4. Wall Street – Friends or Foes? Corruption has always attracted the most talented of the unscrupulous to Wall Street. But no one could have foreseen the breadth and depth of the house of cards created by Bernie Madoff who was arrested in December 2008 and pled guilty in March 2009. Bernie perpetrated the world’s largest Ponzi scheme ($50 billion) in US history. The former NASDAQ chief showed greed could attract even the savviest investors, including some of the smartest and wealthiest individuals, hedge funds and institutions in the US. The implosion of the Galleon Group hedge fund added more fuel to the fire. Outrage over these cases and others provoked a public sense of violation, which was fed by the huge bonuses that Wall Street bankers reaped even as their companies received enormous bailouts. However, it is important to note that the bonuses received in 2008 and 2009 by the bankers were earned after the Wall Street meltdown. You cannot penalize outstanding performance because of the sins of yesterday!

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