Madoff: What price glory?

Bernard Madoff may go down as one of the biggest stock market fraudsters ever. But even if the losses from the New York fund manager’s Ponzi scheme reach $50bn – Madoff’s own estimate – he will remain a minor player in the ongoing market collapse. The capitalisation of the world’s stock markets has declined by $26 trillion since July, according to the World Federation of Exchanges. To that destruction of value, Madoff’s $50bn adds an almost trivial 0.2%. In the US, the legitimate loss from the ...