You probably know the name “Bernie Madoff”, but how much do you know about his story? You might associate his name with terms like “scandal”, “fraud”, and “Ponzi scheme”, but do you know what really went down? A new documentary series answers all your questions and more. Right now Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street is now streaming on Netflix.
Directed by Joe Berlinger, who also gave us the absolutely essential Paradise Lost documentary trilogy with co-director Bruce Sinofsky, Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street dives deep into the life and crimes of trading wizard Madoff, detailing his ongoing financial malfeasance over the entire course of his entire Wall Street career, culminating in his being sentenced to a whopping 150 years in federal prison for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history—one that defrauded victims of a staggering 65 billion dollars (legendary director Steven Spielberg was one of several celebs who got stung).
But the series also takes time to lay bare the workplace culture and systemic failings that allowed Madoff to flourish. As one time chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange and advisor to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Madoff was on the inside track and all but impervious to investigation and prosecution—it was only when his own sons blew the whistle that he was finally arrested and charged.
Berlinger keeps things moving along like a well-crafted legal thriller, interviewing as many key players as he can lay his hands on and rendering down a stupendous amount of data and complex financial manoeuvring into something not just digestible by the viewing audience, but relentlessly compelling. The scale of both Madoff’s crimes and the callous nature of the finance world can be both daunting and depressing, but rest assured there’s a happy ending: Madoff died in prison at the age of 82 in 2021.
