Real Options -The Madoff Affair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Real Options -The Madoff Affair - Essay Example Despite that Madoff had no record of bribery with the authority; his case shows that the financial security top officials were failing in their job How the fraudster managed to pull through during the financial hard times remains a question worth noting. Additionally, most financial managers today, are still perplexed as to how Madoff managed to trick the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Ponzi scheme raised suspicion a number of times. However, when SEC investigated the firm’s financial records and activities Madoff’s pyramid scheme was undetected. The second important aspect worth noting is that Madoff kept his business low profile and this is why it took long before the scheme was uncovered. This was through secrecy and hiring family members as his top officials in the firm. This was until December, 2008 when Madoff admitted that the firm was â€Å"one big lie†. He specifically confessed this to his son who was a top official in the same firm. The confession came just when the economy was in its worst and banks that had loaned some of the investors’ money counted billion in losses. Mad off firm was stated as a Ponzi scheme which was pyramidal in nature because the past investments returns from earlier investors came from the latest investor’s deposits. Therefore, the returns were not true product of the investments. The firm was stripped naked and the true business conduct was revealed when some of the investors withdrew their funds from the firm. Madoff had funds to pay the investors their interest money and this led to his arrest for crimes of fraud, false financial statements and money laundering among others. The crimes made the perpetrator convicted the maximum of 150 years (Manzakee). The Ponzi scheme not only shocked the financial advisors, SEC but also president Barack Obama. In an interview after Madoff’s conviction, President Obama exclaimed