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Madoff Accountant Pleads Guilty
Bernie Madoff's longtime accountant, David Friehling, pleaded guilty Tuesday to abetting one of the most devastating Ponzi schemes in history, which brought down thousands of victims and more than $21 billion in lost funds. Friehling, who verified Madoff's accounts for nearly 20 years, admitted that he never legitimately audited the brokerage firm and acknowledged his conflict of interest as an independent auditor because of his own investments in Madoff's operation. Friehling still maintained, as he has since the day of his arrest, that he was not aware of the Ponzi scheme. Friehling is cooperating with federal investigators in hopes of a more favorable sentence. His guilty plea to nine criminal charges could land him in jail for up to 114 years. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in North Carolina.
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How could he have been able to certify statements without being registered to undergo peer reviews, as required by the laws in his state?
If I understand the situation correctly, the more you hear about this scheme, the more you wonder how could it have happened when the red flags were waving.
Everyday you see people who work in big institutions, like banks and government, refuse to bend, even it means keeping the door open for an extra minute or two, for the little guy.
For the little guy, these people follow the rules to the second, without any concern for their discretionary power, or making it work for the client.
Then for big clients, like Madoff and associates, they bend over backwards, and wonder why we get sc-ewed so often.
Doors are closed, with no exception to the little person, but for the so called important people, some rules must be getting bent, so these people are able to their schemes as they slide through loopholes.
So you can see how these horrible things happen, through personal experience, but the logic of it still makes it seem so absurd.
You would think someone in SEC would be getting charged or disciplined or something for letting this happen. You would think, but you don't expect it, so no wonder we get so alienated by the end of the day, in this cold cruel world, we expect that these kind of things can go undetected so we stop trusting.
Thank you.
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