It's 1981, Bernie Madoff Red Flagged

Managed Account Reports is a virtually unknown publication read only by those of us who are in some way involved in the managed account side of the stock and commodity markets.  It was they, way back in 1981, that published a detailed skeptical article regarding the accounts being run by Bernie Madoff, and while never suggesting that it was a ponzi scheme, the piece certainly raised enough doubts among the people who should know better that this black box system was doing something nobody else on the planet could duplicate.

Before continuing I must point out that I have referred to the insane risk anyone runs who invests in a "system" "managed account" in anything that doesn't reveal each and every trade.  A "black box" account is simply a coffin awaiting the careless investor.   When I was involved in managed accounts MAR, as the publication is called, was our eyes and ears regarding the various traders involved in the business.  If MAR said you were silver we took it at face value.  Similarly, we took an opinion that it was shit on a stick as a dire warning from a very informed source. Back when I was raising money for funds we would never back something that was nixed or marked suspicious by MAR.  The problem with MAR for the lay person is that none of you know the terminology of the "business" so a piece that raises a few alert buttons on a professional is never recognized anywhere else.  In the managed account field all brokerage firms are regarded as assholes just grinding daily commissions by "churning" their various accounts and as that "falling knife" you better not try to catch or that oncoming B-52 raid that you better run from.  They are simply too big to be on the "wrong side" of.   

So once again a Black Box trading system has attracted all the best people and subsequently exploded killing all within range, including Bernie.  And, like the ten or so schemes over the past decade or so, it was a scheme that shut out everyone other than the "managers" of the accounts.  There was no supervision by regulators and certainly no reporting by any media, all of whom are regarded by the crooks in the business as too stupid to figure out what they are doing.

If you want to read up on what this particular Black Box trading system was, go here.  It's only a start but as good as any and better than most.