Bernard Madoff Gets One-Hundred Fifty Years...

The scum, scamming banker Bernard Madoff was given 150 years by the judge presiding over the case. He said he decided to gives this swindler the maximum he could because of all these lives he ruined and suicides.
The man embzzled 13 billion dollars from people. So far only abouit one-billion, five hundred miilion has been recovered. Many people say that he had to have accomplises. However, as yet, no one in this category has been revealed.
I suggest they watch the movements of his relatives very closely for a long time. Especially after they feel like the heat is off.
The media people commented that he is being sent to a minimum security prison to do his time. There are some dangerous people there and some could be there because they decided to settle their score personal;ly, for being swindled by other people and tried to, or did kill sombody because of that...
In the words of the media commentator; they should change the name of a "Ponzi Scheme" to a 'Madoff Scheme'.
One of the people calling in to comment on the sentencing said that no one should ever invest money with any person with the name Madoff. I agree.

the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

You're wrong.








He'll be out in 5 to 7.

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

There was commentary regarding how much time he will actually have to serve; the figure is 80%. If that p[roves out, they have him "iced', because 80% of 150 years is 120 years. He's 71 now, so he will have to live to be 191 years before being paroled.
Unless he's Musuzelath reincarnated, or some such circumstance, I doubt that he will survive prison to spend the billions he has stashed away. His wife, relatives, on the other hand...

CarolinaHound wrote:You're wrong.








He'll be out in 5 to 7.

horrible, omg.

coontie wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

There was commentary regarding how much time he will actually have to serve; the figure is 80%. If that p[roves out, they have him "iced', because 80% of 150 years is 120 years. He's 71 now, so he will have to live to be 191 years before being paroled.
Unless he's Musuzelath reincarnated, or some such circumstance, I doubt that he will survive prison to spend the billions he has stashed away. His wife, relatives, on the other hand...

i hope you're right and i hope dishonest people will not get his money.

HotParadox wrote:

coontie wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

There was commentary regarding how much time he will actually have to serve; the figure is 80%. If that p[roves out, they have him "iced', because 80% of 150 years is 120 years. He's 71 now, so he will have to live to be 191 years before being paroled.
Unless he's Musuzelath reincarnated, or some such circumstance, I doubt that he will survive prison to spend the billions he has stashed away. His wife, relatives, on the other hand...

i hope you're right and i hope dishonest people will not get his money.

So far 'they' obviously have when Eleven and one-half billion dollars is still missing and no one can find out [so far] where it IS! "Is" in this instance means other people, as yet to come forth [ha-ha] or be otherwise identified.
Hey, I've got an idea - maybe the E.T.s have got it...

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

coontie wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

His wife probaly know where it is.

Night-Reaper wrote:

coontie wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

His wife probaly know where it is.

Should be interesting to see just what country she heads for now.

I think this is blown WAY out of proportion. True, he did commit a terrible act. However, what he did ONLY cost money. MONEY (not really much different than what our government is doing to us, right now). Most of his clients were in on it because of their own greed. He's the scourge of the earth because not of what he did, but who he did it to, and the shear magnitude. His crime goes on every day, millions of times. Thousands are caught every day, for doing the exact same thing. Once again, success is being punished (sarcasm). Where are the lynch mobs? He should be left poor for the remainder of his life (as should everyone caught doing this). But, life in prison???? I recall recently, a 3 time convicted child molester getting time served. Madoff hurt NO ONE. He cost them money. He may have destroyed future financial plans for many people, but it was only money. Money can be replaced, and life goes on, lesson learned (or not). A child molester hurts, injures, scars, destroys a young life, for life, which in itself is a life sentence, for the VICTIM.

Crimes against innocent souls = not so bad.
Crimes against not-so-innocent-adult's money = a fate worse than death (apparently, since he'll die in prison). And, he'll possibly be physically abused himself, while he's there, until he dies.

Justice? I think not.

DM007 wrote:I think this is blown WAY out of proportion. True, he did commit a terrible act. However, what he did ONLY cost money. MONEY (not really much different than what our government is doing to us, right now). Most of his clients were in on it because of their own greed. He's the scourge of the earth because not of what he did, but who he did it to, and the shear magnitude. His crime goes on every day, millions of times. Thousands are caught every day, for doing the exact same thing. Once again, success is being punished (sarcasm). Where are the lynch mobs? He should be left poor for the remainder of his life (as should everyone caught doing this). But, life in prison???? I recall recently, a 3 time convicted child molester getting time served. Madoff hurt NO ONE. He cost them money. He may have destroyed future financial plans for many people, but it was only money. Money can be replaced, and life goes on, lesson learned (or not). A child molester hurts, injures, scars, destroys a young life, for life, which in itself is a life sentence, for the VICTIM.

