It hurts, then, when a person or organization that I love, or obsess over, is damaged by an ethical crisis. The New York Mets, my favorite team (and hopefully future employer) were burned badly by Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. It is no denying that Madoff was wrong, and though he did not actually “make off” and is in jail for life, the Mets are on their financial deathbed. The Amazin’s were not the only victims, though. How was Madoff able to convince so many people into giving so much money to his Ponzi scheme, and what were the ethical implications of those who assisted him? 
	Bernard Lawrence Madoff was born in New York City on April 29, 1938 to Ralph and Sylvia Madoff. He attended Hofstra College, and quickly went to on to start his own firm as a stockbroker; his father Ralph was a stockbroker himself. Madoff was well-known figure on Wall Street, who seemed to be on the path to financial fame and fortune. But he turned to be less figure than figurehead. On March 12, 2009 Madoff pleaded guilty to leading the Ponzi scheme, and on June 29, 2009 he was sentenced to the maximum 150 years in federal prison.  The United States Attorney Southern District of New York detailed the charges: 


Making Madoff’s story more unpalatable than before is the fact that he was a man of patronage. For example, Deborah Coltin was the leader of an $8 million dollar foundation with supported Jewish programs along the coast of Massachusetts. The money funding these programs: washed away with the harsh truth of Madoff’s illegitimate activities. Summarize Binyamin Appelbaum, David S. Hilzenrath, and Amit R. Paley of the Washington Post: “It may be the largest fraud in the history of Wall Street, authorities said. Madoff is charged with stealing as much as $50 billion, in part to cover a pattern of massive losses, even as he cultivated a reputation as a financial mastermind and prominent philanthropist.”
	It is clear, simply though inferring what I have written that Bernie Madoff committed an act of financial heresy. But some readers may be asking: what, exactly, is a Ponzi scheme? It is actually quite simple; much simpler to the financial jargon and troubling promises that Madoff made to his clients. Merriam-Webster defines a Ponzi scheme as “an investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks.” It’s not too hard to envision how one can be consumed by such a scheme. Bernie Madoff certainly was. He had money, more than enough to live lavishly. But it was apparent that it soon became game for the “stockbroker.” One in which he thought he would never get caught. The original schemer, Charles Ponzi, maintained his innocence almost until his deathbed, when he admitted he had cheated his clients. Business ethics were not an issue for Madoff or Ponzi; they didn’t matter. 