Bernie Madoff is probably the most famous white-collar offender of modern times. His Ponzi scheme broke records in the size of the loss, the number of victims, and the length of the sentence. I have read Chapter 3Ponzi Schemes (Noble)), I have watched two documentaries.

First, watch the documentaryThe Madoff Affair Links to an external site.(Frontline, 2009) (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/madoff/Links to an external site.). This is available to watch online for free and is about 55 minutes long. The documentary examines the case of Bernie Madoff, the largest U.S.-based Ponzi scheme in history.

Second, watch is an interview with Harry Markopolous, who alerted the SEC five times that Madoff was doing something illegal (13 minutes): The man who figured out Madoff's Ponzi scheme(60 Minutes Archives). Keep in mind that both of these reports were made less than a year after Madoff was arrested and charged, so they do not have the most recent developments in the case.

1. Who were the victims in Madoff's case? How were they affected? How are they different or similar to the victims in the Dee Randall case? What can we learn from their misfortune?
2. What are the challenges in bringing criminal prosecutions of Ponzi schemes? How does the Madoff case illustrate those challenges? Did the Randall case pose similar challenges? How were the cases similar or different? Are there similar patterns in the Madoff and Randall cases?

References:

Jennifer C. Noble,White-Collar and Financial Crimes: A Casebook of Fraudsters, Scam Artists, and Corporate Thieves(University of California Press, 2021) (ISBN 9780520302891)

"Madoff Affair" - https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/madoff/?

"The man who figured out Madoff's Ponzi Scheme" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wUJesUik5A