Madoff Victims: 'It's a Very Tangled Web'

Associated Press

Transcript

so you know it's it's a very tangled web people don't have money left for attorneys we've got family members that are being denied food stamps because their social security is too high the public thinks that this is apply to the rich it's not no one in my family is kicking the tires on a Bentley we're not ringing our hands because the housekeeping staff has not shown up and yes there are people who lost unbelievable sums of money there are wealthy people that were with Mr maid off that were friends of his that knew him there were Charities that were completely wiped out there were Pension funds that hardworking people decades and Decades of hard work thousands and thousands of years of hard work 150 years in jail listen we know he's not going to live that long do you to be involved in something this so colossal it's it's surreal it's unbelievable to think that you would ever you know you watch things on the news and you feel a sense of incu like you're is ated or you incubated from it and I guess I'm I was really I came into town mostly to deal with the legal issues that my family has to face to try and go through the tangled web how will we handle it what will we do will we have restitution will we need to defend ourselves against clawbacks well you know the the the the legal web that investors have to face right now is unbelievable the government has not spoken to us the IRS has not addressed any of the issues that they've they they need to on fan on Phantom income taxes paid on Phantom income on how to amend tax returns how to take a theft loss a theft loss that carries forward 20 years is not going to do anything for my 86-year-old aunt this man has stolen the life the hard work of so many people people who've who've people who are immigrants children of immigrants um they're Jews they're Christians they're Muslims they're Hindus it's across the board it's a microcosm of America and the damage he's done um and he's he's just bankrupted Charities Charities have had to close people who think they're not affected by this guess what there's probably a charity that they might have need or have access to that they're not going to be able to have access to I mean he stole money from Ellie weel for God's sake you know he sat across a table and said give me your money give me your foundation's money give me your personal money knowing he was running a fraud and he took that man's money I mean it's it's just it's absolutely horrifying

March 12: Stocks Rally on Good News for Banks

Associated Press

Transcript

[Music] investors have been clamoring for months for a bit of good news Thursday they got a load of it this week's rally was extended the three days with an extra dose of adrenaline after an accounting board told Congress it may recommend a letup in accounting rules for troubled Banks so we were definitely due for a rally and we think there were a combination of things that are driving the better tone number one um the uh the possibility of uh an easing in the um the strictness of the marketto market accounting rules that could reduce further write Downs at Banks so that's a positive number two uh the uh the uptick rule um is going to be reimposed so that's going to make it a little bit more cumbersome to to sell short so that's another positive stocks also got a boost from better than anticipated retail sales figures and a less than expected credit downgrade at General Electric the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 240 points at 7170 the standard and's 500 Index added 29 to 751 and the NASDAQ piled on 54 points to finish at 1426 General Motors also gave investors a dose of relief after it announced that it will not need a $2 billion loan it previously requested from the government the Dow is now up 622 points over the past 3 days the index's biggest three-day jump since last November Mark hamr the Associated Press

Raw Video: Madoff Arrives Ahead of Expected Plea

Associated Press

Transcript

I had a figure on the dog's leg. I'll turn it off. That's what I'm trying to do. Hey, it might be a jack whoopee.

Disappearing Billionaires

CBS

Transcript

well call it the case of the disappearing billionaires Forbes Magazine has released its annual World billionaires list and this year there are 355 fewer billionaires than last year CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy has the story it's hard to say they're hurting but the rich well aren't getting quite so rich anymore collectively the billionaires on our list have lost $2 trillion Devin Pendleton helped compile Forbes 2009 list of the world's billionaires she says as a group they lost about 30% of their wealth I think there's a lot of unhappy billionaires out there according to Forbes the number of billionaires worldwide shrank from 1,125 last year to 793 this year Bill Gates claimed the top spot despite the fact that his net worth fell from 58 billion a year ago to 40 billion today a loss of $18 billion Warren Buffett is number two even though his net worth plummeted from 62 billion to 37 billion a 25 billion doll decline the fact that Buffett is down is surprising because you think of Buffett as really being Invincible but at the same time it shows how this economy is battering everyone but the biggest losers may turn out to be names not on the list these billionaires prop up tons of philanthropies and Charities around the world those Charities are really going to be affected although the loss of wealth among the world's richest is staggering they aren't getting much sympathy I'm not worried about these people they have a big buffer I personally uh care more about the people who are not wealthy like myself even if that life isn't quite what it used to be Ben Tracy CBS News Los [Music] Angeles

