Don Trone, often referred to as the “Father of Fiduciary,” testified at a Department of Labor hearing on Thursday that its proposed fiduciary rulemaking would have failed to stop famed Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, and that more fiduciaries than brokers have stolen money from investors. “I think research will show that over the last 15 to 20 years, fiduciaries have stolen more money from investors and retirement savers than brokers,” Trone, who has been steeped in fiduciary endeavors for the past 30 years via his founding of the Foundation for Fiduciary Studies, as principal founder of fi360, and now as head of 3ethos, told DOL executives. “Bernie Madoff was subject to a fiduciary standard, and, if he was here today, I think he would say that the department’s proposed rules would not have slowed him down.” More on Think Advisor [...]

A long-time employee of mega-swindler Bernie Madoff who turned government informant in 2009 has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. This marks the final prosecution in the more than six-year long Bernie Madoff case, who first admitted to his gigantic fraud back in late 2008.
Irwin Lipkin, 77, agreed he owes the government a Rolex watch, a well-known painting by Red Skelton and $170 billion cash on Monday, and was sentenced to six months in jail Wednesday on charges of conspiracy and making false statements in employment records. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

A long-time employee of mega-swindler Bernie Madoff who turned government informant in 2009 has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. This marks the final prosecution in the more than six-year long Bernie Madoff case, who first admitted to his gigantic fraud back in late 2008. Irwin Lipkin, 77, agreed he owes the government a Rolex watch, a well-known painting by Red Skelton and $170 billion cash on Monday, and was sentenced to six months in jail Wednesday on charges of conspiracy and making false statements in employment records. More on ValueWalk [...]

Is this finally, at long last, the end of the Bernie Madoff saga? The last of Bernie’s employees who were charged with helping to perpetuate his giant scam was sentenced Wednesday in New York. Irwin Lipkin, who began working Bernard L. Madoff Securities in 1964 and was the firm’s comptroller when he left in 1998, was charged with falsifying records. More in the Palm Beach Daily News [...]

Publicly traded companies will have to disclose the pay ratios of their CEOs and the median pay of their workforce thanks to a split vote by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. SEC chairwoman Mary Jo White said the regulator had no option other than to pass the rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican commissioners voting against. The commission was tasked with enforcing a number of provisions contained within the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act, which marked its five-year anniversary in July, including the pay-ratio rule. “It is the law and we are required to carry it out,” White said. More in the Guardian [...]

The ponzi scheme carried out by Bernie Madoff and members of his staff, is the subject of a book, authored by Erin Arvedlund, called, “Too Good To Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff.” Arvedlund, a guest on the WNPV Program, Regarding Your Money, says ponzi schemes are still happening. “Malcolm Segal, he was just charged with swindling people out of money due to unusually high rates of return. You can do a check on your broker on Brokercheck.org” More on WPNV [...]