Not so much because Bernie was a crook ruining the lives of thousands of people, Kevin Bacon included, but because Markopolos was just so damn fed up with the idiots running the Securities and Exchange Commission. So it was kind of perfect, see, because a) Berns really did need to go down for the dirt nap and b) should there be a trial, he had the perfect out. You can blame the SEC for practically anything, you know.
[In his new book] Markopolos wields a bludgeon when it comes to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which effectively ignored his several complaints about Madoff, even after he provided the agency with detailed files of his findings. He goes into detail to describe his frustrating encounters with SEC employees, who usually didn’t understand what he was talking about. And he even places ultimate blame with the agency if anything dangerous happened to him or Madoff:
In one of the book’s most startling passages, Markopolos reveals that if he felt threatened, he was prepared to kill Madoff himself:
If he contacted me and threatened me, I was going to drive down to New York and take him out. At that point it would have come down to him or me; it was as simple as that. The government would have forced me into it by failing to do its job, and failing to protect me. In that situation I felt I had no other options. I was going to kill him.
By what means? Nothing terribly imaginative, unfortunately. Just the Smith and Wesson he was packing.
For years, Marokopolos took extra precautions, out of concern for the safety of his family. He says he lived under a death sentence, terrified that his pursuit of Madoff was putting his family in jeopardy since billions of dollars were at stake, “and apparently some of that money belonged to the Russian mafia and the drug cartels – people who would kill to protect their investments… So I wouldn’t start my car without first checking under the chassis and in the wheel wells. At night I walked away from shadows and I slept with a loaded gun nearby…”
He started carrying an lightweight Model 642 Smith and Wesson everywhere he went.
Madoff Whistleblower Book [HuffPo]
let me guess: showdown at minetta tavern?
I thought about killing him too.
-ruth
Marco Polo trying to get another 15 minutes?
lucky he hasn’t got a pilot’s license I guess
@3 too soon?
“So I wouldn’t start my car without first checking under the chassis and in the wheel wells. At night I walked away from shadows and I slept with a loaded gun nearby…”
Who is this guy James Bond minus all the pussy?
yeah but did he take it to beamers? Huh?
@7 I appreciate you.
This one time, I made hostile remarks on a financial services/gossip blog, and was threatened with unsettling comments from a gentleman. He challenged me to a fight at a local bar in Greenwich Village (I won’t name the bar). That night, I was sure he knew who I was, and this terrified me. I swore that I would take him out, before he could do the same to me.
The next evening, I left work, put on camouflage cargo pants, positioned a stick and leaf to protrude from my hat, and staked out said restaurant, waiting to ambush the enemy. After two hours, I gave up, walked into Panchitos, and ate chips/salsa instead. I finished this up with 3 Coronas and a Knicks game.
I never ran into the gentleman described above, but he terrifies me to this day.
I think that’s a .38 caliber. Might not have done the deed with Bernie:
“A size-D breast implant is being credited with saving a California woman’s life.
“The Los Angeles Times” reports a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon says the implant absorbed most of the impact of bullet fired at Lydia Carranza’s chest.”
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/weirdnews/fulltext?cid=295012
The drunk driving banker in CT with the .45 Wilson Combat 1911 had the right idea….
I don’t feel very appreciated….sad trombone :(
Given the SEC’s complete non-response to Markopolos’ excruciatingly detailed roadmap of the Madoff fraud, he had good reason to suspect that an insider at the SEC was protecting Madoff, and that said insider might well have shared with Madoff that Markopolos had been sending these roadmaps to the SEC. Madoff had a lot to lose, as did some of his sketchier large investors. If Madoff and/or some of those investors had gotten wind of Markopolos’ reports to the SEC, I’m sure one or more of them wouldn’t have hesitated to arrange an “accident” or mob hit staged to look like a home invasion or carjacking. Markopolos was smart to arm himself and become hypervigilant.
12=DE