The story — investment “master,” Bernard Madoff with his firm Bernard Madoff Investment Securities was revealed by the S.E.C. in December to be a complete fraud, specifically using the terms “stunning fraud of epic proportions.”

About a week later, more details in the case were released, putting the numbers at “over $50 billion,” and explaining that the perpetrator, Jewish philanthropist and market-wide respected figure Bernard Madoff was only caught in his scam because he admitted to his sons that it was all a big Ponzi scheme.

Followed did a whirlwind storm in the economic press regarding the ineffectiveness of the Securities and Exchange Commission after evidence was released that the Madoff case had been under S.E.C. watch a handful of times in the decades before, and never got much more than a “curiously high returns, but seems legitimate” in response. The S.E.C. responded almost two months after the press-mess had died down, saying that the Commission was effected by reduced and too-restricted funding, however, there was no misrepresentation or illegitimacy within the organization.

On Christmas day, no less, we compiled a list of the ten largest losers in the Ponzi scheme, a surprising result marked with many big names, banks, and financial institutions, only to be finally beat early in February when the Manhattan, NY court responsible for the case made public the entire list of losers.

Later, the prosecution’s lawyer pushed the court to jail Madoff in fear of flight and dispersion of assets — and while some evidence that such dispersion was occurring did exist, the judge rejected the request with a few new requirements for the arrestee.

All in all, the issue still stands trial.

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