Crimes against innocent souls = not so bad.
Crimes against not-so-innocent-adult's money = a fate worse than death (apparently, since he'll die in prison). And, he'll possibly be physically abused himself, while he's there, until he dies.

Justice? I think not.

"He hurt no one, just cost them money??? I am incredeolous... I've heard some of them speak out about what happened to them. One family that had 5 million now has nothing. They work three jobs and she's cleaning houses... GOt their come-uppance and good riddance? Well, perhaps; not sure how they came by their five million. But not for me to judge, as I don't know their circumstances,
Probably the reason, as I stated earlier that they came down on him so hard was [b]BECAUSE HE DID RUIN LIVES AND CAUSED SOME SUICIDES AND HE DIDN"T COME FORWARD AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE RESTITUTION.
I don't think that you or anyone else, that wasn't one of his voctims, would care to be in that predicament. He left a shambles of broken lives in his wake. When people were testifying in court about what was done to them he wouldn't face them and never offered an apology.
So far, all they have retrieved from what this smuck swindled from people was their 7 million dollar Manhattan Town Home, 11 million Palm Beach Home and a Yacht worth around 4 million dollars. This living human turd and gis wife were gorging on gourmet food all of the time, riding around in chauffered limousines, flying on their private jet aircraft and taking junkiet trips overseas and buying designer clothes, expensive jewelry and accessories, all at the expense of others; stolen money. He is just a common thief - one that got caught for a change!
H9is wife has been left with two and one-hal miilion dollars [boo-hoo]. Virtually all of their "favorite places" and the "exclusive shops" she used to patronize have banned her from coming on their premises. They fear that money she may be spending is money stolen from several thousand people that her husband rooked...
I appreciate you're qualyfying the one comment with "sarcasm", which is fitting... THanks!

coontie wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

you're probably correct HP - after all, his bail was only 500,000 dollars, which, if I am correct, 10% is required to posted of the declared bail amount, to allow a felon to be released to the streets before trial. So that's is $50,000.00 of SOMEBODY ELSE"S MONEY, AS WELL AS THE WINDFALL THE ATTORNEY THAT REPERSENTED HIM EARNED...
So hjow much did it cost the people of NYC to prosecute this felon swindler?
We will see what the coming months bring, what developes. Doubt we haven't heard the last of this pig.
But, they said that he hardly has a chance at an appeal case as he admitted his guilt. I mean, after all, wasn't that a moot point. Several thousand people wouild have easily made him a liar in that even [declarin not guilty] as well as a swindler.

coontie wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

My bet, is that it is sitting in off shore banks and in Switzerland. The Feds will probably never recover the majority of it.

Put It Out There Baby wrote:

coontie wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

My bet, is that it is sitting in off shore banks and in Switzerland. The Feds will probably never recover the majority of it.

And/or, I'll guarantee there's some accounts opened with stolen Identities. If an illeagal alien can do it; it would be a breeze for someone who had access to the money madeoff had to do it. All his lawyers have to do is wait for the apeals to get into the hands of either a liberal judge who takes pitty on some heart or other condition the poor old man may have; or the right crook judge to take the right amount of money, and he'll be out. Never to be heard of again.

Put It Out There Baby wrote:

coontie wrote:

Night-Reaper wrote:

HotParadox wrote:the sentence will be reduced to 50, he'll get out in 10, 20 tops. then he'll buy an island and disappear. please, somebody, tell me i'm wrong.

I thought that he was stripped of all his assets?

Are you kidding? [nothing personal, just exclamation] Possibly, if he had made restitution he would have only gotten a 10 year sentence and parole in 3 - 5 years.
No - the bulk of the money is still missing.

