Madoff arrested in alleged Ponzi scheme
Ex-Nasdaq chairman, investor charged with securities fraud, FBI says
By Alistair Barr & Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
Last update: 8:48 p.m. EST Dec. 11, 2008Comments: 117SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bernard Madoff, former Nasdaq Stock Market chairman and founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was arrested and charged with securities fraud Thursday in what federal prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme that could involve losses of more than $50 billion.
Madoff, 70, of New York, was charged with one count of securities fraud, according to a statement from the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in federal court in Manhattan seeking an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm run by Madoff.
"We are alleging a massive fraud, both in terms of scope and duration," said SEC Enforcement Bureau director Linda Thomsen in a statement. "We are moving quickly and decisively to stop the fraud and protect remaining assets for investors, and we are working closely with the criminal authorities to hold Mr. Madoff accountable."
Madoff did not enter a plea or make any comment during a court hearing Thursday evening, according to The Wall Street Journal. He was expected to be released after agreeing to post a $10 million bond secured by his Manhattan apartment.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 12.
"Bernard Madoff is a longstanding leader in the financial services industry with an unblemished record," Dan Horwitz, a lawyer for Madoff, told the Journal. "He is a person of integrity. He intends to fight to get through this unfortunate event."
Madoff's firm is known as securities broker dealer, but he also runs a separate investment advisory business which had more than $17 billion in assets under management, federal authorities said, citing two unidentified employees and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Madoff counted several large hedge fund investment firms as clients, along with some European banks, so if his firm has lost more than $50 billion, the impact could be widespread.
On Wednesday, Madoff told two senior employees that he was "finished," that he had "absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," federal prosecutors said in their statement.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Thursday and cited by the Journal, Madoff "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."
Madoff also said his business was insolvent, and that it had been for years, estimating losses to be at least $50 billion, prosecutors alleged, again citing the two unidentified employees.
According to the complaint, Madoff told one of his senior employees that clients were seeking about $7 billion in redemptions and that "he was struggling to obtain the liquidity necessary to meet those obligations." The employees believed the firm had about $17 billion under management.
Earlier this week, Madoff also allegedly told an employee that he wanted to pay bonuses to employees this month-- earlier than usual. Later, two employees who met with Madoff at his apartment were told that the business was a giant Ponzi scheme, which they took to mean that Madoff "for years been paying returns to investors out of principal received from other, different investors." Madoff allegedly told those employees that the firm was insolvent, according to the complaint.
