THE HEROES OF FINANCIAL FRAUD. “I don’t understand people committing these kinds of crimes where they are virtually certain to get caught. Madoff probably didn’t start out knowing that the house of cards would eventually have to come tumbling down–presumably, at least some embezzlers actually have succeeded in dipping into the till and then replacing their takings afterward. By the time he did know, it was too late to get out. But Dreier is like Michael Bellesiles, or that guy at Bell Labs who faked potentially Nobel Prizewinning research. What’s the point of enjoying your fifteen minutes of fame at the price of utter, certain ruin?”