The Madoff Mess - By Aaron Hoddinott

I didn’t want to spend any time writing about the Madoff scandal because it deeply frustrates me when some individuals ruin the reputation of our financial market for their own greed. I don’t like to dwell on their selfishness and bring more negative words to the situation, but I can’t help myself this time.

On Wednesday, Bernie Madoff faced the possibility of losing his bail and spending the rest of his time awaiting trial in a prison cell. The reason: He allegedly tried to mail some of his finer watches and other jewelry to his family members. And these weren’t the type of watches you or I might wear. The estimated value of the jewelry is around 1 million dollars. He allegedly did this after the court ordered an asset- freeze. Knowing it was wrong, he still tried to beat the law, AGAIN.

I was reading Bloomberg.com (a great site) and found this quote that sums it all up:

“The critical fact is that the defendant, knowing of the order, consenting to the order, violated it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt said at today’s hearing. “By violating it, the defendant acted 180 degrees opposite to his stated intent after his arrest, which was to see to it that the victims got back as much as possible.”

The result of the trip to court:

Madoff exited the court (not surprisingly, in a bullet-proof vest) and was escorted back to his multimillion dollar Upper East Side apartment.

I don’t care how good Bernie Madoff’s lawyers are (which are probably being paid with the victims’ money) he should be awaiting trial from a prison cell after his demonstration of disregard for the law and investors’ money. If not a prison cell then at least a