<p> One of the most curious facets of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scandal concerns the nine-year effort by financial analyst Harry Markopolos to expose the scheme. Markopolos brought credible evidence of fraud to the Security and Exchange Commission, which never investigated the allegations. He went to the media but Forbes and the Wall Street Journal did nothing. Madoff was finally brought down by the worldwide economic collapse of 2008. When the run began on his investment house, his clients found that Madoff had already made off with their money. Many of them lost everything. </p> <p>In the documentary <em>Chasing Madoff </em>(out on DVD), writer-director Jeff Prosserman presents the material in the form of a stylized thriller. The Hollywood hook to the series of interviews he conducted with Markopolos was the man's gnawing fear of being killed for trying to expose Madoff's scheme. Only a few years earlier a financial whistleblower was found in a Boston parking lot beaten to death. Many would have blanched at putting themselves and their family at risk to expose a Wall Street criminaland even the brave ones might have finally given up the battle. Markopolos' hero's quest seems grounded in religious obligation and good citizenship, buttressed by the oath he once took as a U.S. Army officer to defend the nation “from enemies foreign and domestic.” In his eyes, Madoff was an enemy of the people. </p> <p>What's less curious than the ease by which Markopolos discovered the fraud (apparently anyone with math skills and good judgment could have spotted it) was the ease by which Madoff got away with it for so long. Did he have friends in the highest places? He couldn't have built his paper empire alone. According to the film, at least 300 Wall Street funds gladly took commissions for feeding their clients into Madoff's racket, and they may be only the most obvious nodes in the conspiracy. In the end and with nowhere to run, Madoff chose the time and manner of his confession. With much of the evidence missing, he pled guilty and never talked. Why he fell on his own sword remains a mystery. His son and one associate committed suicide, less than a dozen Wall Street brokers have been arrested and a handful of SEC regulators were allowed to resign. The rest of Madoff's mob is still out, managing the global economy. </p>
