7. Background Information
• Bernard Madoff graduated college with a degree in political science.
• He went to law school for a year before dropping out.
• His parents had started a financial company which didn’t do well. It has been considered that his father ran
the company as a front for shady business dealings.
• After dropping out of law school, Bernie and his wife started their own company with a small amount of
money he saved from odd jobs such as working as a lifeguard and installing sprinkler systems.
• Their firm, Madoff Investment Securities, LLC, offered stable returns on investment.
• With help from his father in law he was able to get a few investors. One big name investor was Steven
Spielberg.
• Kiera Sedgewick and Kevin Bacon soon signed on. Such names allowed him to get other big name clients.
His firm became famous quickly for its steady returns of 10% or more. My the end of 1980 his firm was
handling 5% of the entire volume on the New York Stock Exchange.
8. • His success was largely due to his ability to change with the times.
• Bernie’s firm was one of the first to use computer technology for trading.
• This helped establish National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ). Madoff was
the chairman for three years.
• Madoff started employing family members for most of the prominent jobs within his Company.
• Bernard kept growing his business by borrowing from Mary to pay off Bob. In 2008, at the height of a new
financial crisis, one of Bernard’s biggest investors asked for a large amount of money before scheduled.
• Bernard’s sons demanded that his father tell them where the money would come from. Bernie had to confess.
• His sons turned him in to the Federal Authorities. At the time of his arrest, he had almost 200 billion dollars in
accounts, with no money to back them.
• Madoff was found guilty of multiple securities violations.
• At 71 years of age, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
9. • Amazingly, Madoff had managed to pull of the most elaborate pyramid scheme in modern history.
• He was able to keep the business going for over 2 decades without getting caught.
• His business had grown to the point where he was taking it international.
• He ruined the lives of countless people. One son committed suicide after learning of the deceit and the
extent he was responsible. His other son died shortly after from cancer.
• Many other people, including his own family, lost everything. Their entire life savings was invested with
Madoff. He was the most trusted people on Wall Street.
• White Collar criminals may be the most despicable because the people who are in the place of the most
trusted positions are the ones who are the criminal.
• The criminal behavior of this sort is becoming easier and more prevalent with computers and technology. It
is easier to become the criminal and harder to catch the criminal.
16. • Carey Stayner may have had several motivations for his behavior
according to the rational theory
• Carey lived in the shadow of his young brother who caught
national attention when he was kidnapped and held prisoner for
years.
• When the kidnapping took place, the entire dynamic changed.
His father withdrew from the family.
• His mother became even more reserved and distant than before
the kidnapping.
• Carey’s little brother escaped his captor and returned home. His
brother received “special” treatment and did not have to follow
rules
17. • Cary Stayner found available target when Carol
Sund, her daughter Julie Sund and their family
friend Sylvino Pelosso checked into the lodge
where Stayner was a handyman.
• Stayner had the motive (listed above), the means
and the opportunity (the lodge was empty and it
was not likely the he would be caught.
• The lack of other guests and the seclusion of the
lodge prompted Stayner to act when he did.
20. Background Information
• Andreaq Yates was born in 1964. She was the the youngest of 5 children.
• She was especially close to her father and her brother.
• Andrea was accomplished. Some described her as a perfectionist. She worked hard at
everything she did. Andrea was the captain of her high school swim team, class
valedictorian, and an officer in the National Honor Society. Andrea suffered from bulimia,
during high school and college; however, this was not discovered until after she was
married. Andrea was very conscientious and would keep any personal problems to herself.
• Even so, Andrea was shy and didn’t date until after college.
• She became a registered nurse and worked for eight years.
• She met Russel Yates when they were both 23 years old. They were married when they
were 28 years old. They bought a four bedroom house because they planned to have as
many children as “God” sent to them.
• They had there first child before their 1 year anniversary.
• Rusty met a self-proclaimed preacher while in college, and both Russel and Andrea became
devoted followers after they married. He was a fire and brimstone type preacher and
conducted his weekly sermon via satellite television. He told his followers they should rid
themselves of earthly possession and live as a sparse life.