My bet, is that it is sitting in off shore banks and in Switzerland. The Feds will probably never recover the majority of it.

you're probably on to something there... By the way, correction; the Yacht cost nearly 8 million dollars.
Madoff had a legitimate investment operation in business on one floor of a large Manhattan office building. Two floors below he had a clandestine sham investment operation going with an inner circle of people he had recruited and put together a team to swindle people. They all knew what was going on, even though some are denying it. Others are laying low and trying to be invisible and are probablly not sleeping too well at night because they are apprehensive of the day coming when there is that certain knock on the door and a constable is there with a suponea in hand to serve on them.
It is suggested that the FBI and Justice Department are quietly working to construct iron-clad cases against these fraud accomplises. WHo very likely, in a year or so, will join Madoof once again as his inner-circle in prison. Which by the way [correction] is a maximum security facility rather than minimum.
As well, a New York Times reporter that was in the courtroom for the proceedings stated this evening that Madoof did apologize for his deeds.
However, the FBI and the Justice Department people have said that he remained noncooperative in regard to giving them insight, revealing just exactly what happened to all of the billions that he stole from people over about twenty years.
A picture was shown of Madoff and wife Ruth lounging on the beach in the French Riveria with their nearly 8 million dollar luxury uyacht anchored off shore with a full crew including maids, valets and a Sous-Chef.
They were both smiling and appeared relaxed and happy...

coontie wrote:

DM007 wrote:I think this is blown WAY out of proportion. True, he did commit a terrible act. However, what he did ONLY cost money. MONEY (not really much different than what our government is doing to us, right now). Most of his clients were in on it because of their own greed. He's the scourge of the earth because not of what he did, but who he did it to, and the shear magnitude. His crime goes on every day, millions of times. Thousands are caught every day, for doing the exact same thing. Once again, success is being punished (sarcasm). Where are the lynch mobs? He should be left poor for the remainder of his life (as should everyone caught doing this). But, life in prison???? I recall recently, a 3 time convicted child molester getting time served. Madoff hurt NO ONE. He cost them money. He may have destroyed future financial plans for many people, but it was only money. Money can be replaced, and life goes on, lesson learned (or not). A child molester hurts, injures, scars, destroys a young life, for life, which in itself is a life sentence, for the VICTIM.

Crimes against innocent souls = not so bad.
Crimes against not-so-innocent-adult's money = a fate worse than death (apparently, since he'll die in prison). And, he'll possibly be physically abused himself, while he's there, until he dies.

Justice? I think not.

"He hurt no one, just cost them money??? I am incredeolous... I've heard some of them speak out about what happened to them. One family that had 5 million now has nothing. They work three jobs and she's cleaning houses... GOt their come-uppance and good riddance? Well, perhaps; not sure how they came by their five million. But not for me to judge, as I don't know their circumstances,
Probably the reason, as I stated earlier that they came down on him so hard was [b]BECAUSE HE DID RUIN LIVES AND CAUSED SOME SUICIDES AND HE DIDN"T COME FORWARD AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE RESTITUTION.
I don't think that you or anyone else, that wasn't one of his voctims, would care to be in that predicament. He left a shambles of broken lives in his wake. When people were testifying in court about what was done to them he wouldn't face them and never offered an apology.
So far, all they have retrieved from what this smuck swindled from people was their 7 million dollar Manhattan Town Home, 11 million Palm Beach Home and a Yacht worth around 4 million dollars. This living human turd and gis wife were gorging on gourmet food all of the time, riding around in chauffered limousines, flying on their private jet aircraft and taking junkiet trips overseas and buying designer clothes, expensive jewelry and accessories, all at the expense of others; stolen money. He is just a common thief - one that got caught for a change!
H9is wife has been left with two and one-hal miilion dollars [boo-hoo]. Virtually all of their "favorite places" and the "exclusive shops" she used to patronize have banned her from coming on their premises. They fear that money she may be spending is money stolen from several thousand people that her husband rooked...
I appreciate you're qualyfying the one comment with "sarcasm", which is fitting... THanks!

I never said he shouldn't be punished for what he did. Quite the contrary. But, the punishment should fit the crime. And this applies to every crime.

Still, the investors have some responsibility. The individual who invested 5M, had 5M to invest, and lose if it came to that. No investment is a zero risk. If an offer is too good to be true, it probably is. This proved true, in this case. He/they who lost "everything", but all their eggs in the wrong one basket. Why? Greed. They invested more than they could afford to lose, and lost. Very irresponsible, if the family is suffering significantly because of it. There are hundreds of thousands of people across this country who didn't have 5M to invest in a plan that was too good to be true, and they are still poor with less than what the investors have left now. Boo hoo is right. And the murderers, rapists, child molesters and robbers will receive minimal sentences, pay little to no fines or restitution, and will not have their modus operandi confiscated (use your imagination, if you can). The court screwed the pooch on this one. The sentencing phase should be more about restitution and recovery of losses than incarceration. Prison is not contributing anything to the solution. Where are the "rehabilitation bleeding hearts" in this situation. It is far and away easier to correct a white collar thief than a child molester. What is rehabilitation? It is a means to prevent an individual from repeating a criminal act. Well.....Madoff will never repeat his act. He can't. Even if he were released from custody today, he will never be out of observation or recognition. What was his crime again? Oh, yeah. He lied to people and failed to legally invest funds entrusted to him. Congress has been doing this every minute of every day for decades. Why aren't they all in prison?

