The Computer Madoff Used To Make Off With Millions
An ancient IBM AS/400 was crucial to US investment swindler Bernard Madoff’s cunning Ponzi scam whereby he made off with huge wodges of other people’s cash.
According to a new book, “Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff”, author Erin Arvedlund claims that Madoff could not have managed his elaborate fraud without his old clunker of a mid-range computer system.
The IBM AS/400 was used by him and select other employees to print out fake account statements. What they would do was punch in fake trades on the IBM AS/400 and enter share prices that would square with his consistent but imaginary returns on the billions that customers entrusted to his firm.
Central to the scam was that “no one touched” the computer but Madoff. But that would have been a safe bet as no one would want to get their paws on an ancient AS/400 unless they were a real enthusiast.