21. • Is was for that reason they sold their home and moved into a travel trailer.
• They had a second son a year later.
• Andrea suffered from severe post partum depression. The preacher did not believe in psychiatrists, or
psychiatric medication.
• She was hospitalized after the birth of her 3rd son when her husband came home from work and
found her lying in the fetal position and chewing off her fingers.
• She was placed in the psychiatric unit where she remained for a week. She was prescribed anti-
depressants which she stopped taking as soon as she started feeling better.
• It is unclear if she was hearing voices at this time.
• She suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide twice after the birth of the 4th child.
• She was hospitalized twice in one summer. She was put on a cocktail of medication including the
antipsychotic drug Haldol. At this point, she was under the care of Dr. Eileen Starbranch. Dr.
Starbranch told the couple that having more children would result in another psychotic episode.
• Andrea’s mother told Russell that they had to move out of the small trailer and into a house.
• Contrary to that advice, and at the urging of their Preacher, Andrea had another child, this time a girl.
Things appeared better until Andrea’s father died.
• Soon after that life altering episode, Andrea stopped taking her medication.
• She began to feverishly read her bible.
• Andrea was self-mutilating feverishly. She was pulling out large chunks of hair and chewing her fingers.
• Notably, she stopped feeding her youngest child. She was under the care of Dr. Mohammed Saeed.
• Her condition was so extensive, her mental state so unstable that she remained hospitalized for 4
weeks.
22. • At trial, the administration at the hospital admitted that Andrea was sent home before they thought she should
be because it was the policy of the hospital to turn patients away when their insurance ran out.
• Just over a week later she had reverted back to what the psychiatrist called a near catatonic state. She
confessed that she intended to drown the children and filled the bathtub that day.
• She didn’t follow through on the first attempt. After a scheduled doctor’s visit, she was hospitalized again.
• Andrea was still under the care of Dr. Saeed. He took her off Haldol and most of the medications she had been
taking. He took her off of them abruptly, not allowing for the gradual reduction that is the generally accepted
practice.
• She was to have supervision at all times. The day of the murders, Russell left for work. His mother was to be
there 1 hour later to supervise. It was during that hour window that Andrea yates drown all 5 of her children.
• Her oldest son was 7 years old, and her youngest was 6 months old.
• It is important to note that Andrea drown each of them with planned out precision. First, she locked the family
dog in a room. Then, she began with the oldest because she knew that he would fight the hardest. She was
also aware that he may try to rescue the other children. She then would drown the other three boys, one at a
time. She left one boy as she tried to drown the baby. He came in and asked what was wrong. He tried to
escape, but she caught him and drown him last. She laid them carefully on the bed. She placed the baby girl in
the arms of the oldest son.
• Andrea then dialed 911 numerous times telling them that they needed to come. She wouldn’t say specifically
why they were needed and it took awhile for someone to respond. After they were on the way, she called
Russell and told her that something was wrong. He asked her who was hurt or how many were harmed. She
told him ”all of them.”
27. ABC News Editors. Brutal Slayings Shatter Peace of Yosemite. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123868
Biography.com Editors (2016). Andrea Yates. The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved from
http://www.blography.com/people/andrea-yates-235801
Bio.com Editors (2017). Bernard Madoff. The Biography.com Website. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved from
http://www.biography.com/people/people/bernard-madoff466366#synopsis
Cohn, E. (2003). Even Criminals Take a Holiday: Instrumental and Expressive Crime on Major and Minor Holidays.
Journal of Criminal Justice (31) (4) pp. 351-360.
Chan, M. (2016). Revisiting Andrea Yates 15 Years After She Drowned Her Children. Time.Com. Retrieved from
http://time.com/4375398/andrea-yates-15-years-drown-children.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (2013). Fifth Edition. American Psychiatric Association.
Washington, D.C.
Findlaw.com Website. White Collar Crime. (2017). Retrieved from
http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/white-collar-crime.html
Miller, L. (2012). Criminal Psychology Nature, Nurture, Culture. Charles C. Thomas Publisher, LTD. Springfield. Ill.