Customer Reviews

Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

..if you followed all the news reports of Bernie Madoff (NY Times, Fortune, Vanity Fair). I wanted to read this book over the others because the author was a Barron's reporter who years ago suspected something was wrong, so if anything, she would be the most clear-eyed & in a better position to tell Madoff's story. It is a meticulously researched book, but much of what it covers has been covered by other news outlets. There are also some parts that became repetitive, namely the stories of how managers of each feeder fund perpetuated the fraud, as well as bits & pieces about Robert Jaffe (who is described in the book earlier & is re-described in a similar way towards the end). There were also some inconsistencies in the description of Ezra Merkin (on the same page that he is described as being scholarly, someone turns around & said that he never acted scholarly, a complete contradiction). There is a feeling that maybe this book had to be rushed to publication because of timeliness, & they did not do a good job of editing.

But to the author's credit, it is a long & complicated story to tell & she ultimately did a good job of presenting all the factors that contributed to the massive fraud. The part about SEC really exposed how incompetent the people there were, for whatever reason. What happened should serve as a guide for the SEC & other regulatory bodies on hiring experienced & knowledgeable people in the industry they're regulating, & not just paper pushers with law degrees.

This is probably as good as it gets, when it comes to trying to explain what happened in the Madoff scheme at this point in time. The only people who can tell the story better are Madoff himself, possibly DiPascali, Ruth, & other family members.

Erin Arvedlund brings a unique perspective to the Madoff story. The other Madoff books offer a collection of interviews, or are a re-hash of what we've all already read in the newspapers, or they're written by authors who have little connection to the story. Arvedlund's 2001 article "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in Barron's was the first attempt to "out" Madoff in a major publication. A Deutsche Bank executive tipped her off to his suspicions back in early 2001, and this led to that seminal Barron's article that could have led to Madoff's unraveling years earlier if more people had listened. She has years of history with the Madoff story, and that perspective shows.

Ms. Arvedlund did a fantastic job in laying out the history of Madoff's life, his inner circle of family and friends and their purported roles in his Ponzi scheme, and putting together the pieces of the puzzle as to how Madoff did it. Surprisingly lacking the fluff that some journalists and writers add in this media climate to try to hook their readers. Ms. Arvedlund thoroughly researched the information available and presented a logical and cogent explaination from an investigative journalist perspective on how his crimes were most likely effectuated.

This is a fantastic read, and very real depiction by Erin Averdlund - the lady who wrote the "Don't ask don't tell" Barron's article in '01. Take it from me (a person who's worked on Wall St in the institutional community almost 2 decades - and had a stint at BLM), she did her research and know's what's up! You won't regret this purchase, and will read it more than once.

With Bernie Madoff convicted and behind bars the deluge of books on him and his crimes can be unleashed. But considering the investigations into what became of the money lost and his co-conspirators any initial books are little more than a second draft of history, initial news coverage being the typical first draft of history. While these initial books may provide a considerable wealth of information on Madoff himself and what he did they will never be the complete story nor the final word on the subject. Witness the book Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom, a book so rushed to publication it was out before WorldCom's Bernard Ebbers was even convicted. "Disconnected" shows the perils of rushing a book to publication to capitalize on a timely topic; in the rush to get it to market it's hardly a complete or nuanced story. "Too Good To Be True" is certainly far better written than "Disconnected" and sticks to presenting facts in a more objective manner, especially when compared to the gossipy tabloid style of Madoff with the Money, which also covers Madoff. Arved's background as a journalist shows through especially in their style of writing, making "Too Good To Be True" a satisfying read like any good novel. Arved was one of the first to question what Madoff was doing back in 2001 and has written a series of articles for a number of business magazines on the subject. My initial worry was this would be nothing more than a compendium of those stories, but instead Arved refashions them into a superior narrative that focuses more on the financial aspects. That may make for some dry and uninteresting reading for those who want something more gossipy or lively, but to understand how Madoff did what he did it's necessary to understand the web of feeder funds that fed into Madoff and how he ran his operations. And Arved asks the hard questions that can't be easily answered, but yet which need to be addressed by the government to prevent a recurrence.

