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The untold story of the Madoff scandal, by one of the first journalists to question his investment practices Despite all the headlines about Bernard Madoff, he is still shrouded in mystery. How did he fool so many smart investors for so long? Who among his family and employees knew the truth? The person best qualified to answer these questions is Erin Arvedlund.

In early 2001, she was suspicious of the amazing returns of Madoff’s hedge fund. Her subsequent article in Barron’s could have prevented a lot of misery, had the SEC followed up. Arvedlund presents a sweeping narrative of Madoff’s career-from his youth in Queens, New York, to his early days working for his fatherin- law, and finally to infamy as the world’s most notorious swindler. Readers will be fascinated by Arvedlund’s portrayal of Madoff, his empire, and all those who never considered that he might be too good to be true.

Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff

Product DescriptionAn internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been honored with inclusion in both the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial, James Drake has explored political, social, and universal themes through the media of sculpture, video, installation, photography, and drawing. James Drake, the first monograph devoted to the artist, surveys thirty-five years of Drake’s work up to 2007. Many of the works reproduced in James Drake reflect the artist’s preoccupation with borders. Some have to do with the political border between the United States and Mexico and the inherent social and psychological tensions of people living in its extreme and unique environment. Other works explore the internal boundaries that people experience as a result of attitudes, prejudices, power, control, and arrogance. Jimmy Santiago Baca’s narrative poem Huitzilopochtli, a personal response to Drake’s work, provides a verbal counterpart to the artist’s theme of border-crossing. Another prominent subject in Drake’s work is the relationship of people and animals–in particular, the animality that always lurks in human behavior. In his essay “Between Animality and Man,” critic Steven Henry Madoff traces this subject through Drake’s work and shows how Drake uses it to contrast the forces of intellect and instinct, light and darkness. Interspersed among the color plates are quotations from writers as varied as Cormac McCarthy and Dante. Also accompanying the plates and essays is an introduction by Bruce W. Ferguson, a nationally known art curator, educator, and critic, that places Drake’s work in an art historical context. Lists of James Drake’s works, exhibitions, public collections, and awards, as well as a bibliography of works about Drake, complete this first retrospective of the oeuvre of this major, socially concerned artist, who always “tries to make work as exciting, powerful, and thought-provoking as possible. ”

James Drake

Product DescriptionNobody knew Bernie like I did, and nobody knows about meSheryl Weinstein met Bernie Madoff when she was just shy of forty, and went on to have a twenty-year secret, intimate relationship with the man now known as an evil mastermind, a villain of the greatest proportions. It was 1988 and Sheryl was facing a huge dilemma. Bernie Madoff was paying her a great deal of attention. She was in the midst of a rocky marriage and feeling vulnerable, when the powerful Wall Street mogul began making overtures. As a successful CPA and head of a major charitable organization, she had a lot to lose. She directed him to take things slowly. Over the next five years, there were business meetings over lunch, followed by intimate dinners in hotel rooms and finally, private moments that for a time seemed intensely satisfying to them both. Im not to be trusted, he once told her casually. She ignored it, having no idea how prophetic those words would be. After all, her relationship with Bernie was passionate and profound. She felt desirable. She was the one nobody knew about, with the window into the real man. So careful about investing her money, when the SEC cleared him in 1992 she decided to get in all the way–with her heart, her soul–and her financial future. Sheryl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She couldn’t possibly have imagined the devastation that would befall her. Learning the truth was shattering on so many levels. Many books are being written about the scale of Madoff’s fraud, but until now, nothing has shown the man through private eyes. Sheryl Weinstein’s riveting story reveals a Madoff who will shock and surprise you. From the boardroom to the bedroom, in each other, the two found something that had been lacking in their own lives. It’s a story with tragic overtones–a drama that only now could find a devastating conclusion.

Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me

Product DescriptionThis title includes a book & CD-ROM. This book contains the fully-indexed text of the SEC investigation of the failure to uncover the Bernard Madoff Ponzi Scheme. The accompanying CD-ROM includes essential backup testimony and related reports.

Madoff Ponzi Scheme: SEC Failure and Why

Product DescriptionINCLUDES: CASE #: 1:08-mj-02735-UA-1 USA v. Madoff DOCKET, MEMORANDUM OF LAW, 12/11/2008 HEARING TRANSCRIPTION CASE #: 1:08-cv-10791-LLS SEC v. Madoff COMPLAINT, ORDER APPOINTING RECEIVER, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE, SIPA ORDER, ORDER ON CONSENT IMPOSING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION CLASS ACTION CASE 2:2008cv05026 Kellner v. Madoff DOCKET, COMPLAINT, SUMMONS CLASS ACTION CASE 2:2008cv08260 Michael Chaleff v. Bernard L Madoff DOCKET, COMPLAINT, NEW CASE ORDER ADVERSARY BANKRUPTCY CASE 1-08-ap-01789 Securities Investor Protection Corporation V. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC. Bernard L. Madoff DOCKET, PLUS FILINGS DATED 12/11/2008 THROUGH 12/30/2008 BackgroundNow. com staff provide a complete range background checks, custom research, related blogs and publishing of high-profile federal case files. Contact Lee Hill directly, 1 (713) 784-3232 x3142, to discuss any of these services.

