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No One Would Listen
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No One Would Listen

A True Financial Thriller

Harry Markopolos
Wiley, 2010
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Editorial Rating

9

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Recommendation

When Harry Markopolos began his career in the securities industry, he applied his mathematical skills to the design of investment products. In particular, his bosses wanted him to create investment instruments that competed with those offered by financier Bernie Madoff. When Markopolos found that Madoff’s results were impossible to match, he suspected that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme – not investing money, but paying each investor with cash from other investors. His suspicion led to an investigative odyssey. Markopolos and his team uncovered not only the largest financial fraud in history, but also a dangerously dysfunctional U.S. regulatory system. In this book, Markopolos recounts his frustrating, thwarted efforts to warn the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the threat Madoff posed to unwary investors. The SEC failed to respond to his detailed written evidence, though Markopolos submitted it five times, starting in 2000, long before Madoff finally confessed in 2008 (he is now serving 150 years in jail). getAbstract recommends this engrossing book to readers who want to learn more about this epic scandal and its implications for financial industry regulation.

Summary

The Biggest Financial Crime Ever

In December 2008, as Harry Markopolos prepared to bring his kids home from karate practice, he noticed several voice messages on his cellular phone. All his callers had the same shocking news: Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff, former chairman of Nasdaq, was under arrest for running a fake investment fund. His Ponzi scheme had collapsed in the wake of the global financial panic. The arrest vindicated years of Markopolos’ efforts to end Madoff’s financial ruse and to prevent investors from handing him more money.

By the time his crime spree ended, Madoff had attracted investors around the world, from major financial institutions and charitable organizations to families in the New York and Florida Jewish communities to descendants of European nobility.

His investors responded to the 2008 economic meltdown by rushing to redeem their investments with Madoff, and before long, his fake fund was empty. In the end, he stole an estimated $65 billion from investors – the largest financial fraud in history.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s lack of response and its dismissive treatment of Markopolos were as shocking as the breadth...

About the Author

Harry Markopolos is a financial fraud investigator and former securities industry executive.

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