You have to wonder also, how many of Madoff's very, very well paid accomplices (which I believe were actually more like partners) have already fled the country for other countries with no extradition treaties with the USA and/or they have already just changed their identities (every ID on the planet can be bought for the right price and anyone's appearance can be altered) and they could be just any where in the world. I would think that most of them would have flown the coup immediately. He had to have had a very large network of people to have pulled off what he did on such a large scale and for so many years.

Madoff was charged in early December of last year. Where are the charges and arrests for others in his organization so far??? I find this pretty strange since it's almost 7 months later now. The only other person charged so far is his accountant. That's it. It's even stranger that the government does not even seem to know exactly how many investors/entities and organizations (some were even charities) were defrauded and for how much. The estimates are between 13.5 billion and 65 billion. That's a huge range. And the number of bilked investors range from 5,000 to 8,000. There were over 500 of them in the state of California alone.

One would think in this amount of time, more details would be available. I have a feeling that either the "public" is not being told everything or the government simply does not know. I still think there are more questions than answers in this whole mess. I would especially like to know if there are more well known/powerful/influencial types who were involved with Madoff. I have seen quite a bit of speculation over this issue. It's going to take years to unravel all of this and we may never know the entire truth.

He started this scheme around 1990. Madoff sent regular statements to all the investors. Of course the statements were lies but the investors didn't know that at the time. Many investors were not "direct" investors but their money was invested with Madoff by funds that others invested in. Most didn't take the "returns" on their investments and run. They left the money invested so it would grow. What they didn't know is that their money was never invested in the market like Madoff told everyone. He just took the money and spent it but told everyone he was buying and selling in the market.

Remember, many, many of the people who were defrauded did not invest their money directly with Madoff.

Successful Madoff Investors Worry About Lawsuits
by Jim Zarroli December 24, 2008

The scandal surrounding Bernard Madoff and his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme grew deeper Tuesday when Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the head of an investment firm tied to Madoff, was found dead in his office, an apparent suicide.

Magon de la Villehuchet founded Access International Advisors, which had reportedly invested more than $1 billion with Madoff. Access was one of numerous "feeder funds," which took money from investors and funneled it to Madoff's firm. Can we spell "kick backs"?

Many of these feeder funds now face big legal problems.

A Retirement Fund Wiped Out

Until a few weeks ago, Bob Chew had no inkling his retirement fund was in any jeopardy. He had put about $650,000 into an investment fund run by California money manager Stanley Chais, who had been investing for Chew's wife's family for decades. Chew says Chais was secretive about what he did with his clients' money.

"He wouldn't offer, and when we did try to ask specifics, we weren't given the answers," Chew says.

But the fund made steady returns, so Chew learned not to ask questions. Then, on Dec. 11, Madoff was arrested by FBI agents in New York and everything began to unravel.

"The person who was handling our family fund called and said we're wiped out," Chew says. "And I said, 'Well what do you mean?' And he said, 'There's this fellow Madoff who's been arrested and all our money went to him.' "

" 'Who's Madoff? Who's this guy Bernard Madoff?' " Chew responded. "We had never heard the name before."

Feeder Funds Face Lawsuits

As it turned out, Chew's money had been placed in one of the feeder funds that delivered investors to Madoff's firm.

For years, Madoff was known as a spectacularly successful money manager. Ordinary investors were barred from putting their money in his funds. However, they could go to one of the feeder funds, which for a fee would send their money on to him.

Dan Strachman, author of The Long and Short of Hedge Funds, says these funds have become increasingly popular with investors.

"They want a bite of the forbidden fruit, and organizations like Fairfield Greenwich and others in some cases provide that access," Strachman says. "Someone like Madoff seems to have been able to take advantage of that by using these people."

Fairfield Greenwich is a hedge fund company that operated what is believed to be the largest feeder fund — and it is reported to have lost $7.5 billion in the Madoff debacle.

Many other funds have now lost all or part of their investors' money, and they're expected to spend years fighting lawsuits.

Attorney Jeff Zwerling, who represents some of Madoff's alleged victims, says some of these funds are virtually bankrupt. It will be difficult for these investors to recover any money from them, but Zwerling says there are exceptions.

