OK - we have our definitions. Why is a fraudster a psychopath and/or a sociopath?
Let's look at our old friend Bernie Madoff. The man is responsible for the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world (although, as we all know, records are made to be broken). He knowingly stole billions of dollars from people.
We can always put this down as "well, this is a person who stole for a living. Happens all the time." OK, fine. But, in reading biographies of Madoff, in reading the stories of his life, in reading how he conducted his affairs, one thing is certain: Madoff knew exactly what he was doing. He cold-bloodedly took money from people knowing that it would never be paid back. He knew that the money he was taking did not just belong to billionaire investors or to billionare hedge funds or trust fund babies that would never miss the money. A great deal of the money that went to Madoff came from ordinary investors who lost everything when Madoff collapsed.
Yet in interviews (sparsely given) by Madoff and from the information gleaned by prosecutors and others, Madoff had no remorse whatosoever. He would "blame the victim" or claim that he should have been caught sooner and inept prosecutors overlooked him (something to be said about that BTW) or that he "worked hard" for his clients and was tired of them pestering him.
There was no indication that Madoff ever cared that by his scams he was destroying the lives of countless individuals, even though he knew that he was runnign a scam.
I would respectfully suggest that this behavior is the textbook definition of a psychopath.
Let's look at our old friend Bernie Madoff. The man is responsible for the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world (although, as we all know, records are made to be broken). He knowingly stole billions of dollars from people.
We can always put this down as "well, this is a person who stole for a living. Happens all the time." OK, fine. But, in reading biographies of Madoff, in reading the stories of his life, in reading how he conducted his affairs, one thing is certain: Madoff knew exactly what he was doing. He cold-bloodedly took money from people knowing that it would never be paid back. He knew that the money he was taking did not just belong to billionaire investors or to billionare hedge funds or trust fund babies that would never miss the money. A great deal of the money that went to Madoff came from ordinary investors who lost everything when Madoff collapsed.
Yet in interviews (sparsely given) by Madoff and from the information gleaned by prosecutors and others, Madoff had no remorse whatosoever. He would "blame the victim" or claim that he should have been caught sooner and inept prosecutors overlooked him (something to be said about that BTW) or that he "worked hard" for his clients and was tired of them pestering him.
There was no indication that Madoff ever cared that by his scams he was destroying the lives of countless individuals, even though he knew that he was runnign a scam.
I would respectfully suggest that this behavior is the textbook definition of a psychopath.
NOTE: THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE NOR
IS IT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE. IF
THE READER HAS ANY LEGAL QUESTIONS, PLEASE REFER TO AN ATTORNEY.
Have a great and fraud-free day.
----------à>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>gene
tausk
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