All just one big lie.

It is a commonplace that there's nothing like a downturn in the economy to expose fraud. A crisis of the current magnitude was waiting for a major swindle and Bernard Madoff, ex chairman of NASDAQ, duly obliged in December when he admitted to a US$50bn Ponzi scheme after his hedge fund was unable to meet US$7bn in redemption requests. "It's all basically one big lie," he told his sons, who immediately contacted the police.The unravelling tale, which has already led to at least one suicide and the closure of several charitable foundations, contains many of the classic elements of fraud.

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