Harry Markopolos

Harry Markopolos, a financial analyst and former portfolio manager, submitted detailed reports to the SEC beginning in 1999 documenting mathematical evidence that Bernard Madoff's investment returns were statistically impossible — consistent only with a Ponzi scheme. The SEC failed to investigate adequately, and Madoff's $65 billion fraud continued until it collapsed in December 2008. Markopolos's book "No One Would Listen" (2010) documents the nine years he spent trying to expose the fraud. He now works as an independent fraud investigator and has exposed other alleged frauds. His analysis of Madoff's strategy — supposedly a split-strike conversion — showed that the volume of options trades required to support the reported returns exceeded the total available market for those options, an impossibility that SEC examiners failed to pursue. His case became a landmark example of regulatory failure and whistleblower persistence. He has since testified before Congress about SEC reform and has worked with law enforcement on financial fraud investigations. His whistleblower experience contributed to the stronger SEC whistleblower reward program established under Dodd-Frank in 2010, which now provides significant financial incentives for reporting securities fraud.