Bernie the Comedian

From the UK’s Daily Mail:

Rather than investigate Madoff, the government appointed him in 2000 to its Advisory Committee on Market Information, set up to protect investors and compell financial firms to be more open about their dealings.

At one SEC hearing in 2004, Madoff joked with then chairman William Donaldson, saying: ‘Our firm has made a fairly decent living as a fast market competing with a slow market, so I’m not sure it’s in our own best interest for everyone to become a fast market.’ A fast market is when there is a combination of high volatility and heavy trading, with sales of shares usually outnumbering the buys.

Commissioners laughed openly as Madoff agreed ‘to take off our selfish hats here and speak for the public good.’

(Thanks to Justin Raimondo)

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8:32 pm on December 17, 2008