Madoff Victims Speak Out

CBS

Transcript

bernard madoff is headed to jail after admitting he stole billions of dollars from thousands of investors around the world saying he's deeply sorry the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to 11 felony charges in new york federal court today he now faces 150 years in prison when he's sentenced june 16. the courtroom was packed with victims when the when the handcuffs were put on him it's emotional i mean and it's not i'm not a vengeful person two investors who spoke at the hearing said they opposed the guilty plea one said she wanted it to wait until the lost money is found madoff is a thief he scammed everyone he's probably scamming the government right now and the people and this high profile case has attracted a media frenzy from around the world take a look at this they are lined up on both sides of the street here even curious new yorkers showed up to try to get a glimpse of the once revered money man with an estimated 65 billion dollars lost madoff's victims are pushing prosecutors to expand their investigation he couldn't possibly have done it alone and i'm confident that the u.s attorney's office will prosecute the people who were involved with it and while others including his wife and sons could come under the microscope there's little doubt that bernard madoff will spend the rest of his life in prison for pulling off the biggest ponzi scheme in wall street history karen brown cbs news new york

Ponzi Scheme Victims Speak Out

CBS

Transcript

Thousands of people were victimized by Bernard Maidoff. We gathered some of them here in our studio today to tell their stories. I understand that Ronnie Sue, you and your husband and Norma were in the courtroom today. What was that like? And I I I really didn't feel too much walking in. Sitting there um listening to Maid Off talking didn't mean anything. the man doesn't tell the truth. And he admitted he didn't tell the truth. What was the atmosphere like for you, Norma? Well, I personally felt that I needed to go there and I needed to to have the judge uh not permit him to go back to his apartment because to me that would have been the ultimate insult to every one of us that have invested with his company. I needed to see him go to jail. You actually testified. I did. What did you say and why was that important for you? I needed to ask the judge before he took the plea of guilty to make sure that he learned two things. And one was where is our money? And number two is who else worked with Mr. Maid off in this. How many of you believe Bernard Maid off acted alone? None of us. None of us. Too comprehensive. too much paperwork that came uh every quarter. I think it was um you know, lots of paperwork. He couldn't generate all that himself. I want to go to Linda. You work for an orthopedic group in Fairfield, Connecticut, and contributed to your pension fund for over 20 years. Correct. Now, is retiring a pipe dream for you? I have nothing. I have nothing left now. I made a lot of financial decisions in the over the course of the years based on what I thought I was going to have in my 401k. Now I'm praying that I I have good health that I can continue to work. What about you, Ron? You're a financial planner, which of course comes with its own baggage being involved in this situation. Some people might think, how could you get involved in this thing? Yeah. and and a very conservative financial planner at that um and someone that did a fair amount of due diligence on this project um way back. Did you recommend other people invest with Bernard Maid off? I had one friend that I had recommended to Bernard Maidoff. Beyond that, no. um that it's ju just the fact that I myself did not insist on moving funds out um is somewhat embarrassing that I stand here or sit here today as an investment adviser and someone who is fairly successful in in doing what I do. Um, it really just shows the magnitude of the the the quality of the crime that was committed here and the duplicity, the unintended duplicity, no doubt, by the government to help enable this to happen. You two are retired high school teachers. He did not scam only super wealthy people, did he? No. And in fact, I've been retired for um about six years now. And part of what enabled me to retire was the savings that we had built up over the past how many years would you say? 20 26 27 years. 27 years. And um it was all on paper. Um, we just put our oldest daughter through college and I wish we had used more from the maid off account. What about you, Ken? You're the mayor of Fairfield, Connecticut, and the town of Fairfield lost a tremendous amount of money in pensions for people like firefighters and police officers. For every millionaire celebrity, there are hundreds and hundreds of middle class Americans that got wiped by this fraud. uh we have our police officers, our firefighters, our school custodians, and in effect 10% of their pensions, two to three years of their livelihood for pensioners that are middle class Americans has been stolen. And uh that's why we're seeking recourse from our adviserss, from the managers that introduced this our town to this this these people. Uh and there certainly had to have been a lot of people involved. Diane, I know you invested over $3 million with Bernard Maidoff. Uh the total was approximately $3.2 million. It's gone. It's gone. Yeah. I understand this has taken a real toll on your husband. My husband is suffering from severe depression now. Um he's he just can't get over it. He he is uh really not functioning well. That's why he's not here. Um and I have a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old and they see what's happening with their father and it's just heart-wrenching to me. My son is 13. He looked up to his father. He He needed his father. My My daughter adores her father, but he's just not the same person. Meanwhile, Cheryl, you're a CPA. Yeah. You invested your personal money with Bernard Maidoff. Knew him personally for 20 years. Yes. Obviously, not not very well, but then, you know, I'm not alone in that. How did he lure people into feeling that he was going to, as he told Norma, take care of everything? Well, I I think Bernie didn't really ask for money. His thing was to be asked. His it was a whole aura and people were just very grateful to be able to place their money with him. Do you feel embarrassed because you are a CPA that you weren't able to sort of smell that something wasn't right here? You know, truthfully, if anybody says that they they could have or first of all, if they could have, they should have said something. But there's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on here. There's a lot of, "Oh, you should have s this, you should have saw that." Well, no. I'm not embarrassed how I feel. I feel that somebody stole my money. I didn't lose my money. It was stolen from me. And you're still angry. Uh, when somebody steals from you, yes, you remain angry.

