The Madoff Chronicles: Inside the Secret World of Bernie and Ruth
by Brian Ross
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Lowest price: $3.46
Binding: Hardcover
Released: 2009-09-29
Behind the walls of the house that lies built
After the news broke of Bernie Madoff's arrest on December 11, 2008, the facts were hard to grasp. Madoff claimed to have stolen fifty billion dollars; the sum seemed impossibly large. But of course it wasn't impossible. And that was only the beginning of the story.
As chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, Brian Ross has been on the front lines of the Madoff scandal since the beginning. Throughout the course of his investigation, he and his team have achieved unequaled access to the investigators working to unravel Madoff's fraud, and have succeeded in cultivating sources deep within the walls of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities that no other journalist has reached. Ross was even able to obtain a copy of the contents of Madoff's "little black book."
The result is an unparalleled, fly-on-the-wall view of a life of corrupted luxury and outrageous lies.
Ross chronicles the lavish lifestyle that Bernie and his high-school sweetheart, Ruth, enjoyed as the result of his ill-gotten gains and the bone-deep deceit that shocked the world with its sheer audacity. He details the layers of Madoff's scheme--from money men across the country who made millions convincing clients to entrust their wealth to Madoff, to the fabricated stock trades and false quarterly statements that fooled his victims, many of whom lost their savings, their homes, some of them even their lives, in the wake of Madoff's betrayal.
This is a true-crime drama of Shakespearean proportions, built upon the up-close investigative skills of one of our most respected journalists. The Madoff Chronicles is a vivid and chilling look behind the gilded doors of the greatest financial fraud in history.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
Thus far, the best book about the Madoff Ponzi scheme, October 5, 2009
by vilnius researcher
So many people lost money when they "invested" their funds with Madoff that it is amazing that they and the SEC just ignored the signs of the fraud. The investors and the SEC just did not dig deeply enough to figure out what was gong on. Perhaps they just didn't want to. Seems many members of the SEC were just too close to Madoff.
I thought I had read pretty much about the fraud, but while reading this book, the Kindle edition, I realized there was much that I had not known. I was surprised that there were drugs involved, particularly marijuana use by Bernie and his wife Ruth. Bernie used to send his messenger to Spanish Harlem to purchase marijuana, and apparently Ruth Madoff was becoming a serious user of the product.
The book is extremely well written, and I found it hard to put down once I began reading it. I ended up asking how this all could have happened. I'm not an investor, but I read the financial news, thought the SEC could be trusted to follow through as required and do the job of protecting investors. But they failed! The investigator Harry Markopolos was on target when he testified to congress about the Madoff fraud and stated that the SEC wouldn't be able to find ice cream in a Dairy Queen nor steak in an Outback steak restaurant.
I HIGHLY recommend this book and would have given it ten stars were they available.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Good story, less so of a read..., January 22, 2010
by Opinion_Sharer
I came away knowing more about the whole scandal after having read this book but I think it could have been better edited.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Very good read, January 14, 2010
by Great_Scot
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Madoff...so aptly named, October 30, 2009
by Jon Hunt
Madoff, himself, wondered why he hadn't been caught earlier...a point about which the author sounds as bewildered as any reader of his book... but Ross also lays blame on those who should have been more vigilant. The SEC, for instance, was conned and seduced by Madoff more than once, as was one of his biggest "feeders", the Fairfield Greenwich Group. Ross often seems to ask more questions than he answers but this decades-old crime is still unfolding and a follow-up book should be in order. He offers a crisp narrative and is good at explaining the relationships of those around Bernie Madoff. I was fascinated by the whole seventeenth/nineteenth floor set-up and how, for the most part, one hand really didn't appear to know what the other hand was doing. There are some fascinating paragraphs about how Madoff's personality allowed this scheme to continue for decades and one comes away from this book with a pretty clear understanding of the players and their connections with each other.
I highly recommend "The Madoff Chronicles" and compliment Brian Ross for his investigative work. One wonders how many other Ponzis are out there now and how much more vigilant those who can stop these things from happening again have learned from the Bernie Madoff years.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
interesting, October 11, 2009
by june sommer
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