The Wizard of Lies Page #7

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you steal from Elie Wiesel,

a Holocaust survivor.

You prey

on your own people.

You steal

from your own people.

Have you no shame!?

- Huh?

- Well, we're still here.

Mr. Markopolos,

it's all yours.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My team and I tried our best

to get the SEC to investigate

and shut down

the Madoff Ponzi scheme

with repeated and credible

warnings to the SEC

that started in May 2000.

- We knew that...

- Ruth.

What?

You wanna watch this

Harry guy's testimony?

Who?

Harry... I don't know,

I can't pronounce it.

What's he testifying about?

Me.

...over a nine-year

time span.

If a $50-billion

Ponzi scheme

doesn't make

the SEC's priority list,

then I wanna know

who sets their priorities.

What made you think that

Bernie Madoff was a fraud?

The key tip-off... and it took

me about five minutes

to figure out that

he was a fraud...

I'm gonna give you a hand

signal and I'm gonna show you

what his performance

return line looked like.

It went in only

one direction... up.

It never had variation

like the market does

like this, but then I did...

- Who is this guy?

- He tried to warn the SEC about me.

- And what happened?

- They ignored his warnings.

- So what's the point?

- What do mean what's the point?

Well, what's the point

of all this?

Well, he's saying

that basically,

he handed the SEC

the evidence

and they didn't

follow up on it.

Oh, so a government agency

is incompetent.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah, and that's news?

No, look, I've been

saying that for years.

and I have

firsthand knowledge.

This f***ing cocksucker walks

in and out of the building

with this jacket on.

What the f***

is wrong with him?

Bern, the guy's asking

for our DTC account number.

What are we gonna do?

I mean, all my years

dealing with the SEC,

I've never seen

this enforcement.

Who the f*** does this

guy think he is?

Boss, if we don't

give the guy the number,

it's gonna be obvious that

we're hiding something.

Yeah, but the way he just

f***ing walks in here like that,

no f***ing suit or nothing.

- No, I know.

- What kind of f***ing arrogance?

The jacket's annoying,

but, Bern, please focus.

If we do give it to him,

uh, one call to the DTC

and that's it.

Game over.

We're just here

for a routine exam.

We haven't done one

in 10 years.

- You were just here.

- Uh, we... we weren't.

- DC Inspections was.

- We don't talk to DC.

So, tell me

about this article.

Yeah, I was very

bothered by this.

I mean, why would

they make me look fat?

Excuse me?

I mean,

look at my face.

Look at my cheeks.

I look like a f***ing porpoise.

Well, um, yes, but I'm referring

to the allegations.

What about it? Lori Richards

has all this information.

I sent it to her in a file.

They have it.

As I told you, we're a

very large organization.

- We don't talk to each other.

- You don't talk to DC?

No.

It... it's, uh...

This is the problem

with the SEC.

I've been saying this

for years.

I mean, you have to have

better communication.

How are you supposed

to be able to do your job

with a fraction

of the information?

Well, we're trying to get

all of the information.

Well, don't you think you should

start by talking to DC?

I mean, I got...

my whole office here

is wondering

what's happening.

You come in

with that jacket,

it embarrasses the hell

out of all of us.

And this?

It's a f***ing cartoon.

It's an old article.

It's four years old.

And you're asking me questions

about an old article

with a silly cartoon?

And you haven't spoken to DC.

Are we, um... are we waiting

on your lawyers?

I never have lawyers

in the office

when I'm talking to regulators

for two reasons.

One, I'm not doing

anything wrong.

Two, I know the rules

better than most

because I drafted

a majority of them.

And we haven't

met before,

but we have very strong

relationships.

And I was on the short list

for SEC director.

Yes, we...

we know that.

If you need anything at all,

I'll be in my office.

There's no such thing

as an inconvenience.

- Thanks.

- I'm here.

Oh, um,

by the way, are these securities

with the DTC?

- Of course. - We're gonna

need your account number

just so we can

verify the assets.

Oh, Bern, you're

f***ing killing me.

Great, thank you.

Do you mind if you take

that jacket off

before you go

out there?

- Oh, um...

- Just...

Sure.

One call.

All the SEC had to do

was make one call

and they would've seen

that everything was fake,

that there was

nothing there.

But they never called.

You just gambled

that they wouldn't call?

It was more than a gamble.

It was...

it was a leap of faith,

if you will.

You wait,

knowing what they will find

if they make that call.

I can't imagine

what that was like.

It was... it was

excruciatingly difficult.

At some point,

you figured...

I figured that they

didn't do it.

They just didn't

follow up on it.

If you didn't plan

on killing yourself

or going into hiding,

how did you think

it would end?

Well, it was

almost like, uh...

it sounds horrible

to say it now...

but I just wanted the whole

world to come to an end.

When 9-11 happened,

I thought this was

the only way out.

The world would come

to an end, I'd be dead,

and everybody

would be gone.

But, I mean,

I could've kept it going.

I could've

covered everything.

Even after the fall of '08,

I had enough commitments of

cash that would've come in.

So I could've,

you know... I, I...

I just got tired.

I knew by Thanksgiving

I was gonna give it up.

I was gonna stop.

Financial turmoil in the US.

Wall Street in crisis mode.

Wall Street on red alert.

Bear Stearns has

effectively gone under.

The largest bankruptcy

in US history.

- Unprecedented. - This is really

shaking the foundation of Wall Street.

A lot of money

and a lot of jobs.

America's economy is facing

unprecedented challenges.

All of this taking

a devastating toll on stocks.

Single biggest

point drop ever.

I'm sorry to bother you.

I just got another call

you're gonna f***ing love.

- Yeah, go ahead.

- Bank Medici's

pulling out

450 million, Bern.

Stanley Chais has been draining

us all goddamn year,

and this is on top

of Fairfield's withdrawals.

I delivered for these f***ing

people for f***ing decades

and now they're all running

for the f***ing hills.

Bern, we can't keep getting

hit with these redemptions.

We gotta find

a way to conserve.

I think we should

lower the returns.

Are you kidding?

That'll cause a bigger panic.

They'll all pull out, the greedy fucks.

We can't do that.

Well, we gotta

do something.

We're treading water like

a f***ing paraplegic here.

- I was just saying...

- Hold on, let me get rid of this idiot.

...the joke on the street is that

Bernie's like the Jewish T-bill.

- Very funny. I'm on the phone.

I'm on the phone. - He's that safe.

I'm on the phone.

I'll introduce you guys later.

He's gonna love you.

See if you can rattle

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