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Columnist: Madoff victims were also accomplices

March 15, 2009 — 9:38am ET | By Jim Kim

In all the coverage of the Madoff guilty plea, it was hard not feel sorry for all the victims, some of whom were quite famous. A columnist in the New York Times offers a contrarian take, suggesting that the victims certainly bear some responsibility for their loss.

"Isn't the first lesson of personal finance that you should never put all your money with one person or one fund? Even if you think your money manager is God? Diversification has many virtues; one of them is that you won't lose everything if one of your money managers turns out to be a crook," says Joe Nocera. 

The fact is that a lot of the people who invested with Madoff were quite rich and sophisticated. They might have played it safer. Institutions in general, were much more sophisticated about their due diligence and were much less likely to invest. 

For more:
- here's the column

Related Articles:
The big mystery in the Madoff case
Taking on Madoff not easy
Role of Bernard Madoff's wife questioned

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Comments

By Anonymous | Posted 12:25pm | April 2, 2009

I think that the only way to get justice in this case is to arrest the entire family, and sentence them all to life in prison. Maybe that will motivate Madoff to reveal where the money is hidden, and return assets to shareholders.
If parents of teens can be held responsible for their kids' vandalism, then kids and family should be held accountable for their parents unlawful behavior. Madoff had a nice life, living in luxury. Maybe he wants the same for his sons. Instead innocent people are being relegated from wealth to poor house, all because of his blatant greed and deceptions. His sons should pay, and be unable to enjoy the spoils. There is NO way that they and his wife are innocent in this. The real crime is the duped investors, the real victims.
Maybe a compromise for sons' and wife's potential release from prison in 30 years may entice Madoff to return the assets. Madoff assets should be seized, and any transfers of funds or property blocked.

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