# Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme Really Wasn't That Bad - How Money Works | How Money Works

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-money-works-7289568/bernie-madoff-s-ponzi-scheme-really-wasn-t-that-bad-how-money-works-how-money-works.md
Podcast: [How Money Works](https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-money-works-7289568)
Published: 2026-07-11T01:15:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN8452282849.mp3?updated=1778655808
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PODAGEN8452282849.mp3?updated=1778655808
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-money-works-7289568/episodes/bernie-madoff-s-ponzi-scheme-really-wasn-t-that-bad-how-money-works-how-money-works
Duration seconds: 734

## Resource

Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme Really Wasn't That Bad - How Money Works Sign up for my newsletter https://compoundeddaily.com 👈 Bernie Madoff ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history, which at it’s height had an apparent 65 billion dollars in assets under management made up of investments by everybody from wall street billionaires to pension funds. This all came crashing down in December of 2008, as the fraudulent businessman was arrested and subsequently charged to face over 100 years in prison, a sentence that he served up until his death last month. But here is the thing, Bernie's fraud, was… not…that… bad… In fact there is arguably more damaging behaviors taking place in the markets day in and day out today by some of the most revered businessmen in the world. To understand this, it’s time to learn how money works by defending the indefensible and really understanding how Bernie Madoff ran his business. So the basic function of a Ponzi scheme is that a legitimate looking operation is set up to attract investors looking to make a nice healthy return. Now this operation could theoretically purport to do anything…. Shipping, mining, manufacturing, but more often than not it is investing. Why investing? Because it is the most discrete… you see you will never actually perform any of the tasks that you claim you will to the investors and an investment firm doing nothing looks pretty much identical to an investment firm doing a lot, at least from the outside. #BernieDidNothingWrong #Finance #HowMoneyWorks Follow to learn How Money Works. Find How Money Works on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HowMoneyWorks Disclaimer: This podcast is an independently produced audio adaptation of content originally created by How Money Works. It was developed by a fan who values the channel…

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