Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History

by Jim Campbell

“The authoritative source on one of history's most notorious Ponzi schemes.” ― Fortune

The definitive, in-depth account of the spectacular rise and fall of Bernie Madoff―and the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time―featuring new, exclusive, never-before-published details from Madoff himself

No name is more synonymous with the evils of Wall Street than Bernie Madoff. Arrested for fraud in 2008―during the depths of the global financial crisis―the 70-year-old market maker, investment advisor, and former chairman of the NASDAQ had orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in world history, fleecing thousands of investors across the globe to the tune of $65 billion. To this day, questions Why did he do it? How did he get away with it for so long? What did his family know? Who is the elusive Bernie Madoff?

In Madoff Talks , author Jim Campbell presents the most comprehensive, insider account of the Madoff saga to date. Based on exclusive interviews with all the players―the Madoff family and their associates, the Wall Street wheelers and dealers, the army of lawyers, analysts, and investigators, the victims of the scheme, and Bernie Madoff himself―the book
Madoff Talks features the first, and likely only, interviews with Ruth Madoff and defense attorney Ira Sorkin, for which Bernie waived attorney-client privilege, as well as never-before-published details from the author’s personal communications with Bernie Madoff in prison. A vivid, powerful piece of investigative reporting, the book takes us behind the headlines to show the full human cost of Madoff’s crimes, and offers a cogent analysis of the reforms necessary to prevent it from happening again.

Meticulously researched and relentlessly riveting, Madoff Talks is the full story of an American tragedy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, True Crime, Finance, Audiobook, Biography, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a Madoff completist you should read this, not because the author was the only journalist Madoff opened up to (his statements aren't very interesting or revelatory) but because it probably contains at least some information the other books don't cover. (This is my fifth Madoff book.) But it's written kind of amateurishly in places, and there are images reproduced (e.g., fake trade confirmations, financial statements, account activity details) which are too small to even be legible. There's a table where the decimals don't line up. There's a graph where the author tells us a line ascends at a 45 degree angle when it's closer to a 10 degree angle. The author correctly notes that Madoff's character flaws caused the suicides of his son Mark and several other major investors, but also insists he caused the death of his son Andrew, who died from cancer, which is simply silly.

Madoff started out with a legal business that consisted of market making and proprietary trading. The illegal side of the business, which started later, was a hedge fund, an IA (investment advisory) business, which was the Ponzi scheme. The Ponzi money was often used to prop up the legal side. Illegal money was laundered through the legal business. But Campbell never explains what market making is, what proprietary trading is, and how they differ from investment advisory, which would have been helpful.

Campbell doesn't understand apostrophes. People's is a different word than peoples', a mistake made repeatedly. "When peoples' kids got sick Bernie and Peter gave them time off..." A "people" is the population of a particular community or ethnic group. I guess his excuse is that he works in radio rather than print journalism.

[Lisa Bodner · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something about the Bernie Madoff story that fascinates me. His genius, his duplicity etc., etc. The effect on his wife and children. His wife had been with him since she was a young teen and was completely in the dark. His dishonesty basically ruined both of his son's lives, not to mention his grandchildren and all the while he somehow made himself out to be a victim. There's a lot of technical jargon that I glossed over, the human element was of the greatest interest to me.

[Harshan Ramadass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would’ve given 4 stars if I were a Wall Street nerd. I’m a general reader who likes finance, much of the intricate market making and brokerage operations descriptions went over my head. Frankly those details weren’t necessary to understand the gist of the Madoff scheme. Basically he had built a legitimate market making business which innovated early and brought real value to investors. However this was merely the ‘storefront’. His real infamy came from the so called IA( investment advisory) business that was housed on the 17th floor, manned by lowly skilled people with questionable integrity. There were many “ feeder” funds that brought money, first, from closed knit Jewish communities. Later from the wider world. The appeal was Madoff guaranteed very high returns. These feeder funds were run by people who had little idea how Wall Street worked. Like a mob boss, Madoff ensured oath of secrecy from these feeder fund managers. Madoff people made up numbers, made no trades and ensured investors got the returns by making new money pay old- a typical Ponzi scheme. SEC was siloed and incompetent, made worse, because Madoff ensured they had no access to IA accounts as he simply didn’t register as an investor. Other regs and the bank, JP Morgan were equally lackadaisical. Combination of hubris, ego and beholden to Big4 -his early backers who demanded returns and one of them as crooked as Bernie- ensured that Madoff couldn’t stop what he started. It might have started as early as the 1970s. The jig was up when 08 financial collapse happened. He was jailed and the restitution itself was another round of investor abuse. Terrific research but book could’ve been half the size.

