http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4BG6US20081217?virtualBrandChannel=10272&sp=trueWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The alleged $50 billion fraud by Wall Street veteran Bernard Madoff may have escaped the attention of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staffers for one simple reason -- they saw him as one of their own.
The former Nasdaq Stock Market chairman regularly made appearances at the SEC, serving on agency advisory panels, where he was widely regarded as a sage markets expert and jovial voice representing his brokerage firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, and the securities industry as a whole.
"When it came to Bernie, people paid more attention. This was a guy who really knew how markets worked," said Georgetown University Law School professor Donald Langevoort, who served on an SEC advisory committee with Madoff in the early 2000s.
"He was the grown-up in the room. If there was confusion or a question or two people on opposite sides going at each other, Bernie would speak up and explain what the deal was," Langevoort said. "I'm sure in some way that may have thrown even the commission off their guard."
Madoff's name was so well known around the SEC's offices that his efforts to give market-makers a broad reprieve from short selling restrictions led SEC officials to call the measure the "Madoff Exemption."
...more...the media trying to do everything they can to push this back to 1999 and then onto Donaldson
the freakin' shills are attempting to plant the blame on anything and everything but what and who the responsibility lies with: Bush/Cheney maladministration and Cox the stupid piece of shit do-nothing crapweasel
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
