Laying into the SEC

Harry Markopolis, the independent fraud investigator who began warning the SEC about Bernard Madoff years ago, is testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee this morning and is really letting ‘er rip. “Unfortunately, the SEC staff lacks the financial expertise,” Markopolis said. “A fraud that should have been stopped at $7 billion in 2000 has now grown to $50 billion.” The SEC “roars like a mouse and bites like a flea,” he said. He also said it’s impossible that Madoff acted alone. “He had a lot of help. A robust information technology business and people taking in money and sending out money.” Other highlights include Markopolis saying he plans on turning in an additional $1 billion Ponzi scheme on Thursday (“Hopefully they listen to me this time”) and his assertion that when he turned over a report about Madoff to then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer he feared that Spitzer was an investor with Madoff, which turned out to be true.