Madoff Whistleblower Markopolos Speaks To 60 Minutes

Television news show 60 Minutes interviewed Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos on Sunday.

The financial analyst spent eight years trying to bring attention to the $50 billion ponzi scheme, but was repeatedly rebuffed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

He is a reluctant hero, according to the 60 Minutes interview:

"There's nothing to be proud about in this case. I feel horrible about the result. It's been a total disaster for the victims," Markopolos told 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft in the interview.

As for Markopolos' discovery of the fraud, he said:

"It took me five minutes to know that it was a fraud. It took me another almost four hours of mathematical modeling to prove that it was a fraud. "

WATCH:

Comments

[Eric8869]

11:25 PM on 03/03/2009

this whole scandal should make major changes at the SEC MANDATORY. They should make sure this never happens again.

WHY was this case closed without them investigating it. Heads need to roll - LOTS OF HEADS.

[macohmz]

08:05 PM on 03/03/2009

The Democrat and Republican parties are one party. The "Too Much to Hide" party. The whole political system is so enmeshed with Wall Street and corporations that to unravel it would expose to the world and the U.S. to just how corrupt our government really is. It would boggle the mind.

[TruEngineHearing]

03:51 PM on 03/03/2009

Except ... How can it be that Markopolos consistently mispronounced Madoff's name; calling him MADD-off rather tha MADE-off ? He never once pronounced it correctly. He's been going after the Madoff scandal for years, yet he never learned to pronounce the name correctly??? And even though interviewer Steve Kroft pronounced it correctly every time during the 60 minutes program, Markopolos was oblivious. Something is wrong with this scenario.

[TremoluxMan]

04:18 PM on 03/03/2009

He blows the whistle on a $50 billion swindle and you're worried about mispronouncing poor Bernie's name? It's nothing compared to what some of his victims have called him. Get your priorities straight. Geez.

[TruEngineHearing]

08:23 AM on 03/27/2009

How smart are you? I'm wondering why Markopolos doesn't know how to say the man's name correctly? - after years of observing the guy and hearing the name pronounced correctly. It does not make sense that he would be that dense. You on the other hand didn't even notice it, so at least you've got that going for you.

[Cynth]

08:06 PM on 03/03/2009

Yeah, you got the smoking gun....

Nevermind that Markopolos saw what was going on and put significant effort to expose Madoff in an effort to help help and maintain the integrity of the system. It's his pronunciation that's problematic.

[nobozos]

02:29 PM on 03/03/2009

The SEC needs to do some serious house cleaning.
They failed miserably in their job as consumer watchdog, and possibly some SEC should land in jail too.

[AnalyzeIT]

12:22 PM on 03/03/2009

And you have to think: Martha was sent to prison for what?

Regardless, I am glad Markopolos' is "living" to tell his story....if you know what I mean.

[ZellaBee]

04:02 PM on 03/03/2009

Astounding isn't it. I guess they had to use her as a distraction.

$50,000.00 Martha goes to jail.
$50 Billion Madoff gets to stay at home and keep $62 million.

HMMMM?

[IDIOTA]

09:44 PM on 03/03/2009

Martha was under attack in order to distract us from real scandals, some of which are in the headlines today. Banks did not suddenly become bad actors.

[brandnewstuff]

11:44 AM on 03/03/2009

Harry -- is the "True American" Obama Admin needs to award him for all he went through -

[johndab]

11:04 AM on 03/03/2009

HARRY SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN TIME MAGS "MAN OF THE YEAR"

OR AT LEAST OBAMA SHOUND APPT HIM TO CHAIRMAN OF THE SEC.

HE IS AMONGST A FEW THAT HAS ANY CREDABILITY.

[LHoney]

10:55 AM on 03/03/2009

Could someone please explain to me how the SEC could investigate this guy several times and not find out that he had NEVER BOUGHT ANYTHING! How is this possible?? I worked in a clerical job for a large bank and I could have seen this...

[Martha12]

09:37 AM on 03/03/2009

The folks at the SEC KNOWINGLY let Madoff carry on his schemes.Therefore they are compliant in Madoffs criminal activities and they should have criminal charges brought against them.

Markopolos presented them with facts over a period of years...YEARS! There is no excuse for this, it was there job to investigate.

Ask yourself this;

If your local Sheriff were brought evidence of murder, unrefutible evidence, such as Markopolos brought the SEC and ignored it what would happen?

Over a period of years the body count would pile up, all the while Markopolos continues to bring evidence begging the Sheriff to do something.

Then the lid blows off because somebody smells something terrible, comes across a pit of hundreds of thousands of rotting corpses.

People in the town recognize some missing loved ones and are so upset they start to commit suicide.

Don't you think that the Sheriff would be charged because he was compliant to the murders?

[Veritas 1]

02:43 AM on 03/03/2009

Just after the 8 minute mark is the best part of the video. It is basically Madoff telling a group of people how great the SEC is and how it is virtually impossible to get away with any crimes. It is amazing he could say that without a smirk.

[NPA]

08:28 PM on 03/02/2009

Much like the economy, consumer confidence is in the toilet! No confidence in the system so much for free markets and capitalism.

[sloreader]

07:58 PM on 03/02/2009

The SEC may be very proficient at flagging illegal transactions but Bernie avoided this potential pitfall by making no investments whatsoever. He could afford to be an SEC cheerleader because he was flying hard and fast under their radar system and it behooved him to suck up to them in so many ways.

[AngieMom57]

08:08 PM on 03/02/2009

Definition of a Criminal Mentality, this guy is textbook, his early childhood environment was marked with fraudulent activities by his own mother in the same industry.

Best therapy for him would be direct service to charity inside a prison.

[SJeffH]

07:44 AM on 03/03/2009

Other elements of prison might also provide for "therapy".

[rabiddog6708]

07:44 PM on 03/02/2009

The SEC did nothing and there were hedge fund managers who suspected Madoff and they did nothing. These people are supposed to watch over the investors' money and the SEC is supposed to keep an eye on everything. Markopolos' accusations were obviously never investigated......this in itself should be grounds for heads to roll.....I don't know if the SEC can bu sued. If they can be, there should be a class action suit by those victimized by Madoff.

[spinns17]

07:03 PM on 03/02/2009

let the market work lol.i will never put another dollar in the market again.may they all lose there jobs ,and go broke.payback

[Truelee]

04:20 PM on 03/02/2009

BushWaazees, politicians and people who supported the Bush policies and philosophy of small govt, created an environment that condoned the lack of regulation on Wall Street. Less govt regulation leads to this kind of crimes. Madoff is not the only financier using Ponzi schemes to scam investors.

[JPlum]

06:36 PM on 03/02/2009

The first time Markopolos approached the SEC was May 2000. Just remind me: who was the president at the time?

[NHGranite]

08:25 PM on 03/02/2009

Ya think the guy was busy fighting off the tse-tse flies who were so overwrought about the buzzcut he got from a page, that he couldn't focus on this? Now that we see the pterodactyls that brought down the banks like a house of cards, don'tcha hanker for the good ol' days of Bill n Hill?