SEC failed to act on tip offs in Madoff case

Washington, February 5: Tardy, inexperienced and lacking dexterity is what can be said of the SEC officials when one listens to what Harry Markopolos has to say. Markopolos, an investment manager, had tried since the year 2000 to wake up the regulators by tipping them off about a possible fraud in the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme.

The watchdog failed to respond to the whistle-blower’s assertions only to find that Madoff laughed his way to the bank and duped thousands of innocent investors of their hard-earned money.

Markopolos termed SEC officials "too slow, too young and too under-educated" to uncover the alleged fraud. He added, "They looked at the size of Madoff and said he's a big firm and we don't attack big firms."

Madoff, 70, was finally arrested on Dec. 11 but not before his ponzi scheme transcended national boundaries. He managed to hoodwink the watchdog for a good 17 years by maintaining multiple books and by repaying old clients with the money of new clients.
Markopolos’ testimony triggered a controversy and the SEC had to face some harsh questions from the lawmakers. New York Democrat Gary Ackerman pointed a finger at the watchdog and said, "We thought the enemy was Mr. Madoff, I think it was you. You were the shield."

Meanwhile, the liquidator of Madoff's investment firm revealed that close to $950 million has been recovered so far. The realization represents merely 2 percent of the alleged fraud amount.

Madoff has reportedly lost more than $50 billion belonging to investors. If found guilty, he may have to spend the next 20 years of his life in jail and may have to cough up millions of dollars in fine. As on date though, he is out on bail.