Bernard L. Madoff: The Five Federal Court Cases Filed December 2008: Official Federal Court Case Files

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Product DescriptionNobody knew Bernie like I did, and nobody knows about meSheryl Weinstein met Bernie Madoff when she was just shy of forty, and went on to have a twenty-year secret, intimate relationship with the man now known as an evil mastermind, a villain of the greatest proportions. It was 1988 and Sheryl was facing a huge dilemma. Bernie Madoff was paying her a great deal of attention. She was in the midst of a rocky marriage and feeling vulnerable, when the powerful Wall Street mogul began making overtures. As a successful CPA and head of a major charitable organization, she had a lot to lose. She directed him to take things slowly. Over the next five years, there were business meetings over lunch, followed by intimate dinners in hotel rooms and finally, private moments that for a time seemed intensely satisfying to them both. Im not to be trusted, he once told her casually. She ignored it, having no idea how prophetic those words would be. After all, her relationship with Bernie was passionate and profound. She felt desirable. She was the one nobody knew about, with the window into the real man. So careful about investing her money, when the SEC cleared him in 1992 she decided to get in all the way–with her heart, her soul–and her financial future. Sheryl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She couldn’t possibly have imagined the devastation that would befall her. Learning the truth was shattering on so many levels. Many books are being written about the scale of Madoff’s fraud, but until now, nothing has shown the man through private eyes. Sheryl Weinstein’s riveting story reveals a Madoff who will shock and surprise you. From the boardroom to the bedroom, in each other, the two found something that had been lacking in their own lives. It’s a story with tragic overtones–a drama that only now could find a devastating conclusion.

Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me

Product DescriptionPop Art: A Critical History chronicles one of the most controversial art movements of the century. The anthology draws from a great range of sources, from the leading art magazines and art historical journals to newspapers and news magazines such as the New York Times, Life, and Newsweek. What emerges from this rich cross-section of critical and journalistic commentary is a fascinating view of the tumultuous rise of Pop art and its establishment as a major force in contemporary art. A broad selection of articles traces the emergence of the movement itself in England and America, as seen through the eyes of the working critics of the day. The focus then narrows to present in-depth writings on the four major Pop artists: Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol, along with an examination of many other artists involved in the movement. From reviews of the very first shows of many of these artists to interviews with them, to news stories about their collectors and their lifestyles, Pop Art: A Critical History represents the most complete and coherent record of Pop art yet published. The book concludes with an invaluable chronology of the major ’60s exhibitions by Pop artists. Among the contributors are Lawrence Alloway, John Coplans, Donald Judd, Max Kozloff, Gerald Nordland, Peter Plagens, Barbara Rose, Robert Rosenblum, John Russell, Gene Swenson, and Sidney Tillim.

Pop Art: A Critical History

Real estate fraud has become a common occurrence in our distressed economy. Last April, the FBI uncovered the largest mortgage fraud case ever prosecuted in Southern California. It involved an elaborate con which defrauded over 70 lenders for millions of dollars.

Recently, we’ve seen the “foreclosure rescue” scams, “short sale facilitation” scams, and “loan modification” scams. By far one of the coldest, most calculating deceptions, extending over 20 years and $67 billion was the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff. He showed no discrimination when selecting targets; his victims ranged from celebrities, wealthy financiers, to retirees and small investors.

There was no sense of remorse on Madoff’s part, as he stripped many of their life savings, leaving a trail of betrayal and shattered lives. Many of these victims sat in court, anxiously awaiting the outcome of his much publicized trial. Everyone was shocked when the judge pronounced the maximum sentence of 150 years. The judge may have considered a lesser ruling, but no one came forward with letters of reference in support of Madoff’s character or any good deeds he had done. Now the victims have closure, and it appears the judge was setting an example to others by imposing such a harsh ruling. This case, however, is far from over.

There are a number of unanswered questions that may spark investigations for years to come, as well as the moral questions raised by this crime. Bernard’s fraud was based on a Ponzi or pyramid scheme where investors are promised larger than average payouts. The money is never invested, but payouts are made from the the deposits from new members. Layers of investors provide profits for the lower level members. This worked nicely attracting all levels of investors until the bottom started falling out of the market and large investment firms were going bankrupt. Nervous investors began withdrawing their funds at alarming rates. Madoff, realizing his scheme would be uncovered, confessed to his family that the business was all a sham, and turned himself into the authorities. Apparently, no one knew of his deceit, and Madoff accepted total responsibility for 20 years of fraudulent investing practices.

Question Number One. How could anyone pull off this type of complex crime for so long, with no one’s help? Apparently, there was an accountant that has been charged, and an investment firm was also implicated, but other than those, Bernard Madoff, swears he was the lone gunman. In the next few months, watch for the name “Frank DiPascali” to appear in the news. he was Madoff’s Chief Deputy whose actual job description in the company was somewhat of a mystery. Rumor has it, he is under investigation and is willing to “sing like a canary” with regard to the entire operation, in exchange for reduced sentencing.

Question Number Two: Just how innocent are some of these victims anyway? For years, Madoff’s operation operated in a profit margin, securing double digit investment returns even during the recession when other companies were folding. Were the recipients of these positive returns concerned about where the money was coming from? Apparently, during questioning, DiPascali claimed that he modified investment statements for some clients to reflect losses to reduced their tax blow.

Question Number Three: So, now that it’s all said and done, where is the money? Bernard’s wife and kids are still living luxurious lifestyles, is it such as stretch to assume they are reaping the spoils?

Finally, Question Number Four: What’s up with the SEC? The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Madoff’s business dealings on a few occasions, but always came up empty handed. Apparently he was a clever man, who covered his tracks well, but to completely outwit an SEC investigation ? what’s up with that? We also understand that Bernard’s niece Shana Madoff, who was active on the Executive Committee of SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Division, married an SEC compliance official not long after the investigation was concluded. Might as well keep it all in the family.