Ten years ago, Bernard Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the biggest fraud in U.S. history, shocked the financial world. It soon emerged that a forensic accountant, Harry Markopolos, had been alerting regulators for years to Mr. Madoff’s fraud, but no one had listened. At Mr. Markopolos’s urging, the Securities and Exchange Commission created a cash-for-tips program, designed to encourage reports of financial wrongdoing and prevent the lapses in oversight that gave Mr. Madoff free rein.
Today, an entire industry is devoted to surfacing tips from company insiders and expert analysts who scrutinize corporate filings. Whistleblower Inc. is the most tangible consequence of the Madoff scandal a decade after the money manager’s Dec. 11, 2008 arrest.
via Bernie Madoff’s Legacy: Whistleblower Inc. – WSJ.
