Bernie Madoff and Earl Jones needed help
Commercial crimes have garnered the enormous media attention. There is arguably no end to the guile of fraudsters like Bernie Madoff who manage to con fortunes out of trusting investors. Fraud investigations are costly and long criminal trials require massive resources. The investors are out-of-pocket but the public ultimately foots the bill. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. The investigation and prosecution of criminals is a matter of public interest. But let’s bear in mind that criminals such as Madoff and Jones reportedly promised startling rates of return to their investors. In times when responsible citizens have to be content with near negligible interest rates, the Madoff/Jones victims were expecting growth on their investments in the range of 10% per annum. Even the most sophisticated financial managers have been unable to propose such returns. The Madoff/Jones victims should recognize that but for their own greed, society would not be compelled to cut a huge swathe out of its limited resources to investigate these crimes.