Here, to help keep us all on the light side of the law, are some cheeky extracts for a bit of mid-week amusement.

Madoff’s skill in bamboozling many so called sophisticated investors has aroused some interesting and entertaining commentary. From I’m There For You Baby, "The Gullible and Bernie Madoff ":

" Stephen Greenspan, a psychologist, has analyzed some of the behaviors in his recent article in the Wall Street Journal . Herewith are some of his thoughts (intertwined with a few of mine).

Situations: Greenspan contends that every gullible act occurs when an individual is presented with a social challenge that he has to solve — and the Madoff story is replete with social feedback pressures — it was a hard club to get into, Bernie was not accessible, and you could only invest if you knew somebody or were approved by him personally or else you had to go through feeder funds – i.e. access was limited. My Baby Billionaire Rule #215 (with appropriate reference to my personal idol Groucho Marx) is this: Any club that would have me as a member, I don’t want to join. "

From the Toledo Blade : Observant Toledo cabbie, Harold Webb said he wasn’t suspicious – at first – when a passenger he picked up near a downtown restaurant was toting three flat-screen televisions, followed by several boxes of liquor. Click over for his moment of clarity…

But when the passenger told him he had $3,000 worth of property he could sell – to pay the nearly $20 owed for cab fare – Mr. Webb realized he unknowingly had helped an alleged thief flee. "That’s when the light bulb in my head went off," said Mr. Webb.

And finally, from The Record : A drunk man who danced in front of Kitchener police officers wearing nothing but a strategically placed sock will be paying for his admitted "idiotic" behaviour.