Madoff employee tells what it was like
In contrast to most Wall Street trading firms, where traders work hard and the atmosphere is intense, tumultuous, and fast-paced, Andrew and Mark Madoff, Bernie’s sons, ran the operation “like a peaceful valley,” he said. “Cursing or shows of emotion were not allowed. Once, this guy slammed down the phone and after he was reprimanded, the brothers called everyone together and said such behavior would not be tolerated and anyone who damaged equipment would have to pay for it themselves."
"The sons were not around a lot," he continued, "but when they were, they were nice guys, good to their staff.” This employee worked there for four and a half years, and left in mid 2007, before the Ponzi scheme was revealed. Why did he leave? “I wanted more freedom, but also I just didn’t like being part of a firm that didn’t make sense.”
The day after Bernie was arrested, Andrew and Mark came to work, surprising everyone. Staffers who had lost money complained to him and Andrew said, according to a friend of the employee: "I’ve been advised by my lawyer not to make any statements." Then he added "You’re not the only victim here." (Noteworthy, as it suggests the brothers must have gotten a lawyer right away.)
Regulations require a company to preserve all emails and firms normally archive them in the hard drives of their computers. But Madoff, the employee said, had ordered that all emails be printed out and then deleted.
Did he think something was fishy? “It never dawned on me that Bernie was running a criminal operation down on the 17th floor. I thought he was just a quirky guy. Now, in hindsight there are a lot of things that point to illegal activities. The emails, for instance, were clearly handled that way so that nobody could access them. They didn’t want any record if someone got suspicious and wrote so to a colleague, for instance, or you pressed the search bar and the word Ponzi came up.” …
