Harry Markopolos' Testimony Today on Madoff and the S.E.C.

[Mike 03]

Did anybody else feel that this was pretty explosive stuff? He made an awfully good case that the S.E.C. made a deliberate choice to ignore going after Madoff even though Maarkopolos had located more than 29 "red flags", presented them with reams and reams of analysis, and pestered them for more than nine years to investigate Madoff's operation.

At several points during his investigation he feared for his life, and his explanation as to why was convincing. Apparently, a good percentage of Madoff's investors were drug cartels in Eastern Europe and Latin American, with many of these profits being stored offshore in the Cayman Islands.

But more than that, he accused a number of organizations such as the NASD and FIRNA of frankly being corrupt or worthless when it comes to watchdogging the brokerage industry. He even insinuated that the experts at the S.E.C. lacked the math skills to understand how he arrived at the obvious conclusion that Madoff was fabricating the number of options he was trading. It was pretty shocking, but awfully refreshing to see someone be this honest.

Hopefully a transcript of his testimony will be available shortly, because I really want to examine it closely. It was fascinating and frightening.

CSPAN aired it, so the video should be available. Bloomberg also carried most of it live.

I have to say, I was immensely impressed with this guy. He'd be a good addition to the lineup in Obama's cabinet.

Hats off to this guy. He really risked a lot to expose Madoff and got nothing but trouble for his efforts.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. I wonder what those drug cartels are going to do?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. I wonder what those drug cartels are going to do?

[arcadian]

3. Yea, that guy, Harry Markopolos, he's pretty much my hero right now.

We need about a thousand more people like him.