While many lose a large portion or even their life savings to Madoff's scandal, some actually have profited over the past few years. Over the past couple of years, many people have profited from depositing money, as Madoff's "investments" gave them 10-15% return each year. However, what they have "made" might be money stolen from other Madoff's clients. Now, they might need to give it back. One lawyer had a client who asked, "'I've taken out more money then I originally put in, but I still had $1 million left with Madoff. Should I file a $1 million claim?" The lawyer has told Yahoo! News that he was "hard-pressed to give advice in that situation."Jonathan Levitt, a New Jersey attorney who represents several former Madoff clients, said more than half of the victims who called his office looking for help have turned out to be people whose long-term profits exceeded their principal investment. One person called him had invested $1.8 million with Madoff about 10 years ago, then took out three million dollars profit as the years went by. However, that client still had around $4 million invested with Madoff. The client most likely would have to give up that claim of $4 million, as these investments were fake ones that were obviously not made.
Frankly, I am astounded by the audacity of Bernard Madoff. His Ponzi scheme has bankrupted hard-working people and destroyed charities. However, it is inevitable that some people profit from Madoff. He started his firm in 1960. That's plenty of time for investors to put in and take out money, right? The problem is, what happens to the money some investors gained? In 2005, when a hedge fund was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme, the winners of the situation were forced to give back the money they earned. However, this doesn't really seem fair, as these clients didn't know this was fake. If those clients didn't invest with Madoff, they might have had more capital to finance projects they wanted, such as constructing a new building in New York City. I am very split myself as to what to do with the winners, as they were also honest people who were scammed by this fraud.
As to what should be done to Bernard Madoff, he should probably just get the penalty as soon as possible. There is no way we can measure how many peoples' lives have been ruined. We cannot just count individual people, as countless charities that work for other peoples' well-being also have been scammed. His actions must affect the lives of tens of thousands around the world. Putting him to is the only sensible thing to do.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090109/ap_on_bi_ge/madoff_false_profits
No comments:
Post a Comment