No One Would Listen

No One Would Listen is the thrilling story of how the Harry Markopolos, a little-known number cruncher from a Boston equity derivatives firm, and his investigative team uncovered Bernie Madoff's scam years before it made headlines, and how they desperately tried to warn the government, the industry, and the financial press.

Page by page, Markopolos details his pursuit of the greatest financial criminal in history, and reveals the massive fraud, governmental incompetence, and criminal collusion that has changed thousands of lives forever-as well as the world's financial system.

• The only book to tell the story of Madoff's scam and the SEC's failings by those who saw both first hand
• Describes how Madoff was enabled by investors and fiduciaries alike
• Discusses how the SEC missed the red flags raised by Markopolos

Despite repeated written and verbal warnings to the SEC by Harry Markopolos, Bernie Madoff was allowed to continue his operations. No One Would Listen paints a vivid portrait of Markopolos and his determined team of financial sleuths, and what impact Madoff's scam will have on financial markets and regulation for decades to come.

Who’s Who.

Introduction.

Chapter 1. A Red Wagon in a Field of Snow.

Chapter 2. The Slot Machine That Kept Coming Up Cherries.

Chapter 3. Falling Down the Rabbit Hole.

Chapter 4. Finding More Peters (to Pay Paul).

Chapter 5. The Goddess of Justice Wears a Blindfold.

Chapter 6. Didn’t Anyone Want a Pulitzer?

Chapter 7. More Red Flags Than the Soviet Union.

Chapter 8. Closing the Biggest Barn Door in Wall Street History.

Chapter 9. Soaring Like an Eagle Surrounded by Turkeys.

Epilogue. Mr. Pinkslip Goes to Washington.

Appendix A. Madoff Tops Charts; Skeptics As How.

Appendix B. The World’s Largest Hedge Fund Is a Fraud.

Appendix C. Online Resource Guide for the Classroom and Beyond.

A Note on Sources.

About the Author.

Acknowledgments.

Index.

"... updated account of his struggle to alert authorities to Madoff's crimes." (Guardian, February 2011)

[STARRED REVIEW] Markopolos, the whistleblower who filed five unheeded complaints against Ponzi king Bernie Madoff over nine years, has produced an astonishing true-life whodunit set amidst the personalities, plots, and international intrigue of Wall Street. Having collected damning information on money manager Madoff-the respected co-founder of NASDAQ who ran the largest financial scam in history-since 1999, Markopolos's work as a chartered financial analyst and certified fraud examiner, aided by an industry journalist and two colleagues from his days as a derivatives portfolio manager, lays bare the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a tragically inept regulating agency that "didn't give a rat's ass about protecting investors," and seemed to consider Madoff "just another guy cutting some corners." Realizing he had not one but two powerful opponents-"Madoff and this nonfunctioning agency"-Markopolos refused to give up, despite fearing for his life and his family; accordingly, he transmits his team's determination and fascination in contagious detail. The hows and whys of Madoff's eventual arrest, Markopolos's subsequent appearances before Congress, and the carnival of press coverage makes a satisfying conclusion to this strange epic; Markopolos also includes complete documentation of his formal submissions to the SEC, plus his recommendations for much-needed reform at the agency. (Mar.) (PublishersWeekly.com, March 29, 2010)

"... a salutary tale and the detailed regulatory lessons offered in the epilogue deserve attention." (Financial Times, March 2010)

"... a highly readable account...." (Pensions Week, April 2010)

"... full of details about his dispiriting efforts to alert the authorities to Bernie Madoff's $65 billion fraud." (UK.Reuters.com, March 2010)

"... reads like a thriller, full of purple prose." (TimesOnline.co.uk, March 2010)

"This was easily the most exiting book I have read this year." (Actuary, September 2010)

HARRY MARKOPOLOS, a former securities industry executive turned independent financial fraud investigator, was the whistleblower who provided credible and detailed evidence several times from 2000–2008 that should have prompted an immediate investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission into Bernie Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Markopolos's investigation was assisted by his investigative team, including Frank Casey, Neil Chelo, and Michael Ocrant. The retelling of their true story was assisted by David Fisher.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"How to improve financial regulation and reduce the federal budget deficit, all in one fell swoop? Fire the SEC. Hire Harry Markopolos."
—James Grant, Grant's Interest Rate Observer

Praise for the New York Times bestselling… USA Today bestselling… Wall Street Journal bestselling…

NO ONE WOULD LISTEN

"Harry Markopolos is a hero . . . The silver lining in the Madoff collapse, if there could be such a thing, is that for at least one moment in time, the SEC has been exposed. And for his role in making that happen, Harry Markopolos deserves all of our thanks."
—From the Foreword by David Einhorn, President and founder, Greenlight Capital, author of Fooling Some of the People All of the Time

"Reading Markopolos's fascinating account of his relentless pursuit of the man behind the world's largest fraud scheme, I could not help but marvel at the resemblance to my own story. Both Markopolos and I were by turns dogged, shocked, frustrated and treated like pariahs. . . . his account is a salutary tale and the detailed regulatory lessons offered in the epilogue deserve attention. Let us hope, this time, he gets it."
—Sherron Watkins, The Enron Whistleblower, as reviewed in the Financial Times

"No One Would Listen shows what it was like to see flames when most people did not. On five separate occasions starting in 2000, Mr. Markopolos made submissions to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) about Mr. Madoff. His most detailed report, in 2005, outlined 30 reasons to suspect Mr. Madoff of being a fraud. The SEC's failure to follow up properly was horribly costly. The frustration of the outsider could not be better expressed."
—The Economist

For additional information and resources, visit www.noonewouldlisten.com