"If the feeder fund did not invest all its assets in there but lost, say, 50 percent of its investment and is still an ongoing entity, then I think the investors have a much better shot of recovering at least some significant portion of their investment," Zwerling says.

He points out that some of the feeder funds were tied to bigger companies with deep pockets.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., for example, was sued this week because one of its subsidiaries was tied to a company that invested with Madoff.

On Preventing Future Disasters

Chew says regulators need to demand that feeder funds be more transparent. He says the fund operated by his money manager wasn't registered with the government because it was so small and therefore was able to escape scrutiny.

"Had we been able to see what was going on, been able to pull the curtain to the side and see the black box and what it was doing, we would have been able to make a better investment decision," Chew says. "And maybe, in fact, we would have kept going — but at least we would have known."

Chew says he is speaking out on the issue because he wants to prevent future financial disasters. But for him, it's probably too late to recover much of the money he lost.

For now, he is left to sort out the damage caused by a man he hadn't heard of before this month.

Put It Out There Baby wrote:Remember, many, many of the people who were defrauded did not invest their money directly with Madoff.

Successful Madoff Investors Worry About Lawsuits
by Jim Zarroli December 24, 2008

The scandal surrounding Bernard Madoff and his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme grew deeper Tuesday when Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the head of an investment firm tied to Madoff, was found dead in his office, an apparent suicide.

Magon de la Villehuchet founded Access International Advisors, which had reportedly invested more than $1 billion with Madoff. Access was one of numerous "feeder funds," which took money from investors and funneled it to Madoff's firm. Can we spell "kick backs"?

Many of these feeder funds now face big legal problems.

A Retirement Fund Wiped Out

Until a few weeks ago, Bob Chew had no inkling his retirement fund was in any jeopardy. He had put about $650,000 into an investment fund run by California money manager Stanley Chais, who had been investing for Chew's wife's family for decades. Chew says Chais was secretive about what he did with his clients' money.

"He wouldn't offer, and when we did try to ask specifics, we weren't given the answers," Chew says.

But the fund made steady returns, so Chew learned not to ask questions. Then, on Dec. 11, Madoff was arrested by FBI agents in New York and everything began to unravel.

"The person who was handling our family fund called and said we're wiped out," Chew says. "And I said, 'Well what do you mean?' And he said, 'There's this fellow Madoff who's been arrested and all our money went to him.' "

" 'Who's Madoff? Who's this guy Bernard Madoff?' " Chew responded. "We had never heard the name before."

Feeder Funds Face Lawsuits

As it turned out, Chew's money had been placed in one of the feeder funds that delivered investors to Madoff's firm.

For years, Madoff was known as a spectacularly successful money manager. Ordinary investors were barred from putting their money in his funds. However, they could go to one of the feeder funds, which for a fee would send their money on to him.

Dan Strachman, author of The Long and Short of Hedge Funds, says these funds have become increasingly popular with investors.

"They want a bite of the forbidden fruit, and organizations like Fairfield Greenwich and others in some cases provide that access," Strachman says. "Someone like Madoff seems to have been able to take advantage of that by using these people."

Fairfield Greenwich is a hedge fund company that operated what is believed to be the largest feeder fund — and it is reported to have lost $7.5 billion in the Madoff debacle.

Many other funds have now lost all or part of their investors' money, and they're expected to spend years fighting lawsuits.

Attorney Jeff Zwerling, who represents some of Madoff's alleged victims, says some of these funds are virtually bankrupt. It will be difficult for these investors to recover any money from them, but Zwerling says there are exceptions.

"If the feeder fund did not invest all its assets in there but lost, say, 50 percent of its investment and is still an ongoing entity, then I think the investors have a much better shot of recovering at least some significant portion of their investment," Zwerling says.

He points out that some of the feeder funds were tied to bigger companies with deep pockets.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., for example, was sued this week because one of its subsidiaries was tied to a company that invested with Madoff.

On Preventing Future Disasters

Chew says regulators need to demand that feeder funds be more transparent. He says the fund operated by his money manager wasn't registered with the government because it was so small and therefore was able to escape scrutiny.

"Had we been able to see what was going on, been able to pull the curtain to the side and see the black box and what it was doing, we would have been able to make a better investment decision," Chew says. "And maybe, in fact, we would have kept going — but at least we would have known."

Chew says he is speaking out on the issue because he wants to prevent future financial disasters. But for him, it's probably too late to recover much of the money he lost.

For now, he is left to sort out the damage caused by a man he hadn't heard of before this month.

Somewhere there is a lot of money hidden. Wonder who is going to get it.