The most famous financial scams of 2008 2
1. Tycoon Madoff and his $50 billion scam
Madoff founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960 and operated a separate investment management fund.
Bernard L. Madoff.
Madoff is considered an underground force in the market.
This is confusing to analysts because the business activities of Madoff’s companies all earn very high and regular profits.
However, with Madoff’s reputation through a series of important positions he held such as Vice Chairman of the National Association of Securities Brokers in the US, member of the Board of Directors of the Nasdaq Stock Market,
Everything was only truly exposed when he admitted his guilt on December 11, 2008.
For years, Madoff used his reputation to lure investors into a scam that was nothing new.
Many banks and financial institutions around the world later had to admit they had fallen into Madoff’s trap.
2. French banking giants staggered under the hands of their employees
Kerviel, who was instrumental in evaporating nearly 5 billion euros of Societe Generale.
The whole country of France was shocked by the incident of a securities trader at Societe Generale Bank causing the bank to lose 4.9 billion euros (7.15 billion USD) – a record level in the bank’s history.
Throughout 2007 and into 2008, Kerviel misled investors by using virtual transactions.
The story is truly a joke because almost no one believes that just an ordinary employee, only 31 years old, could cause such damage over such a long period of time without being discovered within the bank and beyond.
According to the conclusion of the Banking Operations Committee of the Bank of France, the cause of the above incident was due to serious vulnerabilities in SocGen’s computer security system and shortcomings in control procedures.
3. Multi-level marketing scheme shocked Korea
On November 26, 2008, Korean Police said they had just solved the largest financial fraud case ever in this country.
In 2004, Cho founded a company called BMC, providing services and equipment to hospitals, public baths and beauty salons.
According to police, BMC Company deceived investors with promises of high income.
4. The biggest scam in Colombia’s history
The author of this scam is Proyecciones DRFE Credit Company.
Perhaps this company would still be doing well if there was no economic crisis.
Local police have declared a state of emergency and curfew in several cities as the wave of protests by victims of this scam is spreading.
Binh Minh (Summary)
