Bernie Madoff was a master at impression management or social engineering. According to psychiatrists impression management has three goals. Ingratiation, this means to convey displaying certain positive emotions such as happiness to mimic good will. Intimidation to strike fear into the hearts of the people you want to fool, and supplication to get others to be helpful. These 3 qualities describe Bernie Madoff to a tea. All these characteristics work together to fool your victim into perceiving what you want. Which is what Madoff did to the nth degree. An old friend recalls his experience with Madoff. He called his offices asking what he should do with money he had acquired after selling a business. Madoff tells him some nonsensical information
