Required Reading

Madoff's allocution [Dealbreaker via WSJ]
Some perspective on large amounts of money [Gizmodo]
Canadian doom and gloom [Report on Business]

Madoff Movie

I was thinking today about who could play Bernie Madoff in the movie. Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins or Gene Hackman? It might be a slightly boring movie though. We could watch him not trading, generating phony documents and wooing famous people in invest.

This Can't Be A Good Sign

Apparently, Madoff had not made an actual trade for over 13 yrs. He must've been spending all his time faking trade confirmations and wooing new investors.

First Pass

Jim Chanos, SAC Snared In Wall Street Research Scandal [Cluster Stock]
Europe Economy Collapses [Cluster Stock]
Madoff: A Family Affair? [Portfolio.com]
European GDP shows worst contraction ever [Globe And Mail]
Nearly 700 at Merrill in Million-Dollar Club [NYtimes]

The Next Head of the SEC

Markopolos.

Markopolos Testimony

This guy testified in front of Congress that him and some friends were dubious about Madoff's returns as far back as 2000. He rails the SEC for being staffed by incompetent, lazy, lawyers who know next to nothing about finance did not want to take on the Ponzi scheme.