Madoff: El monstruo de Wall Street

Featuring slow-motion actor re-enactments, the New York Stock Exchange-style display graphics scrolling along the bottom of the screen, and obligatory views of hysterical brokers on the trading floor, it's all really interesting. But I believe that I've had enough of being entertained by the real atrocities of unrepentant guys. At least Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street offers the victims of white collar crimes whose stories are frequently ignored a voice. This series shed light on atrocities that take place in Wall Street and how it is constantly ignored even though multiple red flags. Pity all the victims involved.

Bernie Madoff perpetrated one of the greatest frauds in history, but also one of the simplest: he simply pretended to have bought low and sold high, and with great reported profits nobody asked for their money back, at least not until the stock market crashed in 2008. This series describes him an a "monster", but I find it hard to hate him as much as the tech frauds: at least he wasn't claiming he could save the world. What's interesting is his ordinary origins (he was New York Jewish middle class, his right-hand man was Italian-American), and the sense to which the scam depended on affinity fraud (selling to people from his own background); the contrast with the Europeans he conned, old-money banking aristocracy, is striking. There are many remarkable details of this story, but like many Netflix documentaries it's slightly too long, with too many people commenting without adding that much information; no-one willing to confess to being aware of the fraud gives an interview (although there is film of Bernie himself claiming all responsibility).

I am becoming a CFE. Certified Fraud Examiner. There were things I was not aware of that Madoff did. I watched Wizard Of Lies and they left out some things I wish they would have put in. This documentary did a lot of justice and more insights than anything else I have seen. I really liked the depositions from Madoff himself. I have not seen any of these until now. I also enjoyed how real life Madoff employees gave their insights on what it was like to work with Madoff. Again, really enjoyed this documentary. I still hate how he defrauded all of these people and in turn, he called his "clients" Greedy!! What a scum-bag.

...Or how to lose 19 billion dollars...of other people's money. Bernie Madoff was indeed the monster of the title here, an ambitious, ruthless individual who found that the best way to not just personal fortune and fame but also tacit acceptance within Wall Street, was to create the world's biggest ever Ponzi Scheme, which basically as I understand it means taking other people's money without ever investing it, instead hoarding it and paying out withdrawal requests from this ever-growing stockpile of cash. Using secretive and in truth wholly rudimentary methods to report to his "clients", once he had everyone thinking he was the emperor, it took the market-shattering financial crash of 2008 to finally strip the charlatan of his credibility and finally expose him as the fraudster he was.

Netflix showed this rags-to-riches-back-to-rags saga over 4 episodes outlining Madoff's inexorable rise through Wall Street before the bubble burst in 2008 and his house of cards came crashing down. The story of course is as fascinating as it is cautionary, with almost every one of the human victims, not to mention the representatives of major financial institutions, being shown as having been completely blindsided by the apparently gravity-defying returns promised by Madoff to his exclusive but gullible not to mention greedy clients.

The series charts his express progress to the top and all the professional and luxurious accoutrements that went with it. With contributions from on the one hand, many of his office staff and actual video footage from Madoff's own depositions from inside prison, but notably not a word from any of his surviving family or even his second-in-command, as well as insights from financial journalists and investigators, including the young accountant at a rival who openly and early on called the sham for what it was, this was a darkly fascinating tale of greed and abuse of power on Wall Street. Almost as culpable you'd have to say, were the financial regulator of the New York Stock Exchange and the ratings agencies who throughout the whole affair completely missed the obvious with their laissez-faire policies coming home to roost with the ruin of many unsuspecting investors, including the French representative of one major investment fund who committed suicide days after the scandal broke.

My only complaint about this series is that it could perhaps have been edited down to a more manageable length plus I'm not a fan of the apparently new documentary technique of having lookalike-actors recreating actual events, especially here with far too much repetition of set-scenes - how many times did we have to watch "Madoff" strolling through his office in slow-motion?

Regardless of which, this documentary series held the attention of my wife and I throughout and even ended with a chilling statement that there may be other similar scandals awaiting discovery and that Madoff's fraud may not in fact be the biggest of them all, as it currently is.

A gripping and informative true crime documentary series directed by Joe Berlinger. The series details the rise and fall of Bernie Madoff, a Wall Street executive who ran a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of billions of dollars. Berlinger uses a mix of expert interviews and recreations to tell the story, with author Diana B. Henriques serving as a particularly knowledgeable and engaging guide through the complex events. The final chapter of the series focuses on the heartbreaking fallout of Madoff's crimes, including the impact on his family and the investors who lost everything.

One of the most impressive aspects of "Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" is the way it untangles the complicated financial schemes at the heart of Madoff's fraud. Through clear explanations and well-chosen anecdotes, the series makes it easy for viewers to understand how Madoff was able to pull off such a massive fraud for so long. It's also shocking to see just how many people turned a blind eye to Madoff's crimes, and how the government failed to intervene despite multiple warning signs.

Overall, "Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" is a must-watch for true crime fans, and serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed and the importance of holding those in positions of power accountable.