God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

From the New York Post:

Officials at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA, told The Post that after examining more than 40 years' worth of financial records from Madoff's now-defunct broker dealer, there are no signs that Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities ever traded shares on behalf of the investment-advisory business at the center of the scandal.

The startling findings contradict statements that Madoff's advisory clients received showing hundreds, if not thousands of trades, completed by the broker dealer every year.

Just for the sake of argument, imagine there were no regulatory authorities like FINRA or the SEC: could the Madoff matter have possibly had a worse outcome? I wonder, in the absence of the regulators, if Madoff would have been able get away with his shenanigans for as long as he did. With no FINRA or SEC, the poor saps who forked their money over to that scoundrel might have actually done a bit of due diligence for themselves had they not been secure in the belief government regulators would do it for them.