On December 11, 2008, FBI agents arrested Bernard L. Madoff for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth approximately $65 billion and affecting 37,000 victims across 136 countries. Madoff, former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, confessed to his sons on December 9 that his …
Bernie MadoffFederal Bureau of InvestigationSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Harry Markopolosfraudregulatory-capturesecponzi-schemefinancial-crime+3 more
On November 7, 2005, financial analyst Harry Markopolos submitted his third and most detailed complaint to the SEC, a report entitled ‘The World’s Largest Hedge Fund is a Fraud,’ outlining approximately 30 red flags indicating that Bernie Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme, which …
Harry MarkopolosSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Bernie Madofffraudregulatory-capturesecponzi-schemefinancial-crime+3 more
President Bush signs the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, marking the successful culmination of WHIG’s systematic campaign to bypass constitutional separation of powers through coordinated congressional deception. The signed authorization represents not …
George W. BushWhite House Iraq GroupU.S. CongressConstitutional FrameworkAndrew Card+4 morewhigconstitutional-crisisseparation-of-powersexecutive-powercongressional-manipulation+4 more
A second wave of banking panics erupts in June 1931 centered in Chicago, where depositor runs beset networks of banks that had invested in declining real estate assets, resulting in approximately 2,300 bank suspensions during 1931—significantly more than the 1,350 failures in 1930. The crisis …
Herbert HooverFederal ReserveAmerican bankersdepositorsfinancial-crisisbankinggreat-depressionderegulationinstitutional-failure
The California Gold Rush of 1849 created a lawless environment that enabled systematic land fraud and banking corruption as the region lacked effective legal institutions. When gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California remained technically under American military occupation following …
Palmer (San Francisco banker)Pio PicoPeralta familyCalifornia state governmentsystematic-corruptionland-speculationfinancial-fraudinstitutional-failureeconomic-extraction
Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republican leaders spent 1826 denouncing the Adams-Clay arrangement as a fundamental betrayal of democratic principles, helping Jackson’s supporters organize what would become the Democratic Party. Jefferson had privately expressed horror at the …
Thomas JeffersonAndrew JacksonDemocratic-Republican PartyReform Movementsystematic-corruptiondemocratic-erosionpolitical-reforminstitutional-failureparty-realignment