Madoff scandal

The Madoff Scandal
Name
Institution

The eponymously named Madoff scandal was an elaborate security fraud scheme, carried out by Bernard Madoff, the founder, and chairman of Madoff Investment Securities LLC. The authorities were made aware of the scheme by Madoff’s sons and subsequently arrested him in December 2008. He confessed that his enterprise’s management structure was fraudulent. Reporting on their father, however, did not have the impact the sons probably desired, with Mark hanging himself to death, a ceremonial two years after his father was arrested (Road to Freedom, 2015).
Being the largest Ponzi scheme known, the entire network was estimated at a value of 64.8 billion US dollars, though some claim that slightly more than half of that was false claims made to the clients, or more fittingly, victims of the seasoned white-collar criminal. He pleaded guilty to eleven different counts of fraud and is serving a one-hundred-and-fifty-years prison sentence (Road to Freedom, 2015).
The scandal is a representation of various economic and social aspects related to business in the world today. First, the ignorance and consequential gullibility of the masses towards the stock and securities market remains a significant cause of vulnerability of both private citizens and listed companies. Granted, it is a complicated endeavor, but as such the government should install more stringent measures to ensure that incidents like this do not re-occur. However, entrepreneurs and human rights activists might view this as an illegal encroachment by the Government of its citizens.

The second aspect is in loyalty. Many entrepreneurs will concur that emotional attachment to a business is unhealthy. However, some of the more successful individuals have succeeded because of the loyalty of someone: either their business partner, spouse or family member. Madoff’s son did not betray their father for their morality, but out of a desire to take charge, and probably, spite. One, therefore, has to wonder to what extent emotions and other inter-personal attributes such as loyalty should feature in a business venture.
In conclusion, the Madoff scandal was a well-crafted idea; so lofty that the movie has an eloquent and streamlined flow, and the result is an educative and entertaining 45-minute film.

References
Road to Freedom. (2015, November 1). Bernie Madoff: The $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_RVG2qBB_U&list=PLCTYDpTdCHFUTTKjSwQKq7pPXrrqtj7kZ.