Madoff, the Monster of Wall Street, an exciting documentary to see on Netflix

“It was mind-blowing from start to finish. Quite simply the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. But the return of karma was very, very violent…” In three sentences, everything is said. And in four episodes, Joe Berlinger manages to show the extent of the most devastating scam in history. This is how we could describe the documentary mini-series Madoff: The Monster of Wall Streetavailable on Netflix since the beginning of January 2023. The least we can say is that Internet users are won over by the documentary which traces the way in which Bernard Madoff created his Ponzi pyramid. “The quality of the production, the story and the witnesses means that we plunge headlong into this story that is as crazy as it is repugnant. The madness of a long unshakeable Ponzi scheme due to the incompetence of some and the complacency of others”sums up a subscriber to the platform.

Madoff, the monster of Wall Street, a popular documentary series on Netflix

Many saw the series as a way to learn lessons about the world of finance. If they find it “really very well done”they hold that “for crimes of this type, it is always the little people who drink”. Others, teasingly, assimilate this large-scale scam to the French political situation of the moment. “Interesting documentary on Netflix about the French pension system”writes one. “This is the first documentary from this platform in front of which I never thought ‘oh, the poor people’…”said another.

Who is Bernard Madoff?

Obviously, when we know the extent of the scam, difficult to have compassion for Bernard Madoff and his entourage. For those who do not see what we are talking about here, here is the story of Bernard Madoff. Played in the documentary series by Joseph Scotto, the American businessman set up, via his investment company, a Ponzi pyramid – a fraudulent scheme in which the investments of some are remunerated by those of other clients – which carried on nearly 65 billion dollars. Its clients were banks, investment funds and big fortunes, and the system eventually exploded. Because in 2008, when the American and then global financial systems were collapsing, Bernard Madoff’s clients wanted to withdraw from the hedge fund. So the pyramid collapsed, taking all the customers’ money with it. Bernard Madoff died in prison in 2021, after being sentenced in 2009 to 150 years in prison. That doesn’t stop viewers today from finding the documentary series, and its scam, “fascinating”.

Article written in collaboration with 6Medias