Ethical Issues in Madoff Case
Ethical Issues in Madoff Fraud Case
The objective of this study is to identify the ethical issues and questions in the Madoff fraud case. This work will identify the people harmed and answer as to whether the scandal resulted from unethical individuals or if there are organizational issues that allowed, encouraged or were responsible for the harms. In addition, this study will answer as to what degree, the case was mostly a failure of individuals or organizational structure and of government. This study examines what might have prevented the Madoff fraud case.
Who Was Affected?
It is reported that Bernie Madoff "worked under the company called Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. He would ask people to invest their money, and it actually seemed like the people were making returns. As all of their life savings would go into this business, Madoff would pay people the returns from money he made...
Ethical behavior of a person or a corporation greatly affects the stakeholders with which that person is involved. Often, people and companies take serious consideration when it comes to those stakeholders, and they work to take good care of the people who are involved with them (Keller, 2002). There have been cases, though, where ethical behavior has been ignored in the name of profit. Eventually, most companies and people who
Ethical Leadership Given the recent crash on Wall Street and the housing market symbolized by corrupt financiers like Bernard Madoff, ethical and moral leadership of corporations has become a major issue for those who study the American capitalist system. In reality, such concerns about the lack of morality in business, government and society as a while has increased significantly in the last thirty years, which undoubtedly has been an era that
Madoff and the Ethics of Business The author's viewpoint is objective and factual: it relates the episode in history regarding Bernie Madoff's "ponzi scheme" and shows how he was able to pull it off for so long, essentially lying to all of his clients, regardless of their individual worth and/or fame (Stanwick, Stanwick, p. 258). The major issue presented in this case is the lack of transparency that Madoff showed (a major
370). On the subject of shareholders and adverse publicity, in the book Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance, the authors mention how much investors / shareholders "hate" surprises, in particular when the surprises are caused by the "unethical behavior of senior managers…" (Zimmerli, et al., 2007, p. 155). In today's mass media environment it is a sure thing that some blogger, local newspaper reporter or national cable news talking head is
It appears that little will change under Obama, with the appointed head of the SEC, Mary Schapiro, similarly concerned with protecting Wall Street sharks. James Petras (2008) similarly believes that Madoff's failure is not a personal one, but a failure of the current social, political and economic justice. In addition to an economic culture that most favors the very rich, Petras also believes that the SEC and its actions are
Business Ethics - Contemporary Case 2: Madoff's Investment Firm The investment Ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff and his hedge fund for wealthy clients was a major violation of ethics by Madoff, as he showed a severe lack of transparency (hiding his actions and never divulging how his trades were profitable) and a consistent habit of lying to clients by using one's fund to pay off another. Madoff's investment firm was essentially
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now