Silence ! The Chattering Masses Don't "Need to Know"
Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 5:39AM .
These people do indeed know how to stick together ... via the NY Post.
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MADOFF WALL OF SILENCE
KEPT MUM ON FEARS
JAMES DORAN, Post Wire Services
February 15, 2009
Senior executives at some of Wall Street's biggest firms were convinced Bernard Madoff was a fraud as early as 2005 - yet none alerted authorities, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal.
[ Snip ... ]
Like Gross, Hill did not alert her superiors or regulatory authorities. She did, however, tell friends and colleagues about her suspicions.
Bud Haslett, of Write Capital Management, an investment firm, also suspected something fishy. But he told no one of his concerns.
The actions - or inaction - of the bankers is unveiled in a 700-plus-page dossier of e-mails, letters and analysis filed with the SEC by Harry Markopolos, the fraud investigator who tried to blow the whistle on Madoff for eight years.
The silence by the executives is disturbing to some, who claim a second alarm bell could have forced the SEC's hand and brought Madoff's alleged scam to an end sooner.
Markopolos told the SEC, according to the documents in the file, that he had been in contact with Gross, Hill and Haslett and that they would give evidence to the SEC so long as they were never required to speak in an official capacity.
Citigroup confirmed that Gross had been an employee but had left the bank some months ago. The company declined to comment about his views on Madoff.
A source close to Citi said Gross should not be singled out, as his views about Madoff were commonplace on Wall Street, adding that Gross did not spend much time analyzing Madoff's investment strategies.
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Reader Comments (3)
Back in'07, as a Madoff managed account client . . .
1. I called Madoff's firm and asked for the daily equity statements online, wherein I was told not available as such. Wherein I responded, "That's strange, every other brokerage firm on the Street offers it online for all segregated account holders." No response.
2. Hum . . the monthly statements came only on 1980 dot matrix printer paper, in dot matrix type. This went out with Cadillac tail fins. Strange!
3. A quick check of one monthly statement's equity buy prices showed that a few didn't match up with that day's trading range. A misprint? A typo? No way, too many of 'em.
4. Looking at the options trades on that monthly, I went back to the web and checked the options of that traded day. That day's volume could not have absorbed Madoff's total trading that, I had assumed at that time, to be totaling $10 billion of customer assets.
5. I gave instructions to liquidate my quite large account balance the very next day, wherein a check was received some three days later. I happened to need the money for another investment, and felt that this was as good a time to get it as any.
6. I never looked back. Of course, I then presumed I was most likely wrong with regard to my suspicions, as the SEC was on top of and fully regulating & reviewing Madoff's operations, as was the NASD [FINRA], and he had been operating these so many years under their review.
Well, you were smart enough to pay attention, to do some very simple and basic checking ...
You'd think the SEC would have been at least as capable ..
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