12.22.2008

SEC enabled Wall Street grifter!

While writing about Wall Street insider Bernie Madoff, Pam Martens' latest article contains a retelling of Harry Markopolos' story. An accountant working for another investment firm, Mr. Markopolos took the time to document Madoff's fraud. He began to inform the Securities and Exchange Commission about Madoff's scam in 1999! The SEC, however, did nothing. The choice paragraph in Martens' account:

Mr. Markopolos, a private citizen, uses his personal time and energy over a seven year period to document a fraud occurring under the nose of the SEC that could impact the international reputation of the United States along with the financial well being of pensioners, university endowments, foundations and private investors. After losing track of the case for five years, the SEC finally gets around to investigating using taxpayers' monies. They come up with nothing despite being given a perfect path to follow to the fraud. And their final suggestion for dealing with the investigation is to destroy the files! With regulators like these, who needs Ponzi artists?

The SEC did file a complaint against Madoff on 12.11.2008.

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