2021年经济学人 华尔街巨骗伯纳德·麦道夫在狱中去世(1)（在线收听）

Obituary

讣告

Bernard Madoff

伯纳德·麦道夫

Just one big lie

惊世骗局

Bernard Madoff, deviser of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, died in prison on April 14th, aged 82

史上最大旁氏骗局策划者伯纳德·麦道夫，于4月14日在狱中去世，终年82岁

It was rare for Bernard Madoff to invite anyone to his investment-advisory office. Almost all the employees in his brokerage firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, were kept out of that part, and had no idea what went on inside. The door was locked.

伯纳德·麦道夫(Bernard Madoff)很少邀请他人进自己的投资顾问办公室。他的经纪公司伯纳德·L·麦道夫投资证券公司的几乎所有员工都不准出入他的办公室，也不知道里面发生了什么。办公室的门紧锁着。

Like his other offices, it was immaculate, with a starkly modernist decor of black, white and grey.

和他其他的办公室一样，房间里一尘不染，黑白灰的装饰凸显了鲜明的现代主义风格。

When he caught one of his employees eating a pear there, dripping juice onto the grey carpet tiles, he immediately ripped out the stained tile and laid another. No sloppiness allowed.

当发现员工吃梨时果汁不小心滴落在灰色地毯上，他会立即换掉有污迹的地毯，铺上一块崭新的。丝毫不容马虎。

He set the tone himself, in a Savile Row suit with his wedding ring, gold or platinum, exactly matched to the wristband of his vintage watch of the day. All was done with elaborate care, including the handling of other people’s money.

他自己定下了基调，穿着萨维尔街的西装，手上戴着金制或铂金的婚戒，与当天的古董手表的腕带十分搭配。所有的事情都做得一丝不苟，包括运转他人的资金。

A very simple scheme ensured that, come what may, his private clients received compound average annual returns of a steady 15% on their investments.

他制定了一个非常简单的方案，无论发生什么，都要保证私人客户获得稳定的15%的平均年复率回报。

It worked so well that despite the recession of the early 1990s, the financial crisis of 1998 and the September 11th attacks, savings sent to him inexorably grew, as if by magic.

这个保证十分奏效，尽管经历了上世纪90年代初的经济衰退、1998年的金融危机和911恐怖袭击，他的“吸金能力”却日益见长，像是施加了魔法。

Everyone wanted to know how it was done, and he was not about to tell them. If they pressed him he would say it was a proprietary strategy, with details not to be discussed. This was a private fund, secret and exclusive; what went on there was no one’s business. Clients loved that special feeling.

所有人都好奇他的成功秘诀，而他对此三缄其口。如果对方向他施压，他会直言这是一种自营策略，具体细节不便讨论。他说，这是一个具有保密性和专属性的私募基金；跟其他任何人都没有关系。客户享受这种独一无二的感觉。

Their funds would be diversified, they learned, across solid property, blue-chip stocks like Intel and Coca-Cola, Treasury bonds. He knew the ways of the market inside out; he had even modernised it, helping to launch the first electronic stockmarket, Nasdaq, and becoming its chairman. He was famously respected on Wall Street. All that, and he charged no commission for his money-management services! He was happy, he would say, just to earn commissions on the trades.

客户只是了解到，自己的基金被投资到多元化领域，包括稳固的实体行业、如英特尔(Intel)和可口可乐(Coca-Cola)等蓝筹股，以及美国国债等。他对市场的运作了如指掌；他甚至主导了电子股票市场的现代化，帮助推出了第一个电子股票市场——纳斯达克(Nasdaq)，并出任纳斯达克的董事长。他蜚声华尔街，深受人们尊敬。尽管如此，他的资金管理服务却不收佣金！他对此解释称，只是从交易中赚取佣金就已经很满足了。