First published 2009
Bernard Madoff built a financial empire that collapsed into the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Erin Arvedlund investigates how this master manipulator convinced smart investors to hand over $65 billion while regulatory agencies failed to act on clear warning signs. Arvedlund had spotted trouble early, publishing concerns about Madoff's impossible returns in Barron's magazine in 2001 after conducting over one hundred interviews. Her investigation reveals how Madoff transformed from an unremarkable student in Queens into NASDAQ chairman, then into America's most notorious financial criminal. The book examines whether his fraud began immediately or evolved from legitimate business, why industry leaders like Walter Noel and Ezra Merkin ignored obvious red flags, and how SEC investigations repeatedly missed the deception. Arvedlund explores the network that enabled Madoff's operation and questions whether one person could orchestrate such massive theft alone. She traces his entire career arc, from working for his father-in-law through his rise as a trading innovator to his final disgrace, revealing the psychology behind lies people desperately wanted to believe.
Genres: business, crime, biography-memoir, 21st-century, finance, deception, accounting, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, investigation, true-crime
Setting: America, New York, Queens
Period: 21st-century
320 pages · Hardcover · Portfolio Hardcover