I received another free book to review a couple of months ago. This was one I was excited about and finally found the time to read it while on vacation last week. No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller is the story of Harry Markopolos’ attempt to bring down Bernie Madoff for years before Madoff’s Ponzi scheme imploded. I was excited to read Markopolos’ account of this story, not just because he’s a fellow Greek, but because I remembered seeing him testify in front of Congress and was impressed with his knowledge of the Madoff.
The book did not disappoint. I didn’t really know what to expect going in. I had already started reading Erin Arvedlund’s book on the same topic from a different viewpoint and got bored with it and feared Markopolos’ book would be similar. (I’ll write a review on the other book whenever I get back to it, if I do.) Instead Markopolos was able to hold my attention throughout the book. It feels like an autobiography of himself as much as a historical report on the ineptitude of the SEC. Markopolos is an admitted nerd and it shows through in his stories and attempts at humor. He comes across as an extremely intelligent, very likeable guy which is probably why this book works so well while covering what some would consider a dry topic.
As much as he gets into the details of each of his multiple submissions to the SEC pointing out the red flags and impossibilities of the Madoff being legit, Markopolos manages to hold the reader’s attention. You can feel his anxiety as he continues to push the SEC and they fail to react. (I felt the additional anxiety from the publisher who nagged me weekly for the past month to get this review posted.) Since Markopolos and his team first identified the fraud so long ago he’s able to give a highly detailed account of their first-hand research and struggles to topple Madoff, even though there was no financial reward in it for them other than bringing down the competition.
Markopolos explains how Madoff sold his the numbers and strategy behind spectacular performance to potential investors. It’s basic math for readers of this blog who understand options even slightly, but yet the SEC still didn’t get it while it’s their job to stop schemes like this. Amazon is selling No One Would Listen for $15 which is well worth the fascinating read of the investigation of a once in a lifetime fraud and how Madoff got away with it for so long.