I’m wondering how quickly it will take the Onion to write an almost-too-real article about the NASDAQ ponzi scheme and how Madoff pronounces his name as Made-Off. Unfortunately, this whole financial mess is starting to make all stock and other securities markets resemble gigantic ponzi schemes.

Not just super rich caught up in $50B Madoff case: Financial News – Yahoo Finance.

Around the world, investors who sunk cash into veteran Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff’s investment pool spent the weekend calculating how much exposure they might have. The 70-year-old Madoff, well respected in the investment community after serving as chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, was arrested Thursday in what prosecutors say was a $50 billion scheme to defraud investors.

One thing was clear in the fallout from his arrest: The alleged victims span from the super rich, to pensioners and powerful financial institutions, to local charities. Some investors claim they’ve been wiped out, while others are still likely to come forward.