Article: Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme yields greater consequences

Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme yields greater consequences
     by Zachary Chin

January 4th, 2009

     Police arrived on the scene early Tuesday Morning to find Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a victim of Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme, dead in his apartment after losing over $1 billion to the Madoff Investment Securities LLC hoax.

     Reports say De la Villehuchet used a box-cutter to make lacerations on his wrists after overdosing on sleeping pills. The scene introduces a horrific element of the backlash of Madoff’s corporate crime. De la Villehuchet’s ties to the French aristocracy, his membership in the New York Yacht Club, and his passion for high-priced investments made him a perfect target for Madoff.
     Madoff allegedly coerced high rolling executives and aristocrats into using his hedge fund, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, to manage their money. He had them deposit their money into his personal account, reported fake figures that far exceeded realistic returns, and in his own words: “used the money in the Chase Manhattan bank account that belonged to them or other clients to pay the requested funds.”

Madoff in his New York City office circa 1999, around the time
Henry Markopolos began trying to expose the corporate scheme. 

    Victims like De la Villehuchet were shocked to discover that the reported returns were not backed by real money, and that they had been misled in a pyramid style scheme. In 1999, there were already serious concerns about the returns that the hedge fund had been reporting. Since then, there had been multiple requests for the Security and Exchange Commission to investigate Madoff’s business, but the corporate scheme continued until Madoff privately confessed to his son that the entire fund was “one grand lie.” 

     Henry Markopolos was the first to try to expose Madoff’s practices and was responsible for multiple attempts to alert the SEC. Yet, his whistle-blowing tactics went unrecognized despite numerous examples of how the figures reported by the investment fund were statistically inconsistent and “literally impossible”.
     Madoff now sits in house arrest in his Upper East Side penthouse apartment while victims are left to recover their lost funds and cope with their broken spirits. Madoff is set to go on trial in March of this year and is being charged on numerous counts of fraud, obstruction, and perjury.

Article: Ben Affleck expresses mixed feelings about McCain’s defense of Obama

Ben Affleck expresses mixed feelings about McCain’s defense of Obama

      by Zachary Chin

October 29^th, 2008

           

            Actor/director Ben Affleck appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher and provided a fresh perspective on the recent defense of Senator Barack Obama by McCain. Affleck criticized the popularized dialectic between people of Arabic descent and the term “decent people.” What Affleck finds disturbing is not only the false labeling of Obama as a “Muslim” or “Arab”, but also the assumption by so many that these terms imply poor character and indecency.  

Weeks ago, supporters of Senator John McCain collectively booed their candidate at a rally in Lakeville, Minnesota after McCain parried an attack by a woman who attended the rally who claimed Obama could not be trusted because he was “an Arab.” The crowd groaned at McCain’s defense of his opponent and his assertion that voters should be “respectful.” With November not far away, heated attacks by both candidates have been popular, and McCain’s sudden shift away from the fray evidently disappointed a stadium packed with republican voters from Minnesota.  

Known left-leaning public figures such as Rachel Maddow have come forth to say McCain has taken the high road and that he should be commended for his integrity. His defense of his opponent did not go unrecognized, and many believe that McCain did the right thing in dialing back the attacks on Obama.

Links to videos:

 McCain booed at rally in Lakeville, MN

 Ben Affleck's take on the perception of Muslims and Arabs in the United States

Others, like Affleck, are not as easily convinced that McCain is having the right argument with his supporters. Responding to the woman’s concern, McCain shook his head and replied that Obama was a “decent, family man.” Affleck is concerned that in McCain’s defense of his opponent, he made the implication that Arabs could not be decent people, for McCain did not respond simply by correcting her perception of Obama’s ethnicity.

Fox National News has devoted over ten segments to exposing Obama’s true heritage. Some argue that he is a Muslim or is of Middle-Eastern descent and others claim he is not, but many shrug their shoulders and ask “So what?” According to Affleck, McCain’s response to the woman’s attack on Senator Obama just reiterated the same language that there is a natural opposition between Arabic people and trustworthiness.

With disgruntled republicans criticizing McCain’s defense of Obama from the right, and others criticizing his method of defense, support for the Senator may suffer as voting day draws near.

Article: Senator Clinton criticizes Obama’s softness on Farrakhan

Senator Clinton criticizes Obama’s softness on Farrakhan
            by Zachary Chin


February 28th, 2008


       During Tuesday night’s debate, New York senator Hillary Clinton criticized her opponent, Illinois Senator Barack Obama for what she believed to be a lack of conviction in Obama’s denunciation of Louis Farrakhan’s support for his campaign.
       Farrakhan is notorious for his extreme anti-Semitic views and his leadership in the Nation of Islam*. Many suspect Farrakhan to have been involved in the murder of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (commonly known as Malcolm X) because of the civil rights leader’s sudden shift away from the politics of black supremacy. In his comments following Shabazz’s death, Farrakhan neither confirmed nor denied the suspicion, but instead used the opportunity to communicate a message of warning and intimidation.

Farrakhan during a speech regarding the 
death of El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz 

       Obama immediately retorted Clinton’s accusation of his softness on Farrakhan by saying that he has “denounced” the support offered. The back-and-forth continued after Senator Clinton distinguished the terms “denounce” and “reject”, the latter of which she thought Obama should have done in his comments directed at Farrakhan.
       Bloggers began chiming in during the debate, claiming that this sort of bickering was not conducive to a good discussion and that Clinton should just “cut the chatter and get to the issues”, said one commenter. The New York senator’s distinction of terms, evidently, did not register with voters quite as well as she may have suspected.
     The final talking point on the issue came from senator Obama, who replied to Clinton by saying that denouncing support implies rejection, but to put the issue to bed, he announced his formal denunciation and rejection to Farrakhan’s support to a live audience and the viewers at home.
     Though hardly a bump in the road for Obama’s campaign, the suggestion that perhaps Obama is not as ideologically opposed to black supremacists raises the question of how big of a problem are these issues going to be for the Illinois senator as his campaign continues. Some accusations about his place of birth, religion, and experiences with drugs have already appeared. If successful in earning the democratic nomination, senator Obama may face increased attacks from right-wing figures leading up to the general election.


*Despite its comprehensive sounding name, The Nation of Islam does not by any means encompass the entirety of the Muslim community, nor does it reflect identical values and beliefs as the general Muslim community. Both groups draw their ideological bases from the Qu’ran, but The Nation of Islam refers to a specific movement involving figures such as Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and Malcolm X.