It Was Bernie Madoff & Co. Who Was At Fault, Not The SEC

   Watched the Netflix miniseries Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street the other day, and it was a joke.

   Not because the documentary was poorly made in itself - production values were high, actors who represented historical figures were good, well-known facts of the story were accurately portrayed (as far as I know...), and the pacing was sufficient to keep attention focused on the screen

   Nope, the miniseries was made by adept professionals, that much is undeniable.

   The part that made the miniseries a joke was the allegation/assigning of the blame for the success of Madoff's financial crimes on the SEC and other governmental agencies that failed to adequately scrutinize Madoff's investment firm despite being alerted to the highly improbable rate of return he was offering (allegations made by competitors...), and the insinuation that various officials in the SEC were overwhelmed by Bernie Madoff's apparent success and stainless reputation to the point they deliberately allowed Madoff's scheme to persist.

   Which not only comes across as sycophantic apologist propaganda created by the filmmakers for Madoff and his co-horts, but also pretty much amounts to cinematic gaslighting.

   There are interview snippets with people who lost boatloads of money to Madoff who literally state that if the government (SEC) had done their job properly then Madoff wouldn't have been able to steal their money.

   The filmmakers go to great lengths to make the allegations of incompetence/impotence on the part of the SEC not just palatable, but plausible.

   However...anyone, man, woman, or child, who even puts as much as a little toe in the waters of Wall Street learns very quickly that they, and they alone, are responsible for whatever happens to their money once they have committed to investing in the Stock Market on any level. 

   Caveat emptor. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Due diligence. Look for the man behind the curtain.

   Avarice is not a virtue.

   The filmmakers gloss over the fact that ultimately, the truth for anyone who deposited money in Madoff's scheme was that, as someone giving him money and expecting him to give back more money (much, much more money), then you were of one of two classes of investor - you either were in on the scheme early and benefited from it (Jeffry Picower), or you were a sucker.

   To state the SEC was responsible for anyone losing money in Madoff's Ponzi scheme is to state that the local cop who pulled you over for erratically driving your vehicle is responsible for your DUI. 

   There is also a strong suggestion that Bernie Madoff was the only one responsible for being able to bamboozle innocent investors and government watchdogs alike - which is preposterous. 

   The basic logistics of the scheme - producing forged financial documents showing securities with just enough of a gain/loss ratio to make them appear to be not only wise investments but also the result of the work of a wizard who knew how to get in and out of specific financial vehicles both before anyone else is on the train and right before the particular train falls off the tracks, were incredibly involved and overwhelmingly well-crafted.

   To state that it was the work of one man is a thousand times more incredulous than stating that bigfoot exists or aliens are visiting earth to steal cows.

   Asset management firms around the world (numbering in the thousands) employ tens of thousands of the best and brightest fiscal minds - lawyers, accountants, market analysts, economists, risk managers, marketeers, etc. to create investment products that can not only pass the scrutiny of wary investors, but that can also pass the scrutiny of myriad government agencies. 

   Tens of thousands of people working long hours, day after day, to produce everything from a basic prospectus to quarterly or annual reports, as well as boatloads of financial transaction documentation.

   There is no way one man can, or could have, done that. Madoff had to have a lot of help, and for the most part, those co-monsters almost all got away with aiding and abetting a vast criminal enterprise that spanned decades and harmed thousands.

   That should have been the focus of the miniseries - the unnamed and unpunished co-conspirators. But that would have been, I assume, a bit more of a legal risk that slapping blame on a government agency. 

   Government agencies don't sue for libel or slander.