[Justin Bartram · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really would like to give this book a higher rating but I feel that there was so much redundancy held within.

It may simply be due to the career field of the author.

With that put aside it was a fascinating read that was eye opening to me in many ways.

[David Allwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bernie Madoff was, possibly, the greatest financial criminal of all time. Consequently, many books have been written about him, his family, and his $64.8 billion ponzi scheme. Generally these books either focus on Madoff’s intricate financial dealings OR the emotional aspects of his appalling crime. This book, ‘Madoff Talks’, attempts to do both, and in doing so fails in both aspects. The book is poorly written and badly edited. It provides a forensic analysis of Madoff’s financial crime which, from a laypersons perspective, is almost impossible to understand. It also examines the effect of his crime on colleagues, family, and victims, but it is so scant and superficial as to be pointless. Yes, Bernie and his wife, Ruth, did speak to the author, but they shouldn’t have bothered, just as I shouldn’t have bothered reading it.

[Ladz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: Suicide, antisemitism, workplace sexual harassment, death by cancer, fraud

Told in interviews, emails, transcripts, and financial definitions, this is an almost definitive account of the rise and fall of Bernard "Bernie" Madoff, a man who ran a successful above-board investment firm while at the same time coordinated the largest Ponzi scheme in American history.

The names and concepts were something that existed in the abstract of my high school mind at the time. But given an adulthood interest in white collar crime, I had to give this a read, especially since many in my age bracket are still feeling the ripple effects of the 2008 stock market crash in general which is the only reason that the scheme even got discovered.

One of the critiques I saw off the bat for the book is how much it reads like a financial textbook. To be honest, that's one aspect I appreciated about it because understanding the economics and financial theory are essential to understanding the full extent and execution of this fraud. The utter failure of the SEC to see the problems also gave me a special kind of rage, and Campbell seems aware that reading this account will give readers in general the same emotional response. I like the way he threaded the story together where, yes, Madoff very much is at a fault for the fraud, but blame also needs to fall on the bank supporting him and the government institutions which utterly failed to dole out consequences for forty years.

The part that will stick with me are how all Ponzi schemes are essentially affinity frauds, because in order to pull off a Ponzi, you need to be targeting members of an identifiable group, which in this case, was the Jewish population of New York and Florida, including notables like Elie Wiesel. This book does not touch too much on that cultural and social context, but it goes very much into the interpersonal relationships on an individual level between Bernie and his employees. Sometimes it lacks a bit of finesse, but the core content is there.

Overall, thorough in helping the understanding of the economics and finances that went into the collapse.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was conflicted about how to rate this book. It's certainly not the best-written zinger on my financial bookshelf, but it is as comprehensive a volume as you will find on the behemoth of a fraud that was Madoff. It reads more like a textbook, with a fair amount of mumbo-jumbo you may not be familiar with if you're not a Wall Street/investment nerd- I certainly am not, so I was Googling a lot of things. But once you get used to that, it becomes easier to read.
I do wish it was better organized, as some things are repeated in several places, and a chronological retelling might have been better than the topical layout the author was obviously going for. Still, I appreciated the breadth of research and insightful interviews that were presented. I felt like the conclusions as to the culpability of the "Big Four" and Madoff's family were fair, as were his indictments of the failure of the regulatory system.
This is the second book I have read on the Madoff scandal. I can recommend this one if you want a concise, information-rich overview of the fraud; for a more readable, journalistic account, try the excellent "The Wizard of Lies" by Diana Henriques. Both are excellent volumes and complement each other very well.

[Scooter McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars would be most accurate. Interesting but choppy and redundant. Did give you insight into the “person” Madoff is. Gives the history of events leading up to exposure of the Ponzi and the people involved and the investigation. Tells the devastating impact it had on many individuals. Has a lot of financial lingo which is well explained but still helps if one has a background in finance /business to understand some aspects. I agree with author that I think Madoff more so driven by a hubristic and narcissistic personality more so than greed. Also a very intelligent individual to pull off what he did. Very interesting is also the dichotomy of doing things to protect individual investors and yet steal from them. Sad and disheartening the effect this had on his sons as well as many others. It is also sad and scary to see how Greed and Arrogance are valued by many on Wall Street and the world of finance (and elsewhere for that matter). Side note and not purpose of book - Does remind you to keep your investments simple and diversified and spread out over various institutions.

