This whole scandal reminds me of Sebastian d’Anconia of d’Anconia Copper from the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayne Rand. In the book, Sebastian ruins his company in order to ruin all his investors and further take down a corrupt society. The similarities are uncanny…

1. Both had rich investors who were completely caught off guard when everything collapsed.
2. Both had family that are dependent on what they were able to produce.
3. Both will add to the already horrible financial crises.
4. Both ran the business into the ground seemingly on purpose.
5. Both were thought to be invinsible.
6. In Sebastian’s case, he wanted to hurt those who he thought were parasites on society (hedge funds, government, unions, etc).

In the book, Sebastian disappears after the last of his wealth and his copper minds are completely distroyed. It will be interesting to see if Madoff does the same. A man of his wealth surely has a ‘plan B’.