Bernie Madoff's victims, 10 years later

it is the biggest investment fraud in history there you are folks and ten years later thousands of victims of Bernie Madoff Sepik fraud are still struggling to put their lives back together it's got coned letter our coverage of the scam of the century and he's back now catching up with some of those victims Scott good to see you good to see you Tyler Kelly ty on the surface it sounds as if Madoff victims are doing okay after all Irving Picard the trustee who's getting their money back says he's recovered about 76 cents on the dollar and Counting including a new distribution just announced today but the figures only begin to tell the story on the one hand there are investors like Joyce Greenberg of Houston who says she's gotten back about 60% of her multi-million dollar Madoff investment well I consider myself very fortunate she says part of that did a good record-keeping on her part Greenberg is a retired stockbroker but more important she didn't withdraw any more from her madoff account than she put in according to urban Picard the trustee rounding up funds for the victims that makes Greenberg what he calls a net loser at the top of the food chain for recoveries for Greenberg a pleasant surprise when Madoff confessed I thought I would never see the money again but on the other hand our clients like the Kent family from Georgia like thousands of victims Eileen Kent's parents withdrew more money than they invested believing that the returns on their madoff statements were real it was shocked it was disbelief it was distrust under Picard's formula upheld repeatedly in court the money that Kent's withdrew beyond their investment which was based on what turned out to be fictional brokerage statements was not theirs to take making them in the eyes of the law net winners we're not a winner you know how can you be winner when you know everything you've worked so hard for has been taken away from you add insult to injury those net winners are subject to clawback spy Picard and less like the Kent's they could plead hardship the courts have upheld that formula and that sets a precedent for frauds to come and some argue sets the stage for more unsuspecting investors to get scammed that's one of the topics we cover in our exclusive American greed podcast series Madoff ten years later you can subscribe now at Apple or wherever you get your pond are we safer today and is one of the lessons of the Madoff money management scheme that if you deal with a money manager you should never deal with one who actually custody is your account in other words that that that the account should be custody by a state street or a Schwab or RBC or something that that is a lesson and it's one of the things that the law changed and the regulations changed in the wake of Madoff and and there is there's now an office of the whistleblower at the SEC so they'll listen more likely or to a Harry Markopolos or somebody like that there there's much more money that's spent on compliance at on Wall Street firms it's like the big growth area now probably the only growth area in many respects but crooks get around the laws they get around the rules and as sure as Bernie Madoff did it 10 years ago someone's going to find a way so the key lesson is yes this can happen again you got to keep asking these guys you you

Channel: CNBC Television

Views: 50,586

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Keywords: Power Lunch, CNBC, business news, finance stock, stock market, news channel, news station, breaking news, us news, world news, cable, cable news, finance news, money, money tips, financial news, stock market news, stocks

Id: aFlGU4YPi-U

Length: 3min 28sec (208 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 11 2018