"Too Good To Be True" gives you a true sense of how Bernie Madoff was able to create his empire based on trust and respectability, how it came to get out of control, and how he was able to keep investigators at bay. Compared to the other books out there on Madoff like the previously mentioned "Madoff with the Money," Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff, and Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me, "Too Good To Be True" is a well written book from someone who's done their homework. While "Too Good To Be True" certainly helps shape our knowledge of Madoff and his Ponzi scheme it's unlikely to be the last word on the subject.

Erin Arvelund's TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE: THE RISE AND FALL OF BERNIE MADOFF is an expansive recollection of all things Madoff.

I spent some time with Erin in Palm Beach - which was at the epicenter of the massive Ponzi Scheme - talking about the fraud's huge impact on the Southern Florida community.

The book provides a thorough and informative compendium of facts and anecdotes of what I describe in Erin's book as "The Financial Holocaust" of the New Milennium.

Her book is rich with new information and revelations about the history of Madoff and how he swindled thousands of people out of billions of dollars.

Run dont walk to read this book!

Doug Kass
Seabreeze Partners

I was dubious about buying this book--so many shoes are in the air in the Madoff scandal
waiting to drop. She prefaces it June 2009, and since then Madoff has been sentenced and
Frank DiPascali has pleaded guilty and it's only mid August. How could it be complete
with so much waiting to happen?
It's NOT complete, of course, but it is a miracle at accomplishing its purpose of filling
you in and giving you a ringside seat as an informed spectator at the coming legal circus.
As one shoe drops after another over the coming months and we find out what happened
to Sonja Kohn and many another once wealthy and powerful criminal here and abroad.
The explanation of how Madoff won the SEC's trust by helping abolish the old ripoff,
which I remember, of basing extravagant commissions and kickbacks on quotes like
"2 3/4 bid, 3 1/8 asked," and helped replace it to their joy with an instant trade computer
system on NASDAQ where prices were calculated in cents, is alone worth the price of the book.
I lived through that, even buying stocks then, without understanding much of how and why
it changed. This tells you in clear prose and great detail how it came to be and how
Madoff could have been an honest $100millionaire instead of a crooked billionaire
from that alone.
So is the explanation of how the SEC came to trust him, though as he well knew,
they weren't good enough at computers themselves to figure out how he was soon stealing
his customers blind and lying to them continually as he did so. Priceless.

This book gave me a much clearer idea of the mechanics of the con as well as significant insight into how and why very smart people chose not to believe anything could be wrong with an enterprise that made them so much money.

It also gave me much greater appreciation of Bernie's role as one of the early adopters of technology that changed Wall Street. It did not give me a lot of insight into what shaped Bernie's character or the relationship between Bernie and his wife or Bernie and his sons. That may have been impossible given the unwillingness of key people to talk.

Clearly, this book was rushed into print. The author is very gracious in her thanks of all those who helped review and edit the book, but I felt often as if chunks of information were being thrown at me in no particular order. Adding to this sense is the frequent repetition of descriptions and facts--often just pages after they were first presented.

This is certainly a worthwhile read, but I hope the author and/or editors take the time to do some careful pruning before they come out with future editions.

This book is thorough and well researched. It is a bit repetitous in spots, such as in the discussions of the spouses of walter Noel's daughters.

by R.E. Cooke (USA)

Erin Arvedlund answers all an investigative reporter's questions about Madoff's Ponzi Scheme in "Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff." The lies on every page tell how he used other people's money in his hedge fund to commit the largest fraud in history. He swindled thousands of people worldwide...the rich, middle-class, royalty, and groups in retirement funds like the Ontario (Canada) Teachers' Pension Fund. They trusted him by believing in his high returns every month for decades, and his marketing ploy of feeling exclusive and in on the secret. From his "Happy Days" teen years to his incarceration Erin Arvedlund's "Too Good to Be True" is the book to own on Madoff.