Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff

by Erin Arvedlund

Book Overview

The untold story of the Madoff scandal, by one of the first journalists to question his investment practices Despite all the headlines about Bernard Madoff, he is still shrouded in mystery. How did he... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591842875
• ISBN13: 9781591842873
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff

Erin Arvelund's TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE: THE RISE AND FALL OF BERNIE MADOFF is an expansive recollection of all things Madoff. I spent some time with Erin in Palm Beach - which was at the epicenter of the massive Ponzi Scheme - talking about the fraud's huge impact on the Southern Florida community. The book provides a thorough and informative compendium of facts and anecdotes of what I describe in Erin's book as "The Financial Holocaust" of the New Milennium. Her book is rich with new information and revelations about the history of Madoff and how he swindled thousands of people out of billions of dollars. Run dont walk to read this book! Doug Kass Seabreeze Partners

detailed and fascinating

I was dubious about buying this book--so many shoes are in the air in the Madoff scandal waiting to drop. She prefaces it June 2009, and since then Madoff has been sentenced and Frank DiPascali has pleaded guilty and it's only mid August. How could it be complete with so much waiting to happen? It's NOT complete, of course, but it is a miracle at accomplishing its purpose of filling you in and giving you a ringside seat as an informed spectator at the coming legal circus. As one shoe drops after another over the coming months and we find out what happened to Sonja Kohn and many another once wealthy and powerful criminal here and abroad. The explanation of how Madoff won the SEC's trust by helping abolish the old ripoff, which I remember, of basing extravagant commissions and kickbacks on quotes like "2 3/4 bid, 3 1/8 asked," and helped replace it to their joy with an instant trade computer system on NASDAQ where prices were calculated in cents, is alone worth the price of the book. I lived through that, even buying stocks then, without understanding much of how and why it changed. This tells you in clear prose and great detail how it came to be and how Madoff could have been an honest $100millionaire instead of a crooked billionaire from that alone. So is the explanation of how the SEC came to trust him, though as he well knew, they weren't good enough at computers themselves to figure out how he was soon stealing his customers blind and lying to them continually as he did so. Priceless.

This book is NOT too good to be true!!

Ms. Arvedlund did a fantastic job in laying out the history of Madoff's life, his inner circle of family and friends and their purported roles in his Ponzi scheme, and putting together the pieces of the puzzle as to how Madoff did it. Surprisingly lacking the fluff that some journalists and writers add in this media climate to try to hook their readers. Ms. Arvedlund thoroughly researched the information available and presented a logical and cogent explaination from an investigative journalist perspective on how his crimes were most likely effectuated.

Great Read by the person who cracked the case almost a decade ago!!

This is a fantastic read, and very real depiction by Erin Averdlund - the lady who wrote the "Don't ask don't tell" Barron's article in '01. Take it from me (a person who's worked on Wall St in the institutional community almost 2 decades - and had a stint at BLM), she did her research and know's what's up! You won't regret this purchase, and will read it more than once.

Arvedlund was there from the start

Erin Arvedlund brings a unique perspective to the Madoff story. The other Madoff books offer a collection of interviews, or are a re-hash of what we've all already read in the newspapers, or they're written by authors who have little connection to the story. Arvedlund's 2001 article "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in Barron's was the first attempt to "out" Madoff in a major publication. A Deutsche Bank executive tipped her off to his suspicions back in early 2001, and this led to that seminal Barron's article that could have led to Madoff's unraveling years earlier if more people had listened. She has years of history with the Madoff story, and that perspective shows.