Chapter 4
Trust: Meeting at the Crossroads of Identity
You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.
—Dr. Frank Crane, minister and author
He was the former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market and vice-chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers. He lived the life many only dream of—multiple homes, extravagant cars, private jets, and yachts. Now, he is simply prisoner 61727-054.
You may know him better as Bernard (“Bernie”) Madoff, the mastermind behind one of the largest financial frauds ever perpetrated on the public. Over 16 years, he bilked investors out of billions of dollars, orchestrating one of the most sophisticated Ponzi schemes in history—a financial bait-and-switch in which the assets of new investors are used to pay off failed investments from older investors. Once an outsider to the financial pedigree of Wall Street he so admired, Madoff soon skyrocketed to fame and fortune with his proven, though thoroughly misunderstood, black-box techniques. While other investment firms relied on human brokers, Madoff used computers with advanced algorithms to secure his client’s next bet. But when those investments turned sour, Madoff turned to unscrupulous tactics, now his infamous Ponzi scheme, to cover his missteps and lure naive investors into his web of lies. His house of cards came crashing down when the market crashed in 2008 and federal agents arrested him upon confession of his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. ...
