Wednesday, March 03, 2010

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter

Harry Markopolos, the whistleblower who spent years banging on the door of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) trying to get them to investigate the massive Ponzi scheme going on over at Bernard Madoff's investment firm, has come out with a book telling the tale.

For those who do not remember, Madoff, a former investment advisor and stockbroker (who was also a former chairman of NASDAQ), ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

When the dust finally settled, it turned out that Madoff had wiped out more than $50 billion invested with him by successful entrepreneurs, celebrities, retirees, corporations, and philanthropic foundations.

Believe it or not, my name appears a few times ... and not as a criminal!



Well, that's laying it on a bit thick! The description of me as "tall and balding" is pure kindness. The truth is that my head is nearly as round and smooth as an Owl's egg. As for height, it is not much. I certainly did not make my high school basketball team!

As for being a world-class expert on white collar crime, that too is a bit of bit of a stretch. Yes, I suppose I know a few more things than the average man-in-the-street, but there is simply too much white collar crime in this world to do much more than survey the waterfront.

So what do I really know?

Well, I know Shakespeare said that "All that glisters is not gold."

And I know Tolkien's corollary -- "All that is gold does not glitter".

Madoff glistened.

Markopolos did not glitter.

And which one did the world buy? And what did the world regret?

That, my friends, is the entire story of this book in a nutshell. And no, I did not have much to do with it.

1 comment:

  1. Seahorse10:58 PM

    "Not all those who wander are lost..."

    I wish I could remember the exact quote, or perhaps more correctly, the exact "definition" of a whistle blower that I heard a few years ago. In a few short words it lamented the fact that though they speak the truth they are often ignored, disbelieved, scorned, ridiculed and often come to grief. No wonder whistle blowers often buckle under the weight of the Cassandra Complex.

    Seahorse

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