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be poorly written. It was repetitive and disorganized- with the same story popping up in different sections of the book. Half of the book seemed to be bold subheadings, as if the author wanted to be sure we heard him. Indeed, at the end of the book, where he gave all his recommendations for improving the financial system, I felt like I had been cornered at a party by someone who just wanted to rant at me.

So why did I finish it? I found the Madoff story fascinating. This book explained the role of the feeder funds in sending their clients’ funds to Madoff. It also explained how the SEC and other oversight agencies did such a poor job- I felt as much outrage towards them as I did towards Madoff.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parts about the actual people involved were interesting and I enjoyed reading about them, whether they were shysters or victims. But there was far too much financial info with spreadsheets and diagrams that I felt I was prepping for a finance class. Those parts bored me and since I skipped over them, there wasn't much book left to read.

I also found the author's habit of relaying a conversation or email verbatim distracting because they always included his name "Jim, I told you that already." for example. It got annoying after a while.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. With phenomenal exclusive access — from Bernie Madoff and his wife Ruth to many of the folks trying to recover money from the massive Ponzi scheme — I was expecting a compelling book filled with emotion, heartbreak and intrigue. But author Jim Campbell chose to write Madoff Talks like a financial textbook. Unless you have a degree from Wharton (I don’t) most of this book will go soaring over your head. A real shame.

[Craig Cooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to learn how Madoff was able to pull this off. How did he keep his scheme secret, how did he fool his clients and how did he get the cooperation of his conspirators? It turned out to be a sobering revelation regarding what folks would do to prosecute their own self interest even know that something had to be a miss. Madoff was a bad actor who was finally caught and who paid a heavy price. There were other bad actors who skated.

[Ben Colafrancesco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Technical Read

I read the authors statements prior to purchasing this book that It would be easy for a financial layperson to understand the terminology in the story.I was disappointed.Unfortunately I skipped over some parts.It would have been helpful if the author Noted for the reader that an understanding of The financial world was required.

[Peter C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost incomprehensible

I could not put this book down. After reading a few other similar books The Smartest Guys In The Room about Enron and others.

No amount of knowledge will ever replace the immutable fact that people can be utterly awful and evil. Love of money is truly the root of all types of evil.

My Hebrew Scholar friend says “ until you know what’s wrong with the world, you cannot know how to fix it “

[Gary Emig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ponzi scheme's depth is incredible, including money laundering and tax evasion. As the author points out, many more should've gone to prison. Too many turned a blind eye, and the SEC ignored those who did raise flags that should have ended the Ponzi scheme years earlier.
This is an excellent book about Madoff.

[James M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly the most comprehensive account of the Madoff Ponzi scheme written to date. We not get Bernie Madoff's words but, that of his wife Ruth, his son Andrew's and many others. And, why so many people chose to believe the unbelievable.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most well-written book but you get the point. There were some rich ppl and bankers who definitely knew what was going on and should have also gone to prison. Also nothing has changed so it can just keep happening...

[Webb Hubbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The absolute definitive work on Bernie Madoff. Jim Campbell had access to all the principal players including Bernie himself. The author doesn't cut corners or make excuses. This book should be a text and taught in every business school in the country. A classic.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expertly researched book and had some fascinating details about the greatest ponzi scheme in history. Some of the exhibits were hard to see in the book and at times, the financial details were tough to understand but overall it was a great book that I read in a few days.

[Māris Balceris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most in-depth book about Madoff from trading perspective and overall the most thorough read on the topic so far. Read this book and you will not have to look something more about this Ponzi scheme ever again.

[SteveM_OD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, a lot of redundancy and financial details in excess of what casual readers would require. Interesting to get a glimpse into the person behind one of the biggest ponzi schemes in history.

[Balthazaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly detailed account of how BM got away with a Ponzi scheme so outrageous. In the end, it was a bit too detailed for me to follow easily, but for people in the industry I am sure it would be very enlightening.

[Steve Franklin]

Great insight into Bernie's con game. The boy lied and lied and lied and, well, you get the point.
Very insightful if not heavy on the investment side (didn't understand most of that).

[Holly Pickering · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot on Bernie Madoff and this book explained how the Ponzie scheme was done, but very technical.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narcissism and deception are mind-boggling, along with the missteps of the SEC and shortcomings of the SIPC.

[Tom Knego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Disturbing story. Not the most well written book I have ever read.

[Beth Nieman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the audiobook as narrated by Oliver Wyman.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up. Interesting but quite repetitive and somewhat technical.

[Eti LeMoullec]

why would such a smart man be so stupid.

[Roland M · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part is about Madoff, his team and the set-up, which was great.
The second part was about the poor people who lost money; I did not care.