Citigroup Stock Gains 38%. Madoff To Plead Guilty

In Financial News:

Shares of Citigroup soared today after the CEO sent a letter to all employees claiming that Citigroup has posted an operating profit the first two months of 2009. Citigroup shares gained 38 percent today...

We have so many questions about this letter that we could fill 10 or so posts. A little creative accounting does not a recovery make. For those of you holding Citigroup stock, don't get too excited. The stock gained 40 cents from $1.05. Unless, of course, you have millions of shares.

In other "Financial" News:

Bernie Madoff, the largest Ponzi Schemer in history, will plead guilty to federal charges and spend the rest of his life in prison. Madoff is charged with securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and theft from an employee benefit plan.

The U.S. Attorney heading the case denies there is any plea agreement.

Estimates of losses from the Ponzi Scheme are around 50 Billion Dollars.

No word yet on whether Ruth Madoff, the Mrs., will face prosecution or forfeiture of the 42 Million Or So Dollars she controls. Although denying knowledge of the Ponzi Scheme, Ruth Madoff has amassed quite the tidy sum while being employed as a homemaker and socialite.

Ruth Madoff: My 62 Million Wasn't Part Of The Ponzi Scheme

From the "You Gotta Be Kidding Me" File:

Ruth Madoff, loooong time wife of "alleged" con artist and ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, says her 62 Million Dollars had nothing to do with the "alleged" ponzi scheme her husband disguised as an investment firm for decades.

Mrs. Madoff has 45 Million Dollars in Bonds and 17 Million Dollars in CASH deposited with Wachovia. She claims this money is hers, had nothing to do with Bernie Madoff's investment fraud and should not be subject to seizure.

By the way...did we mention she withdrew $10 Million Dollars THE DAY BEFORE he was arrested?

For those of you thinking perhaps she was in the money before she married Bernie...they grew up in the same Queens neighborhood, Laurelton, then a lower-middle-class area.

Hmmm...

Maybe she is just a very savvy investor in her own right.

Sure.

Harry Markopolos: Madoff Whistleblower Was Ignored

Harry Markopolos has testified at a House hearing that he had warned the S.E.C. about the Madoff ponzi scheme since 2000 and nobody did anything about it. Markopolos has also said that he feared for his life as a whistle blower (And was called paranoid by a committee member ).

Now let's see if we have this straight... Markopolos, who is somewhat of a heavy hitter on Wall Street, has been trying to get the SEC to do something about Madoff for EIGHT YEARS?? Doesn't the SEC have a duty to at least "look into" any allegations that are brought to them, regardless of the source? And this wasn't just a little minor insider trading...this was a freaking ponzi scheme that allegedly has been going on for decades.

What the hell?

The insanity continues...