Journalists Can be Duped

Perhaps one shouldn't always feel bad about getting someone utterly wrong. Sometimes one is bested by a master. In November 2004, I went to interview Bernard Madoff for the Economist and was won over. I told friends that I trusted this quiet, thoughtful man more than I trusted any of the dozens of Wall Street loudmouths I'd talked to that year. It emerged in 2008 that Madoff had been one of the biggest con men in history.

Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review, October 6, 2019