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Madoff’s statement was not an apology!
By Lauren | June 30, 2009
Today, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin sentenced disgraced financier Bernard Madoff to one hundred fifty years in prison for running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. According to press reports, Madoff scammed his investors out of more than $60 billion, using the money to treat his family to an extravagantly lavish lifestyle. At the hearing, Madoff turned for the first time to his victims in the courtroom (a small group of the many people he swindled) and said, “I am sorry. I know it will not help you.”
He got that right.
People who’ve read my book, The Art of the Apology, know that I believe it’s entirely possible to make an effective apology even after you’ve done something very, very bad. Unfortunately, Madoff blew it today. Yes, he finally said he was sorry without beating around the bush and, by pleading guilty, he took at least some responsibility for what he’s done. But Madoff has never given his victims a chance to tell him to his face what his actions have cost them. And the cost has been appalling, with thousands of people losing vast amounts of money and, in some instances, being driven to the edge of survival. (One recently retired woman told NPR today that she has to dumpster-dive for food at the end of each month after losing her entire retirement fund to Madoff.) When his victims testified in court, Madoff’s back was turned to them. He may have heard them, but there’s no way his victims can possibly be sure that he listened.
Even worse, Madoff has yet to make amends for the harm he’s caused. Apparently he hasn’t told federal investigators where the money went, and very little of it has been recovered so far. Unless Madoff returns his ill-gotten gains to the people he stole them from, his claim to being sorry is nothing more than empty air.
Press reports said Madoff apologized today, but they missed the point. All Madoff did today was make a statement. It might have been a reasonably good statement … but it wasn’t an apology.
Topics: Apologies, Business Ethics, Personal Ethics, ethics |
June 30th, 2009 at 4:40 am
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July 9th, 2009 at 10:54 am
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