Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing - Bernie Madoff’s Gift

Episode Date: May 19, 2020

How did Bernie Madoff pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history? Diana Henriques, journalist and author of the bestseller The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, reveals that Madoff had an unusual gift for someone orchestrating fraud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a Motley Fool Money Extra, I'm Chris Hill. Bernie Madoff pulled off the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world. During his trial, prosecutors estimated Madoff's fraud to be worth nearly $65 billion. So how did he do it? Diana Enriquez is an award-winning journalist and author of the best-selling book, The Wizard of Lies, Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust. She interviewed Madoff in prison, and that's when she learned how he was able to seduce his clients. You've interviewed Bernie Madoff twice in person, in prison.

Yes. What is he like? He's a very pleasant, harmless-seeming man. And I say that understanding how chilling it is. If I had met him without any baggage, I would have said, you know, interesting, very knowledgeable about the market, fun to talk to, low-key, not trying to impress you. Madoff is a very unusual Ponzi schemer, Chris. He's never the most charming man in the room. He makes you feel like you're the most charming person in the room.

He made me think I was – he acted as if I were the most interesting, most professional reporter he'd ever met. He has this gift of showing back to you your very best self, making you feel like you're so smart and you're so intelligent. And so if you decide to trust Bernie Madoff, why would you second-guess yourself, given how intelligent and smart you are? So I've really never seen a Ponzi schemer whose tentacles were quite so twisted, whose form of seduction was quite so Byzantine. He really was a master at it, and men who were self-made, who took great pride in what they had built of their lives, who had very well-honed, shall we call them bull-feather detectors, Madoff never triggered their alarm wires. He never seemed to be trying to impress them,

never seemed to be trying to show off how much he knew, and perversely, that impressed them. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.