The New York Times article disclosing court documents that indicated that J.P. Morgan was skeptical of Bernie Madoff's "profits" sheds light on the worst kept secret on Wall Street. Hell, all of Wall Street seemed to know something was off in Madoffland, even the Securities and Exchange Commission. For J.P. Morgan, it seemed according to this story, it became the epic battle of fighting for big revenue opportunities and protecting the firm's exposure to risk. As we learned from the financial debacle, avoiding risk typically loses in that battle. When the Madoff ponzi scheme was brought to light, a fund manager told me: "We had money with [Madoff]for a year long time ago and finally pulled it out. We never could figure out how he was making the returns he divulged. That was the only red flag we needed." Apparently J.P. Morgan needed more....
J.P. knew about Madoff? Shocking...
About the Author
Group Editorial Director Ginger Szala has written for and edited Futures magazine since joining in November 1983. Her main beats were covering the international growth of the business and its players and developing the managed funds coverage of the magazine. As a result she has interviewed some of today's best global hedge fund and commodity trading advisors. In 1999 she was named publisher in addition to editor of Futures, and in 2009 was named Group Editorial Director of Summit Business Media's Professional Services Group, which in addition to Futures includes Treasury & Risk, Credit Union Times and InsideCounsel magazines. She received a master's degree in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. gszala@futuresmag.com
