Obituary
訃告
Bernard Madoff
伯納德·麥道夫
Just one big lie
驚世騙局
Bernard Madoff, deviser of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, died in prison on April 14th, aged 82
史上最大旁氏騙局策劃者伯納德·麥道夫，于4月14日在獄中去世，終年82歲
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.
伯納德·麥道夫(Bernard Madoff)很少邀請他人進自己的投資顧問辦公室。他的經紀公司伯納德·L·麥道夫投資證券公司的幾乎所有員工都不準出入他的辦公室，也不知道里面發生了什么。辦公室的門緊鎖著。
Like his other offices, it was immaculate, with a starkly modernist decor of black, white and grey.
和他其他的辦公室一樣，房間里一塵不染，黑白灰的裝飾凸顯了鮮明的現代主義風格。
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.
當發現員工吃梨時果汁不小心滴落在灰色地毯上，他會立即換掉有污跡的地毯，鋪上一塊嶄新的。絲毫不容馬虎。
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.
他自己定下了基調，穿著薩維爾街的西裝，手上戴著金制或鉑金的婚戒，與當天的古董手表的腕帶十分搭配。所有的事情都做得一絲不茍，包括運轉他人的資金。
A very simple scheme ensured that, come what may, his private clients received compound average annual returns of a steady 15% on their investments.
他制定了一個非常簡單的方案，無論發生什么，都要保證私人客戶獲得穩定的15%的平均年復率回報。
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.
這個保證十分奏效，盡管經歷了上世紀90年代初的經濟衰退、1998年的金融危機和911恐怖襲擊，他的“吸金能力”卻日益見長，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訣，而他對此三緘其口。如果對方向他施壓，他會直言這是一種自營策略，具體細節不便討論。他說，這是一個具有保密性和專屬性的私募基金；跟其他任何人都沒有關系�？蛻粝硎苓@種獨一無二的感覺。
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.
客戶只是了解到，自己的基金被投資到多元化領域，包括穩固的實體行業、如英特爾(Intel)和可口可樂(Coca-Cola)等藍籌股，以及美國國債等。他對市場的運作了如指掌；他甚至主導了電子股票市場的現代化，幫助推出了第一個電子股票市場——納斯達克(Nasdaq)，并出任納斯達克的董事長。他蜚聲華爾街，深受人們尊敬。盡管如此，他的資金管理服務卻不收傭金！他對此解釋稱，只是從交易中賺取傭金就已經很滿足了。
