Commentary on the economy, the markets, and business

Bernie Madoff: All the interesting court cases are still to come

I'm sitting again in the jury selection room of the main state civil court building in downtown Manhattan, while in the federal court building next door Bernie Madoff has just pleaded guilty to all manner of horrific deeds (worst among them of course mail fraud). There were a bunch of TV crews on the steps of this courthouse as I entered—I'm hoping it's because it provides a more expansive courthouse-steps backdrop than the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse does, and not because they don't know where the Madoff hearing is.

The guilty plea is of course horribly anticlimactic. I even read something a couple days ago (I looked online for it just now but couldn't find it), where a lawyer for some of Madoff victims said Madoff was cheating by pleading guilty. Hmmm: Pleading guilty to all the crimes of which you were accused doesn't really seem like cheating. Madoff, after doing enough cheating for several lifetimes, has apparently decided there's no point trying anymore.

But this doesn't mean the Madoff legal saga is over. It's not even close. In fact, most of the really interesting stuff remains to be revealed in or out of court. There's the involvement (or not) of his wife and kids. There are the cases of Walter Noel and Ezra Merkin and all the other "feeders" who steered billions into the Madoff sinkhole. There's the reexamination, which has only just barely begun, of what role federal regulators ought to play in regulating private investment funds like Madoff's. And there will surely be lots, lots more (there's already a Madoff Case Global Alliance of Law Firms pleading for the creation of an International Finance Court to handle all the border-crossing litigation). So much more that, in few years, we'll all be totally sick of Madoff-related court cases.

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    BERNIE MADOFF SINGS "IF I HAD A PONZI "
    (If I Were a Rich Man, Fiddler on the Roof)
    WilliamBanzai7 (Fraudster on the Roof)

    Sing along link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc

    If I had a Ponzi,
    Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
    All day long I'd be sitting in the Palm Beach sun.
    If I had a good Ponzi scam.
    I wouldn't have to work hard.
    Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
    If I were a biddy biddy Ponzi,
    Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.

    I'd buy a big gawdy mansion with rooms by the dozen,
    Right in the middle of Palm Beach town.
    And a fine Park Avenue Penthouse with a fleet of Mercede's and others down below.
    There would be one long staircase just going up,
    And one even longer coming down,
    And one more leading nowhere, just for show.

    I'd fill my office with investor ducks and turkeys and geese to fleece
    For all of Wall Street to see and hear.
    Squawking just as noisily as they can.
    Each loud "cheep" "squawk" "honk" "quack"
    Would sound like a golden trumpet on my Ponzi scheming ears,
    As if to say "Here is yet another wealthy yutz to schtupp."

    If I had a PONZI,
    Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
    All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
    If I had a good PONZI scam.
    I wouldn't have to work hard.
    Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
    If I were a biddy biddy Ponzi,
    Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.

    I see my wife, my Ruth, looking like a rich momzer's wife
    With a proper Bergdorf grin.
    Supervising meals to her heart's delight.
    I see her putting on airs and strutting like a Park Avenue trophy tuchas.
    Oy, what a happy mood she's in.
    Screaming at the servants, day and night.

    The most important machers in Wall Street town would come to fawn on me!
    They would ask me to advise them,
    Like a Solomon the Wiseguy.
    "If you please, Bernie..."
    "Pardon me, Bernie..."
    Posing megillahs that would cross an SEC Branch Chief's eyes!

    And it won't make one bit of difference if i answer right or wrong.
    When you're a Wall Street gonif, they think you really know!

    If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack
    To hook then slice golf balls and pray.
    And maybe have a seat on NASDAQ.
    And I'd discuss the holy finance books like a big Wall Street macher, several hours every day.
    That would be the sweetest thing of all.

    If I had a PONZI,
    Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
    All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
    If I had a good PONZI scam .
    I wouldn't have to work hard.
    Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.

    Lord who made the Wall Street lions and the rich shnooks and lambs,
    You decreed I should be what I am.
    Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?
    If I built the Mother of all Ponzi scams.

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