Harry Markopolos: "Don’t Trust Your Government"
Originally published in March 2010.
Today Show Video - Markopolos with Matt Lauer - March 2, 2010
By Larry Doyle
In an interview on the Today show this morning (video clip after the fold), Harry Markopolos dropped a few bombshells. Harry’s statement that he had purchased a gun and mentally prepared himself to kill Bernie Madoff in self-defense if need be will likely grab the most attention. It shouldn’t.
Markopolos’ biggest bombshell this morning is his warning to America, “don’t trust your government.” No surprise that Today host Matt Lauer did not probe deeper. I am not confident that other outlets will delve deeper into Harry’s statement, either. I wonder why Harry himself is reticent to specifically point out the individuals and the instances which lead him to make that statement.
Recall that a year ago Harry defined the SEC as merely incompetent while simultaneously defining FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) as ‘in bed with the industry’ that is Wall Street. Well, it does not take an advanced degree to connect Harry’s grenade toss into FINRA’s backyard a year ago with his volley this morning.
Who is the central figure coarsing across the landscape of the NASD (FINRA’s predecessor), FINRA, and now the SEC?
Mary Schapiro.
Why doesn’t Harry get very specific in making these statements?
Why doesn’t the media probe deeper?
When will Mary Schapiro be compelled to answer questions not only about her relationship with Bernie Madoff, but about her tenure at the NASD and FINRA?
At that point, would Harry think we might be able to trust our government?
I certainly would like to get answers to a whole host of questions surrounding Ms. Schapiro. What questions? As I wrote last December and repeat today, “Mary Schapiro Owes America Some Answers”:
Mary Schapiro, the current SEC Chair and formerly the head of FINRA, possesses a wealth of information on a number of topics for which America would like greater detail. What are some of these topics?
1. Did FINRA possess material, non-public information and act upon it in the liquidation of its $671 million auction-rate securities position in mid-2007 as the ARS market was failing?
2. Did FINRA invest its own funds in Bernard Madoff, as alleged in the complaint Amerivet Securities vs. FINRA.
3. What was the nature and full depth of Mary Schapiro’s relationship with Bernie Madoff? Bernie himself characterized Mary as a ‘dear friend.’
4. Did Mary Schapiro and her fellow FINRA execs lie verbally and in a proxy statement regarding the merger of the NASD with NYSE Regulation to form FINRA?
Are these some of the questions leading Harry to make his statement this morning about not trusting our government? In my opinion, they are a good start. America deserves these answers.
Jun 27, 2012 at 7:56 PM
Reader Comments (15)
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http://wallstreetwarzone.com/
10 Reasons Obama’s Failing 95 Million Investors (Plus America’s Consumers, Taxpayers, Savers, Boomers, Voters, Folks on Social Security & Many Others)!
by Paul B Farrell, JD, PhD
Share | Discuss | Print | 3/12/2010
An open letter: Dear President Obama, you are failing us. Many now question voting for you. A year ago, millions of Americans – investors, taxpayers, consumers, voters – came together uplifted by the “audacity of hope,” inspired by a vision of “Change We Can Believe In … bold and specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world.” “Yes, we can” was the rallying cheer for “The New America.” You were “The One,” the game-changer after the Bush-Cheney fiasco. What happened? Today we just don’t see, or expect to see, any real “change we can believe in.” America is more polarized than under Bush’s GOP, dysfunctional as both parties tragically undermine our great nation.
There are many reasons future historians may rate your presidency “average,” some even a “failure,” at least based on the gap between the promise a year ago and the reality today, certainly for investors. But we also know that the future—seen through a broader historical lens—will reveal a natural cycle with you cast in the predictable final scene of a Shakespearean-style plot driven by fate, the same dramatic destiny of all great nations and civilizations. We know a dark conspiracy of Wall Street, Corporate CEOs and the Forbes 400 controls Washington, limiting and manipulating you. So we know it’s not all your fault—for you are playing your role well in America’s epic historical drama.
As Shakespeare put it: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances.” As this past year unfolded it became painfully obvious you are indeed playing a role in a historic drama, along with other leaders in a staged, life-cycle, endgame conspiracy that includes Presidents Reagan, Clinton and Bush, Fed Chairmen Greenspan and Bernanke, and Wall Street’s bosses Paulson and your “Fat Cat Banker” buddies. The final scene of this Shakespearean drama is playing out this very moment, with 10 improvisational plot points driving your character’s role: (more)
http://nymag.com/news/business/wallstreet/lynn-tilton-2011-4/
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/08/17/movie_details_frustration_of_chasing_madoff_/?p1=News_links
[snip]
Now, that tale is being retold in “Chasing Madoff,’’ a documentary film scheduled for release next week in the Boston area. During lunch last week at a cafe in the Financial District to talk about the movie, Markopolos seemed at ease, happy - especially in comparison with last year’s “Daily Show’’ interview. Back then, he still came across as a grim, bookish former Boston securities analyst, right down to the salmon-colored necktie that flopped down on Jon Stewart’s desk.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817
[snip]
A whistleblower claims that over the past two decades, the agency has destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals.
Mukasey Declines to Create a U.S. Task Force to Investigate Mortgage Fraud
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/business/06justice.html
and this:
Mukasey Recuses Himself in Madoff Probe
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/mukasey_recuses_himself_in_madoff_probe/
Mr. Markopolis' words should be heeded. Do not trust them about anything.
We need to look back at who was on the fraud task force, in particular, where energy is concerned and who is doing what now, especially in the energy sector...
Stay tuned for my next edition of 'the project'.