30, 2008, and gave statements for that month saying that client accounts held a total balance of about $64.8 billion, but in truth only had a “small fraction” of the money.      The FBI arrested Madoff on a criminal charge of securities fraud. The day before he was arrested, Madoff told his sons that his business was a Ponzi scheme. Soon after, they called their friend who is a lawyer and asked for advice. On their behalf, the lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum, called federal prosecutors. On the same day of his arrest, he was released on a $10 million bail.      On March 10, 2009, Bernie Madoff was charged with 11 felonies: securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements, perjury, making false filings with the SEC, and theft from an employee benefit plan. His maximum sentencing is 150 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for June 16, 2009. ]]> Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:33:56 GMT