Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities' collapse was not merely a lesson that improbable returns deserve suspicion. It was a test of whether securities positions, trades, cash and account statements could be verified outside the organization that generated them; whether auditors, feeder funds, banks and regulators would challenge evidence rather than reputation; and whether later claims and recoveries could be reported without confusing fictitious balances, net cash loss, customer net equity and separate compensation pools.