Bernie Madoff got caught, but that doesn’t mean he was the worst

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. His brother went to prison for his contributions to the scheme federal securities regulators uncovered amid the larger financial meltdown of 2008, an old-fashioned Ponzi setup in which new investors’ money was used to pay off any prior investors who wanted out, while both groups were given fake documents showing that everyone Madoff dealt with was getting rich. Madoff’s fraud wasn’t the most consequential Wall Street has ever produced, but it was one of the most clear-cut — certainly the most obvious crime I’ve seen in decades covering the finance beat. The larger financial crisis that unraveled Madoff’s scheme caused $7 trillion in lost housing value, both of which were eventually recovered. That dwarfs the impact of the $4 billion the US Justice Department said Madoff lured investors to place with him — and even the $64 billion that included fictitious paper profits he had claimed in falsified account statements sent to his victims, who included everyone from Brandeis University to the owners of the New York Mets, concentrated amongtout le monde of rich New York and Palm Beach residents.