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Madoff Wishes SEC Had Caught Him Years Ago

Dismisses SEC bumblers who didn't know Accounting 101

By Caroline Miller,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 31, 2009 6:31 AM CDT

(Newser) – Bernie Madoff slagged the SEC in a jailhouse interview released late yesterday, dismissing a compliance examiner looking into his firm in 2006 as a "blowhard" who "talked tough, but didn't look at anything." He said uncovering his Ponzi scheme would have been a cinch if the guy had done his job and asked for records of trades, the Wall Street Journal reports. "It's very easy if you want. You must do a third-party check. It's an absolute must," Madoff said. "It's accounting 101."


The idea of a Ponzi scheme seemed never to have occurred to compliance officers, he told SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz. Madoff said he worried every time the SEC came around, and was astonished when they repeatedly dropped investigations, saying he wished he had been caught six or eight years ago. "I got myself in a terrible situation," Madoff told Kotz. "It's a nightmare."

In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York.
In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York.   (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, file)
In this Jan. 14, 2009 file photo, Bernard L. Madoff leaves Federal Court in New York.
In this Jan. 14, 2009 file photo, Bernard L. Madoff leaves Federal Court in New York.   (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson, file)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
Spudsy
Nov 1, 2009 10:37 AM CST
This is the first sign of a parole argument from Madoff. Nothing to do with his humanity.
riffran
Nov 1, 2009 8:22 AM CST
ya lost me on that one obs..??????
riffran
Nov 1, 2009 8:21 AM CST
@cochise....I have heard rumors that some real good hackers just *ahem* quietly disappear.......after getting caught actually making it in to a high security gov.t database.....either as new hire-on's or new inmates.......

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