No name is more synonymous with the evils of Wall Street than Bernie Madoff. Arrested for fraud in 2008—during the depths of the global financial crisis—the seventy-year-old market maker, investment advisor, and former chairman of the NASDAQ had orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in world history, fleecing thousands of investors across the globe to the tune of $65 billion. To this day, questions remain: Why did he do it? How did he get away with it for so long? What did his family know? Who is the elusive Bernie Madoff?
In Madoff Talks, author Jim Campbell presents the most comprehensive insider account of the Madoff saga to date. Based on exclusive interviews with all the players—the Madoff family and their associates, the Wall Street wheelers and dealers, the army of lawyers, analysts, and investigators, the victims of the scheme, and Bernie Madoff himself—the book reveals: what motivated a respected financier to commit such a massive fraud—and why he thought he could get away with it; how Madoff managed to keep the scheme hidden in plain sight—despite numerous SEC investigations; the shocking failures of Wall Street oversight—and how it could happen again; the true scale of the investment losses—and the victims' ongoing fight for justice; and what Ruth Madoff and the rest of the family knew—and how it shattered their lives.