One of the biggest mysteries of the Madoff affair is what happened to all the money.
Eh?
Have I missed something somewhere? Madoff was running a Ponzi sscheme, no? For decades?
He was paying retunrs to early investors, yes?
So that\’s where the money has gone, into the pockets of those who invested with him for decades.
What\’s the mystery?
Where there actually were investments, and I understand that there were, they would have lost much of their value.
The interesting question, from a legal point, is whether the beneficiaries of this man’s scam are liable to to pay out those who were ripped off.
Jonathan,
I think this came up when Madoff’s scam first came to light, and the answer was ‘yes’ . They were the beneficiaries of a crime and had to cough it up.
Tom, presumably they could only be expected to cough up profits they made, not their own original investments?
I think there was a legal decision in NY State that their capital would also be at risk.