We thought we knew the story of Bernie Madoff. How he masterminded the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, leaving behind scores of distraught investors and a $65 billion black hole.
But we had never heard the story from Madoff himself.
This week, reporter Steve Fishman and former Radiolabber Ellen Horne visit our studio to play us snippets from their extraordinary Audible series Ponzi Supernova, which features exclusive footage of the man who bamboozled the world. After years of investigative reporting – including interviews with dozens of FBI and SEC agents, investors, traders, and attorneys – the pair scrutinize Madoff’s account to understand exactly why he did it, how he managed to pull it off, and how culpable he actually was. Was he a puppetmaster or a puppet? And if the latter, who else is to blame for the biggest financial fraud in history?
You can hear the entire series on iTunes or for free on Audible
Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.
Duration
40m
Broadcast on
10 Feb 2017
Audio Format
other
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We thought we knew the story of Bernie Madoff. How he masterminded the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, leaving behind scores of distraught investors and a $65 billion black hole.
But we had never heard the story from Madoff himself.
This week, reporter Steve Fishman and former Radiolabber Ellen Horne visit our studio to play us snippets from their extraordinary Audible series Ponzi Supernova, which features exclusive footage of the man who bamboozled the world. After years of investigative reporting – including interviews with dozens of FBI and SEC agents, investors, traders, and attorneys – the pair scrutinize Madoff’s account to understand exactly why he did it, how he managed to pull it off, and how culpable he actually was. Was he a puppetmaster or a puppet? And if the latter, who else is to blame for the biggest financial fraud in history?
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You're listening to Radio Lab from WNYC. So maybe you just want to start at the beginning. So how did you bump into this? You've been following financial stories? I did some financial stories. But I think my beat was more people in the headlines at the worst moments of their lives. And then I would go in and become their friends and we'd talk intimately about what downfall means when you've been at the mountain. Top. Hey, I'm Jad Abemrod. I'm Robert Prowich. This is Radio Lab and today, a behind the scenes look at the greatest financial fraud in history. It's a series called Ponzi Supernova from audible.com and she said about how we got to it. Ellen Horne, the great Ellen Horne, who was one of the founding members of Radio Lab. A couple years ago, she left us. It was very sad for us. She went off to audible, teamed up with a guy named Steve Fishman, who you just heard. And together, they produced this series, which has tape in it that has never before been heard. And it's pretty extraordinary. And kind of, you know, given what's happened recently with financial reforms up for reconsideration, what you're about to hear, you will find a little bit troubling and extremely timely. Yeah. And so what we did a couple of days ago, we got Steve and Ellen into the studio. So, to play us some stuff and to talk about it. Yeah. Sure. You spent the first episode really chasing the guy, trying to get access to Bernie Madoff in prison. Yeah. You know, I did all kinds of things. I mean, this was like years long pursuit. I would send Bernie novels in the mail. I would try and insult him. I copied out Sartre's play, No Exit. And I sent that to him, you know, just to try and get a rise. I put money in his commissary account and then, you know, sent him a your welcome note. Never receiving a response. Do you know why at this point? What was driving this? I mean, listen, Bernie has done this. I mean, everybody knows. And we keep reading about the details and we keep triangulating Bernie from friends who very obviously didn't know him, investors who obviously didn't know him. I want to hear this guy. Tell me. I want to say, Bernie, why did you do this? You were already rich.
Transcription truncated.
We thought we knew the story of Bernie Madoff. How he masterminded the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, leaving behind scores of distraught investors and a $65 billion black hole.
But we had never heard the story from Madoff himself.
This week, reporter Steve Fishman and former Radiolabber Ellen Horne visit our studio to play us snippets from their extraordinary Audible series Ponzi Supernova, which features exclusive footage of the man who bamboozled the world. After years of investigative reporting – including interviews with dozens of FBI and SEC agents, investors, traders, and attorneys – the pair scrutinize Madoff’s account to understand exactly why he did it, how he managed to pull it off, and how culpable he actually was. Was he a puppetmaster or a puppet? And if the latter, who else is to blame for the biggest financial fraud in history?
You can hear the entire series on iTunes or for free on Audible
Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.
