Madoff and his Models.(Bernard L. Madoff)

In financial history, Ponzi schemes--the fraudulent enterprise of paying off old investors with money collected from new ones--are the most peculiar of crimes. Before they are detected, they seem exquisitely pleasing to perpetrators and victims alike. The fraud appears to be a bountiful gift that the confidence trickster, a generous soul and a financial wizard to boot, has bestowed upon a grateful world. Investors frequently revere the schemer, endowing him with magical properties. The schemer, in turn, may come to believe that his scheme isn't altogether shady and that he will someday generate the sensational returns advertised. For the duration of a Ponzi scheme, it may ...