Bernie Madoff Essay

1080 Words5 Pages
1. Describe three types of illegal business behavior alleged against Mr. Madoff and for each type of behavior, explain how the behavior is illegal or unethical in the conduct of business. Three types of illegal behavior alleged against Mr. Madoff are fraud, theft and making false statements which included wire and mail fraud. . Mr. Madoff ran the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the United States when he pretended to make investments for his clients (Zambito, T. & Smith, G.B., 2008). Fraud is defined as “deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage”. Fraud is both unethical and illegal. A person or company that commits fraud takes advantage of innocent people that have put their trust in them. Because of Mr. Madoff’s dishonest activities many of the people who trusted him lost everything. There is no place for fraud in business, the innocent are affected, a company can suffer monetary damages, damage its reputation or even shut down which will also affect the employees of the company who could possible lose money and their jobs. Theft is defined as “the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny.” Theft is also unethical and illegal and has no place in business. Through his Ponzi scheme Mr. Madoff stole millions if not billions of dollars for innocent people. It was alleged that Mr. Madoff made false statements. The law states that “a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device[ , ] a material fact; (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or
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