"From Madoff tipster to film star" August 17, 2011|By Mark Pothier, Globe Staff
By the time he made it to “The Daily Show’’ in March 2010, whistle-blower Harry Markopolos looked like one more Bernie Madoff victim. The man who saw through the super-swindler years earlier - but couldn’t persuade regulators to act - appeared cynical, weary, and perhaps a bit paranoid.
Sixteen months after Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme imploded in 2008, Markopolos was grinding through a media tour to promote “No One Would Listen,’’ his book about the frustrating effort to catch a thief.
Now, that tale is being retold in “Chasing Madoff,’’ a documentary film scheduled for release next week in the Boston area. During lunch last week at a cafe in the Financial District to talk about the movie, Markopolos seemed at ease, happy - especially in comparison with last year’s “Daily Show’’ interview. Back then, he still came across as a grim, bookish former Boston securities analyst, right down to the salmon-colored necktie that flopped down on Jon Stewart’s desk.
“You are an angry dude!’’ Stewart said after one exchange.
“I am so angry,’’ Markopolos replied. “I can’t tell you how angry I am.’’
Who could blame him? He spent most of a decade trying to get an ineffectual Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Madoff. In the end, however, it was Wall Street’s collapse that rooted out the phony hedge-fund manager - unable to sustain the ruse when investors scrambled to grab their cash....
“Chasing Madoff,’’ directed by Jeff Prosserman, and opening here Aug. 26, is a necessary “dumbing down’’ of a complicated subject, according to Markopolos. “It’s the Reader’s Digest version.’’ Scenes that stretch out for pages in “No One Would Listen’’ become rapid-fire episodes to speed the narrative. He is satisfied with the finished product, but as with his pursuit of Madoff, getting there proved a grind....
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