Madoff pleads guilty

As was anticipated, Bernard Madoff today pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of an estimated $65 billion. From the Los Angeles Times:

The former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange, Madoff acknowledged 11 felony counts, including securities fraud, money laundering and perjury, that allege he cheated nearly 5,000 clients out of as much as $65 billion, according to federal prosecutors. There is no agreement on sentencing, but Madoff, 70, could spend the rest of his life in jail for running what officials have said may be the nation's biggest and most costly Ponzi scheme.

Madoff's scheme extended to San Marino

The investment scheme put in motion by Bernard Madoff reached around the world, according to a New York Times investigation, so perhaps it's no surprise that it has at least one link to the exclusive city of San Marino, a bastion of wealth in the western San Gabriel Valley and a gateway to trade with Asia. According to the article, Matthew Brown, son of a former San Marino mayor, did marketing for an investment firm that did big business with Madoff and helped him attract Asian investors.