Regulators Knew About Madoff Scam in 1992
September 2, 2009 by Mark Ellis
Filed under Business
In news that will undoubtedly cause victims of Bernard Madoff’s massive $150 billion Ponzi scheme to become outraged, an new report by the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the SEC received six tips in the sixteen years leading up to Madoff’s confession concerning his scam. However, the SEC’s report alleges that the agency mishandled the inquiries and ignored several key factors in exposing Madoff’s guilt.
The SEC recently released a 450-page report that revealed the SEC’s knowledge of Madoff’s “lies and misrepresentations” dating all the way back to 1992. However, the report also revealed that the SEC failed in its duty to protect the investors that were being defrauded by Madoff for all this time.
The reports also helped to shed light on how Madoff managed to keep his scheme secret for so many years, leading agency chairman Mary Schapiro to assure everyone in her statement that steps have been taken to avoid any such scams in the future. While the sheer loss of money remains staggering, Madoff will hopefully be one of the last of his kind.
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