The Madoff Affair (2009)

On Dec. 11, 2008, Bernard L. Madoff confessed that his vaunted investment business was actually a Ponzi scheme so colossal in volume and scope that it cost investors $65 billion. Overnight, Madoff became a criminal icon and the new poster child for Wall Street gall, greed and corruption. Through exclusive filmed interviews with those closest to Madoff's operation, veteran FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith unearths the details of this worldwide deception that lasted longer, reached wider and cut deeper than any other business scandal in history.

We get the best explanation yet of what Madoff did and how he did it from this documentary that is yet another example of what "Frontline" does best: unravel complicated stories in ways we can understand. And if there was ever a tale that needed unraveling, this is it.

The show is a taut hour of superior investigative reporting that moves from the start of Madoff's career in the early 1960’s to his spectacular fall late last year - propelled by a range of captivating interviews with ex-Madoff employees, investors, and a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission that failed, utterly, to catch Madoff and his illegal operation. We see that Madoff was rotten from the beginning. We see how kickbacks from feeder funds formed the core of Madoff's gamy career on Wall Street. We see how all the client statements he issued were utterly false – and yet believed.

The show is as discomforting as it is enlightening. It chronicles how long a savvy, slimy character can get away with financial murder on Wall Street.
Could it happen again? Decide for yourself after watching this film.

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