Did Bernie Madoff Have Help?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized, Video Updates.

HSBC prolonged disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s ability to burn investors by “engineering a labyrinth” of international sources of funding for his epic Ponzi scheme, a court-appointed trustee alleged Sunday.

Trustee Irving Picard announced a lawsuit in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan that seeks to recover $9 billion in illicit earnings and damages from the Britain-based bank.

The suit alleges that HSBC ignored warnings from its own accountants that Madoff’s phenomenal investment record was suspect.

Questions:

1. What is Irving Picard’s role in this scandal?

2. What is Irving Picard’s background and why is this important from an accounting standpoint?

3.  What is the alleged motivation of HSBC in this scandal?

Source:

Fox News Video with Robert Gray (2010). Picard Sues HSBC, December 6 (Retrievable online at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwf7UHRX0-A)

 Hays, Tom (2010). Madoff Trustee Sues HSBC for $9 Billion, HuffingtonPost.com, December 5 (Retrievable online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/06/madoff-trustee-sues-hsbc-_n_792365.html)