Chasing Madoff

Chasing Madoff

If I thought one penny from my ticket would have gone to Madoff I would have stayed at home. I thought I might learn something about the psychology behind Madoff’s actions.
The film begins by showing money floating to the ground and the sound of change rattling. Very effective!
The film was not mainly about Madoff, the person. It centered on a man, Harry Markopolos who spent years documenting the fraud and trying to get someone to listen. It was beyond reason and belief that the scandal didn’t break sooner. Harry recognized the fraud immediately. He was examining the numbers in Madoff’s company hoping to start his own company. His goal was to emulate Madoff’s success. After five minutes of delving into numbers he realized there was a serious fraud.
He tried everything to get agencies and government to listen. He sent 12 pages of documents to Forbes Magazine. He spoke with regulators. Everybody promised to do something and still nothing happened. People were afraid to challenge Madoff. He was so powerful. He actually was bigger in Europe than North America. At the end of the film it is stated that many people are still ‘at large’. There have been very few arrests and many people were involved.
Harry felt threatened for years and thought he would be assassinated. He carried a gun. He sent information to reliable sources. Many promised to investigate and nothing happened. Obviously there were people at the top who kept the Ponzy scandal afloat. I kept asking why it didn’t implode sooner.
Madoff kept robbing Peter to pay Paul. It was pathetic to see people interviewed who had lost everything they owned. Even friends and family trusted him and all thought he was providing the gravy train to financial rewards. New members were constantly recruited and that money went to pay the members who had previously invested. It was like a merry-go- round.
It was interesting to see pictures about Harry’s childhood. We meet his parents and see him growing up. At the end of the film he is honored as a hero. He states that he is no hero because Madoff was not stopped sooner.
I learned a lot about the Ponzy scheme. The film did a good job of showing the brilliant effort of Harry Markopolos. He put up such a valiant fight to get Madoff ‘off the street.’
Was over 100 years of a jail sentence and his son’s eventual suicide retributive justice? Probably not to those who lost their life savings.