This occurred almost overnight, lost overnight when Vioxx was taken out of circulation.

Merck and Co., indicated in a statement to the Supreme Court that shareholders failed to pursue litigation after the risks about the drug were revealed.  They  then and asked the court to waive the class action securities suit being brought against the corporation arguing that the 2-year statute of limitations had passed.

A lower court initially agreed with Merck,  but an appellate court reversed the decision sometime later.

The case is currently before the Supreme Court and will be ruled on  within the next year.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Other con men running Ponzi schemes have come and gone through the years, but none of them have matched the Ponzi scheme operated by Bernard (Bernie) Madoff, a scheme in which he reportedly bilked innocent investors out of an astounding $50 to $65 billion—that’s billion with a capital “B”—in a scam that lasted several decades. Several things are amazing to believe: nonprofit organizations entrusted Madoff with as much as $300,000 each, and individual investors gave him their entire life savings, believing the money was safe and would generate a generous double-digit return, something they could never imagine through traditional investment avenues.

Madoff had all the trappings of a successful investor: a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, shares in two private jets, and a vacation house in France with a yacht moored off the French Riviera. His financial background was solid, including having served three one-year terms as the chairman of a major stock exchange, NASDAQ. One thing that is hard to believe is the length of time Bernie was able to run his scam, starting in the 1990s. (Some say he actually started in the 1980s.) The Securities and Exchange Commission had conducted superficial investigations of his activities several times starting in 1972, but couldn’t find anything amiss.

A former special agent with the FBI compared Madoff to a psychopath, sharing such traits as lying, manipulation, the ability to deceive, feelings of grandiosity, and callousness toward his victims. The special agent is quoted in the New York Times as saying that Madoff shared the same motivation as serial killers. The Times quote him as stating: “With serial killers, they have control over the life or death of people. They’re playing God. That’s the grandiosity coming through. The sense of being superior, Madoff is getting the same thing. He’s playing financial god, ruining these people and taking their money.”

But like all Ponzi schemes, Madoff’s scam eventually came to an end. In December 2008, Madoff met with his two sons and confessed to them that the asset management arm of his firm was a massive Ponzi scheme, calling it “one big lie.” The sons notified the authorities of this disclosure on December 10, 2008, and the next day, F.B.I. agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. Madoff pleaded guilty to a number of courts, and on June 29, 2009, a federal judge sentenced the 71-year-old Madoff to the maximum—150 years in prison. As federal law does not provide for parole, it is a sure bet that Madoff will die behind bars. This, however, is not of much solace to people whose life savings were wiped out and had mortgaged their home to invest in Madoff’s scheme.

Part of the blame, however, must rest on the shoulders of those who invested with Madoff. They were promised an unimaginable double-digit return on their investments and weren’t overly concerned with where the money came from. Greed blinded many investors as to how their money was invested, so long as it continued to return such handsome profits.

The investors forgot one cardinal rule: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.