Harry Markopolos, Madoff Whistleblower, Now Faces Limelight

The Boston Globe:

A month ago, Harry Markopolos was an accountant unknown outside Boston's financial community.

Now the slight, bookish 52-year-old from Whitman is under siege. Christmas week, he spent Monday being interviewed by "60 Minutes," Tuesday preparing to testify in Washington, and Wednesday sorting through pitches from book authors and movie producers. His mother-in-law now answers the door at his suburban stucco house and shoos away the reporters who knock at all hours.

The man who spent nearly a decade trying to blow the whistle on what appears to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history has achieved a kind of hero status within the investment world. He is poised to reap both fame and fortune from a disaster that has cost the investors of Bernard L. Madoff as much as $50 billion.

Read the whole story: The Boston Globe

Comments

[rustyshackleford51]

11:40 AM on 01/11/2009

little known facts about Harry Markopolos

http://thereformedbroker.com/2009/01/11/things-you-should-know-about-harry-markopoulos/

Fact 2: Markopolos once slept in a dumpster in the East 60’s while staking out Bernie Madoff on the weekend after a triple witching options expiration, just to have first dibs on the shredded trade confirmations.

[HC4BO]

10:49 PM on 01/08/2009

I thought Madoff's own kids ratted him out ... ?

[chirps]

08:35 PM on 01/08/2009

How to stop this kind of thing: Mr. Tree, Mr. Rope, meet Mr. Madoff.

[thecanadian]

05:35 PM on 01/08/2009

Obama needs to immediately priorize HIRING and directing 100's of investigators aimed at the previous Administration and SEC Coverups and theft! Put them all in a regular jail too - no country club settings for them. They are thugs that are no different from the exploiters of children!

[MamaBird62]

04:07 PM on 01/08/2009

Newsflash:
Lifelong Democrat, age 46 here. Obama supporter - worked for his campaign.

Progressives can be smart with money, I think our PE certainly will be.
If Democrats (or Republicans) who received large contributions from Madoff led officials to look the other way, then that needs to be exposed, no matter how painful. Madoff played those people too.
Yes, hold Madoff accountable to the full extent. He is the criminal here, and likely others who worked for him.
But don't fail to point out that the victims could have protected themselves from his fraud. This is a spectacularly horrible learning experience. Failing to learn will just sow the seeds for the next Madoff.

[rabiddog6708]

05:47 PM on 01/08/2009

Still blaming the victims, bird brain? You should establish your investment firm and show all those who were swindled how a real financial guru makes money in the market.

[brooklyncitizen]

03:32 PM on 01/08/2009

Well unfortunately this is a classic hero story. Someone acting from their convictions and beliefs and having their discoveries fall on deaf ears. I wonder if he could have alerted other agencies'- Spitzer was going after a lot of white collar wall street crime as attorney general. Not surprised that SEC did nothing- this ist he way of hte world now- "not my job" attitude is prevalent- I bet the buck got passed on and no-one wanted to run with it.

[getoffthecross]

02:33 PM on 01/08/2009

Why do I have the sense that Madoff will suffer the same kind of convenient catostrophic health issue that prevented Enron's Kenny Lay from serving justice?

Somewhere there's an island where the wealthiest thieves live out their existances in peace. Hopefully, we have that island targeted for nuclear testing.

[ratcityreprobate]

02:28 PM on 01/08/2009

Just when my opinion of mankind has dropped through the basement floor along comes a story about a bright, hard working, honest guy who has his head screwed on right. He helps restore my faith that there is hope for us.

[Cynth]

03:28 PM on 01/08/2009

And, personally, it's not just a myth that's being spun by the media. Harry's sincere and the real deal.

[rabiddog6708]

12:33 PM on 01/08/2009

Too bad our government is populated by career bureaucrats and not with individuals like Mr. Markopolos. A lot of people could have been spared losing all their money to Madoff if the SEC had acted years ago. But the SEC couldn't be bothered to actually do real work, could they? Their leaders were too busy "building a career" instead of earning their paycheck.

[HamletsMill]

01:10 PM on 01/08/2009

Exactly. Spot on post.

[MamaBird62]

01:33 PM on 01/08/2009

"A lot of people could have spared losing all their money to Madoff if..." they had bothered to follow basic, common sense rules of investing and not been caught up in the ego satisfying notion of making tons of money with Mr. Big.
Know what's being done with your money, and who is watching over it. Auditing? Financial statements? Transparency? Uncle Sam cannot always save fools from themselves...

[rabiddog6708]

01:53 PM on 01/08/2009

So what's your point.....like a ra.pe victim, they had it coming? Are you a human being or a heartless cyborg? Or maybe you are a Repub and all that hate and loathing is just second nature?

[MamaBird62]

12:07 PM on 01/08/2009

One of the best stories on HuffPo in a while!

I hope an independent investigation can uncover what went wrong at the SEC
Madoff's relative who worked there?
Big donations to Democrats? (probably to both parties)

There will always be scoundrels. At the end of the day it's still about the individuals who blindly trusted this man with their millions without benefit of audited financial statements - if it sounds too good to be true...

[HarryParatestis]

01:18 PM on 01/08/2009

I'll tell you what went wrong at the SEC...in this case, Reagan was right...government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem...absolute incompetence whether it's DEM or GOP. a pox on both your houses.

[brooklyncitizen]

03:28 PM on 01/08/2009

Yeah that's convenient except that it's been the Republicans running the country into the ground.

[rabiddog6708]

01:56 PM on 01/08/2009

Fly back to your cuckoo nest, MamaBird62, and quit leaving your droppings all over this thread. Madoff's victims had it coming......you really are beyond words.....at least those that would not be allowed on this site.

[GeorgeP922]

12:04 PM on 01/08/2009

A real American hero.

If Bush was a real President he would have given THIS man the Freedom Medal and not Blair or that loser PM from Australia.

[JD2774]

11:41 AM on 01/08/2009

A truly intelligent individual who obviously, for whatever reason, epitomizes the "pit bull" description. He won't give up until he has the answers and can hopefully bring those answers to the light of day. Unfortunately as he points out, nothing was done by those in position to act until many lost billions.

[HamletsMill]

01:14 PM on 01/08/2009

Here is the link.

http://online.wsj.com/documents/Madoff_SECdocs_20081217.pdf

[OGoodGrief]

10:53 AM on 01/08/2009

Markopolis' letter to the SEC outlining Madoff's Ponzi scheme is available online. He details everything and leads the SEC by the nose through the entire fraud. Why the SEC was stupid and chose to ignore this information is beyond belief. Those from the SEC that signed off on the investigation that found no wrongdoing should be brought up on charges of some sort and at the very least, should be fired. The SEC would do well to hire Mr. Markopolis while they clean house.

[JohnFromCensornati]

11:03 AM on 01/08/2009

They aren't stupid. They are corrupt.

[wadenelson1]

11:32 AM on 01/08/2009

Amen.

This guy deserves a position at the top of the NEW SEC.

[kellygrrrl]

11:32 AM on 01/08/2009

"Stupid" would be just about the nicest way you could put it. However, it's not accurate. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they got away with it for a long time. It is dereliction of duty, imo.