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MADOFF SCANDAL EXPANDS / FRONTLINE VIDEO
The definitive expose on the Madoff Ponzi scheme is the PBS Frontline's Madoff Affair complete with important interviews and strong evidence of the SEC's willful negligence along with more details on Madoff's sting operation ~ as the investigation expands: Allen L Roland
This is not to be missed. A 50 minute Frontline expose of the massive corruption that allowed Madoff to get away with his Ponzi scheme for so long, especially during the Bush/Cheney years. The SEC is seen as complicit, if not corrupt, as are many other agencies with oversight in this area.
Today Reuters reported that US prosecutors have broadened their criminal investigation of the Bernard Madoff case beyond the friends and family of the confessed swindler to at least eight investors and associates ~ according to the Wall Street Journal. The Boston Herald also reported today that Boston philanthropist and multimillionaire Carl Shapiro and his son-in-law are reportedly under investigation as part of an expanded probe into Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme ~ The article also reported that " authorities are reviewing the records to see if some investors enjoyed special access to Madoff or got specific percentage returns agreed to in advance. Such arrangements would suggest investors knew long ago that Madoff was running a scam." http://news.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1173116&pos=breaking
This 50 minute Frontline video must be seen in the context of a recent scathing watchdog report which blasted the Securities and Exchange Commission oversight ~ as revealed today on Truthout and taken from an article by Darren Barbee, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "The Securities and Exchange Commission abandons investigations for lack of resources, allows corporate wrongdoers to skip fines and drops cases because of a bureaucratic culture of risk aversion, according to a recent federal report. The list goes on: A lack of support staff is so severe it forces SEC attorneys to send confidential documents to nonsecure copy shops. One attorney spent a day putting together document boxes instead of pursuing cases, according to the scathing report by the US Government Accountability Office." http://www.truthout.org/051809K?n
In case you missed this showing on PBS here it is online ~ THE MADOFF AFFAIR http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/madoff/view/
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/05/18.html
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
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