全世界最大的大忽悠——死了

古往今来,骗子数不清。

但能称得上世界级的骗子不多,死了还能登上世界各国头版头条新闻的更是凤毛麟角。

伯纳德·麦道夫(Bernard L. Madoff)就是这样一个巨骗,制造了世界历史上最大一起庞氏骗局的世界级大忽悠。

2021年4月14日,服刑期间的麦道夫在美国北加州Butner 的联邦医疗中心因病不治死亡,15天后就是他的83岁生日。

消息一出,几乎占据了世界各国所有媒体的头版。

这是一个什么样的人,能有如此巨大的影响?

伯纳德·麦道夫1938年4月29日生于美国纽约皇后区,出身很普通,从水暖工起步,22岁时就创办了自己的投资公司(Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.),1990年成为纳斯达克非执行主席(nonexecutive chairman of NASDAQ)。

从1970年代开始以投资的名义,启动了一场后来震惊了世界的庞氏骗局(Ponzi Scheme),被骗总人数超过40万人,遍及136个国家和地区,诈骗金额超过650亿美元。

2008年的金融危机触发了麦道夫资金链的断裂,很快导致几十年的骗局崩盘。同年12月11日,麦道夫被儿子向执法机构举报。

2009年3月12日,71岁的麦道夫面对十一项指控当庭认罪,被判150年监禁,并赔偿受害者1700亿美元经济损失。

其实麦道夫的这个庞氏骗局跟所有庞氏骗局的原理一样,就是拆东墙补西墙,用后“投资”人的钱去支付先“投资”人高额收益,所有庞氏骗局的本质和逻辑都是这样。

即便自己因被儿子们“背叛”入狱,麦道夫在法庭上仍坚称一切都是他自己的点子,老婆孩子和弟弟都不知情,尽管他老婆(Ruth Madoff)就是公司财务负责人,两个儿子都担任公司高管,弟弟是公司首席合规官(chief compliance officer)……

麦道夫入狱两年后,他的大儿子马克·麦道夫(Mark Madoff)自杀身亡,二儿子安德鲁·麦道夫(Andrew Madoff)2014年病逝,弟弟 Peter Madoff 被判10年监禁。

这一家子……

这一辈子……

这一场骗局啊……


参考资源

The Largest Ponzi Schemes of the 20th Century

  • Greater Ministries International, an evangelical Christian ministry, scammed church leaders and members of other churches out of $500 million in 1997.
  • Moneytron’s Jean-Pierre Van Rossem’s 1991 Ponzi scheme conned investors out of an incredible $860 million.
  • Caritas promised to help struggling citizens of Romania. Instead, from 1992 to 1993, it stole around $1 billion from investors.
  • European Kings Club was a fraudulent company located in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1997, the company’s owner Damara Bertges was convicted. He had a reported net loss of $1.1 billion.
  • MMM’s Ponzi scheme was the largest of the 20th century. Investors were scammed out of around $10 billion in 1994.

The Largest Ponzi Schemes of the 21st Century

  • Mutual Benefits Company’s Ponzi scheme conned 28,000 terminally ill people out of $1 billion, from 1994 to 2003.
  • Bitconnect’s cryptocurrency investment program scam, from 2016 to 2018, achieved an all-time-high market cap of $2.6 billion.
  • Tom Petters used his firm Petters Company Inc. to steal $3.65 billion. He was arrested in 2008.
  • Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme, conducted through his Stanford International Bank, scammed investors out of $7 billion. He was convicted in 2012.
  • Bernie Madoff, who was once the chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, conned investors out of approximately $65 billion, making it the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Madoff was arrested in 2008.

*https://complianceandethics.org/the-biggest-ponzi-schemes-ever/