Bernie Madoff's fraud techniques

How did Bernard Madoff carry out his massive Ponzi scheme fraud for so long?

Press reports show that the scheme was quite sophisticated. Some of his techniques -

a) attention to detail - his company recorded millions of pages of non-existent trades that were reflected in customer cofirmations and account statements; trade prices were checked to ensure that they were not out of line to normal real prices at the relevant times;

b) keeping of old stationery - old letterheads were kept in case he needed to create records relating to earlier periods; and

c) fake counterparties - in case of surprise visits at his office by regulators, an employee was supposed to enter in fake trades on a computer, while another employee in a nearby office would play the part of counterparties using a linked computer. This would give the appearance of active trading at that particular time.

The scope of not just the fraud but the large scale of the fraudulent activities show that Bernie Madoff did not act alone. His right hand man Frank DiPascali has also pleaded guilty to his part in the fraud.