James Ashe's Article "Four Years After Madoff, One Big Lesson For Investors" Featured in Forbes
Forbes
Excerpt:
Virtually anyone who read the news in the last four years knows the name Madoff. Not only did the story of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme dominate headlines, the ramifications of his fraud have weighed heavily on every victim’s, litigating attorney’s and businessperson’s mind since his arrest in December 2008.The sentencing of Bernie’s brother Peter Madoff last week put the story on front pages once again.
The massive nature of the Madoff fraud, the investigation and legal actions that followed remains unprecedented. The fraud was so significant that the Treasury issued special tax guidance for victims who lost monies invested with Madoff, and also assigned well-trained audit teams to assure that taxpayers don’t misinterpret or wrongfully apply the special tax treatment offered to Madoff victims.
The list of victims, types of victims and legal actions to recover assets also set a historic precedent that the judicial system most likely (hopefully) will never see again.It will be many more years before the brunt of the existing legal actions are settled or adjudicated, minimally a decade.
