Madoff’s trading statements looked like they were printed on an ancient mainframe – because they were. The arcane style served as an aid to the scam, but also provided hints to the scam’s existence.
On the basic level, every customer report or invoice needs to report certain actual details, and to follow certain legal and accounting rules and conventions. In addition, from the product point of view, each statement is also a touchpoint between customer and brand, which can be used to communicate ideas and emotions larger than the mundane details. The statement is sometimes surrounded by extras: envelopes, billing emails and envelope stuffers are as much a part of the reporting event as the core document. More subtle aspects include the design of the document itself.
Sometimes, the art of communications become a black art – when it knowingly communicates misleading information. The trading statements of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC are a case in question.
The trading statement below (click on image for 7-page trading statement) was produced by Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. They list many lines of transactions; we are told Mr. Madoff later admitted, “it was all just one big lie”. With over 50 billion dollars of investments, Madoff’s was the largest Ponzi scheme ever. Let’s examine what makes the trading statement appear valid.
Madoff’s trading statement caught my attention because, compared to contemporary styles, it projects an overly traditional look: an old dot matrix printer on a traditional ledger-design background (that doesn’t even match the line height, either because it was intended for a different printer and/or was used as an illustration only). Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Billing , As/400, Billing, CRM, Customer Experience, legacy computing, linkedin, Madoff, User Experience
