As "Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" (2023 release; 4 episodes of each about 1 hr.) opens, it is "December 11, 2008" and Bernie Madoff is arrested for financial fraud. We then go back in time to Madoff's youth and eventual humble beginnings as an accountant and investment adviser... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.
Couple of comments: this mini-series is directed by longtime documentarian Joe Berlinger ("Conversation With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes"). Here he revisits what Bernie Madoff was able to pull off. We all know that Madoff built a massive Ponzi scheme, but how he actually did it, and was able to do it for years and years, in fact DECADES, I must admit I didn't really know the details. Well, this documentary mini-series explains it all, and then some. What stands out (for me anyway) is how the Security & Exchange Commission had chance upon chance to put a stop to it, and failed. In fact, massively failed. It is absolutely amazing. The documentary features lots of talking heads, including people who worked at Madoff's trading and investment advisory firms. What holds back this documentary mini-series is that it features numerous "reenactments", resulting from a lack of archival footage.
"Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" just premiered on Netflix in the last couple of days. If you, like me, were already aware in the most general terms of the Madoff Ponzi scheme but are interested how he actually got away with it for so long and on such a massive scale, I'd readily suggest you check out this documentary mini-series, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this mini-series is directed by longtime documentarian Joe Berlinger ("Conversation With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes"). Here he revisits what Bernie Madoff was able to pull off. We all know that Madoff built a massive Ponzi scheme, but how he actually did it, and was able to do it for years and years, in fact DECADES, I must admit I didn't really know the details. Well, this documentary mini-series explains it all, and then some. What stands out (for me anyway) is how the Security & Exchange Commission had chance upon chance to put a stop to it, and failed. In fact, massively failed. It is absolutely amazing. The documentary features lots of talking heads, including people who worked at Madoff's trading and investment advisory firms. What holds back this documentary mini-series is that it features numerous "reenactments", resulting from a lack of archival footage.
"Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" just premiered on Netflix in the last couple of days. If you, like me, were already aware in the most general terms of the Madoff Ponzi scheme but are interested how he actually got away with it for so long and on such a massive scale, I'd readily suggest you check out this documentary mini-series, and draw your own conclusion.