A Buyer's Market

CBS News

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this is where the tragedy of foreclosures turns into New Hope 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning in New York City and more than a thousand biders sign in for a foreclosure auction I also registered as a broker looking for looking to buy a house at 50 or 60 cents on the dollar well I've got my bidding number Carolina Madero has her eye on this it's uh 291 it's located in New rochell it's a very nice house after seeing an ad for the auction Carolina who's single and works for MasterCard toured the house in a New York suburb valued at $500,000 her limit was 300,000 is this an opportunity you couldn't afford to miss yes absolutely not even though it makes me nervous I think I could not miss it like kolina most of the biders plan to live in the houses 200 are up for sale one sales nearly every 2 minutes, 185 this is basically a clearance sale it is it's basically a clearance sale and business for Rob fredman's real estate disposition Corporation is booming there's a lot more foreclosures than there has ever been the auction company holds sales like this almost every day somewhere in the country last year the company sold more than 30,000 foreclosed properties this year they expect to sell 50,000 when Carolina's lot came up number 291 she jumped in quickly the bidding went over her $300,000 limmit but then it's stalled at$ 305,000 I'll take 310 suddenly karolina threw up her hand again with the winning bid how do you feel I'm excited and nervous too but yes I'm excited she called her friends I got the house and signed the papers is this going to be cash or is this going to be Finance in minutes a casualty of the housing crisis had become a bargain for its new owner Anthony Mason CBS News New York

Notebook: Media And Economy

CBS News

Transcript

if it bleeds it leads that old saying implies journalists are just a bunch of Debbie downers who only want to tell you bad news well the economy has been hemorrhaging for months now the Dow has dropped 30% since November and from the managers to the mail room everyone's feeling the sting but in reporting the news about Job cuts and bank bailouts do the media actually make the economy worse a recent poll indicates 55% of Americans think so 4 million people have lost jobs since the recession began and Families are scrambling to pay mortgages and healthc Care bills these are facts but this is also a fact 72% of Americans say they still believe in the American dream that with hard work they'll eventually achieve their goals the media shouldn't sugarcoat the truth but we also have a responsibility to convey the whole truth times are tough but confidence is the tourniquet that will ultimately stop the bleeding that's a page from my notebook I'm Kitty kurick CBS News