Saturday, March 14, 2009

Madoff

OK, I do have a question. Where is the money?

Madoff had $50 - 65 billion of client money. That includes embedded gains so I'll assume it was $30 - 40 billion at the time that the clients and feeder funds gave it to him. He made no trades - that is a fact. The WSJ is saying that his net worth is $826 million. Poof.

There is no way that he turned $30 billion into $826 million by doing nothing. Can someone please find that money?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it is in the hands of the earlier patrons of the ponzi. those folks who made 15% per year for 10 or 20 years and then got their money back. Poof indeed. good luck getting it. plus probably a few billion for the soon to be indicted sons, a bill plus the 34 rolexes for the wife.

but mostly we need to take this lesson: get in early on the ponzi. in fact, i am starting a fund of funds style approach to ponzis - a ponzi of ponzis if you will. I will be fifo on any ponzi i can find, and use my clients money to get in. i'm charging 6% management fee and 39% of the upside. plus, i will make sure the vast majority of my ponzi of ponzis customers lose everything.

braaak said...

In that case he is perhaps the least efficient white-collar swindler of all time.