"By and large, in today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules … and this is something that the public really doesn't understand … it's impossible for a violation to go undetected. Certainly not for a considerable period of time … When you look at the scope of the trading that goes on today on Wall Street and look at what we would consider to be the infractions, they're relatively small, due to regulation, and most firms try to comply with that." — Bernard Madoff, of Madoff Securities, who recently pleaded guilty to perpetrating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, speaking to a bunch of unwitting senior citizens. [Video at right, via DealBreaker]