MADOFF

One veteran of a Wall Street bank, said: 

Our compliance group asked him 3 questions: 

1. Who is your law firm (2 man shop)? 

2. Who is your accounting firm (2 man shop)? 

3. Where are the assets held ("we hold them")? 

In 5 minutes they figured him out....and the U.S. Government could not. 

Simple. Tragic.

This is recounted in the film starring Robert de Niro, “Wizard of Lies” – an uncomfortable watch for the world of retail financial services.  We deal in numbers for a lot of people – they don’t see their shareholdings, only their statements recording their shareholdings.  Regulatory protection should not replace “Caveat Emptor.”