The simple idea uniting Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and today’s hottest stock trends

The simple idea uniting Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and today’s hottest stock trends

Bernie Madoff, who died Wednesday, will be justly remembered as one of the biggest scam artists in the history of capitalism. His massive, decadeslong Ponzi scheme ended up costing investors tens of billions of dollars and, in the process, wrecked many lives. But these days, Madoff also looks like something else: a man whose moneymaking scheme was an odd forerunner of the hottest, and strangest, investment crazes of the moment.These days, Madoff also looks like something else: a man whose moneymaking scheme was an odd forerunner of the hottest, and strangest, investment crazes of the moment.Madoff was a classic Ponzi artist. He raised money by promising his clients that he had a special proprietary investment strategy, one that allowed him to make money consistently, in any kind of market. But the strategy was an illusion, as were the investment gains. Instead, Madoff paid off his old investors with the money he raised from newer ones (while skimming something off the top for himself). This is a hard thing to keep going for a long period of time. But Madoff was smart — instead of promising his clients massive gains, he promised reasonable but stable returns. And he worked assiduously with