New Year’s Day… taking our cue from David Letterman, “It’s so cold today that Bernie Madoff is actually looking forward to burning in hell.” The still-unfolding Madoff scandal reminds me of having to sit through the inane movie, Weekend at Bernie’s, with some of my children almost 20 years ago.

For those of you unfamiliar with the film, a few words of advice: keep it that way. The ironies, though, abound. A quick check of The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) reveals this: “A lively comedy about a guy who isn’t.” Drilling down a little further, Wikipedia’s plot description notes that, “Larry and Richard uncover a fraud involving multiple life insurance payments.” In the interest of full disclosure, Mr. Madoff’s sons—the ones who turned him in—are named Andrew and Mark… if it’s true that a ripped-off party in daddy’s $50 billion scam included a Russian oligarch, they may find life imitating art.

But seriously, avoid the flick, and for that matter its dreadful follow-up, Weekend at Bernie’s II. Coming full-circle, something tells me that Weekend at Bernie’s—The Purgatory Edition is coming to a Theatre Near All of Us.

As a postscript, for those interested, there is a featured article in the January 12th edition of Forbes addressing lessons learned from the Madoff scandal. One salient point of the article—Fox Guarding the Henhouse—should comfort any you wondering whether it can happen here? Unlike Mr. Madoff’s operation, Hardesty Capital Management separates the roles of Investment Advisor, Custodian and Broker-Dealer. As a matter of fact, in the course of founding this firm, Jim Hardesty was encouraged by a number of people to incorporate with the latter two powers, meaning custodial fees and all sorts of brokerage fees could be added to the coffers—he declined because of the inherent conflicts of interests, so starkly demonstrated by Bernie Madoff.
—Geordie French