First Madoff Interview: Can't Believe I Got Away with It

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Bernie Opens Up in Prison to Talk With Lawyers Suing His Family

In his first prison interview, a buff-looking Bernie Madoff said he couldn't believe he got away with his massive Ponzi scheme for so long.

"There were several times that I met with the SEC and thought 'they got me,'" Madoff told Joseph Cotchett, a San Francisco lawyer threatening to sue his wife, sons and brother on behalf of a group of victims.

Cotchett said he and his partner, Nancy Fineman, met with Madoff for four and a half hours Tuesday afternoon at the federal prison in Butner, NC, where Madoff is serving his 150-year sentence.

"He looked pretty good and seems to be working out," said Cotchett. "He looked a lot better than he has in some months since I've seen photographs of him."

Cotchett said Madoff was "very articulate, very direct" and did not appear to hold back anything. "He talked about how he pulled it off, how many years he got away with it," the lawyer said.

"I was surprised at how candid he was," Cotchett told ABCNews.com after the session, the first time Madoff has talked with outside lawyers. Madoff refused to cooperate with the FBI after his initial, largely untruthful confession last December.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Madoff/story?id=8195963&page=1

[Warpy]

1. The SEC had the whole thing dumped into their laps

and refused to do anything about it. Holder needs to get Cox's butt into a witness chair and find out why.

My guess is that the SEC was ordered to file paperwork and that's it. They were defanged and declawed during the miserable previous administration and rendered utterly useless except when investigating municipal funds.

We just need to know where the orders were coming from. Too many people and organizations were hurt, especially in the last few years of the scam when feeder funds were pouring money into it.

Cox has some serious explaining to do, the sooner the better.

[high density]

2. It makes me wonder...

...what else the SEC has been ignoring for the past decade.

[martinknight]

3. Cox Was Incompetent

Besides completely missing Maddoff, Cox was supposed to regulate the investment banks. We all know how that turned out...
Then there were those short selling rules Cox thought were unimportant...

maui oceanfront condo

[24601]

4. Cox was Chairman only 3 1/2 years. Arthur Levitt was Chairman

July 1993 until February 2001 - during the plurality of Madoff's scam.

More importantly, Levitt was in charge when Financial analyst and whistleblower Harry Markopolos complained to the SEC's Boston office in May 1999, telling the SEC staff they should investigate Madoff because it was impossible to legally make the profits Madoff claimed using the investment strategies that he claimed to use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Securities_and_Exchange_Commission

[rollingrock]

5. The Wall Street banks got away with it too

but instead of being punished for running a massive real estate Ponzi scheme for the last 10-15 years, the banksters are rewarded with massive amounts of bailouts, compliments of the US taxpayer. Who says crime doesn't pay?

[Amonester]

6. Maybe ALL bankers threatened to pull the plugs on ALL ATMs

at once? :shrug:

(Including their '$$$$$$$$$$ecret' ATMs For ALL Congress critters too, of course.)