No One Would Listen

By Harry Markopolos Copyright 2010

The author of this book, Harry Markopolos, is the investigator who discovered Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme many years before it became public knowledge. In this book he tells the story of how he informed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of his suspicions, long before the ponzi investment fund collapsed. However, the SEC never took Mr. Markopolos or his complaints seriously.

The SEC's handling of Mr. Markopolos' complaint highlights some very severe deficiencies in the SEC's structure and staff competence. Although after reading this book, readers may have some sympathy toward the SEC, because Mr. Markopolos seems a bit eccentric. He seems to enjoy drama and cloak and dagger theatrics. At some points in the story it is rather difficult to take him entirely seriously. There is also the fact that Mr. Markopolos is a "bounty hunter" and was attempting to make a living under the "False Claims Act," which rewards people who report frauds to the government. So Mr. Markopolos had a financial motive, which may have indicated to the SEC an attempt to get them to go on a "fishing expedition" in hopes of uncovering some fraud.

Prior to becoming a fraud investigator, Mr. Markopolos worked for an investment firm that designed complex investments. His superiors had requested he design an investment fund that could duplicate Bernie Madoff's returns. Madoff had delivered consistently good returns to his investors month-after-month and year-after-year and he virtually never lost money.

Mr. Markopolos studied and learned about Madoff's fund, and while doing this research discovered it was impossible to achieve the returns Madoff claimed he was earning. So Mr. Markopolos decided Madoff must be operating a ponzi scheme. He also thought it was possible Madoff might have been using inside information to earn his extraordinary returns. The interesting fact is that some of Mr. Madoff's other investors also apparently suspected that Bernie Madoff was achieving great returns with insider trading, however they were not concerned about it. But only Markopolos seems to have recognized that Madoff was operating a ponzi scheme.

Mr. Markopolos had a friend within the SEC's Boston office who helped him submit his report and meet with SEC investigators. Mr. Markopolos presented his information to the investigators but they obviously didn't understand it. They apparently didn't have the technical skills or curiosity to pursue it very aggressively. In fact some of the SEC investigators visited Madoff's office, but they didn't visit the correct division of the organization. Which is another clue that they didn't understand the complaint.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is what it reveals about the personality of Harry Markopolos, and how his personality may have affected the SEC's reaction and treatment of his complaint. It is fair to categorize his personality as eccentric and theatrical, which may have caused the SEC to more easily dismiss his complaint as the imaginings of an unreliable person. Even though the technical evidence, if it had been studied and tested, would have proved the credibility of his complaint.

Based on the stories in this book, Mr. Markopolos seems to love adventure, danger, spies, intrigue, David and Goliath situations, and morality tales. He tells how he feared that gangsters had invested with Madoff and they might try to kill anyone who tried to expose the fraud. So Markopolos would check his car for bombs before he would start it, and he carried a gun. Most people would be extremely frightened if they thought someone was trying to kill them, but Markopolos seems to have relished the idea. In addition, he was in the Army Reserves for 17 years as an intelligence officer, which presumably means he enjoys playing war games and wearing a uniform. He also exhibits a strangely exaggerated loyalty to his friends. For example, he defends his friend who works in the SEC's Boston office, but readers will likely suspect the Boston employee could have done more to raise the awareness of the issues being reported.

SEC investigators probably perceived Mr. Markopolos' personality quirks and decided he shouldn't be taken too seriously. Unfortunately they should have taken his complaint seriously because it would have helped avoid a lot of financial turmoil.

Mr. Markopolos is basically a likable character and has an interesting story to tell, which makes this an interesting book. On the negative side, the story is rather long and over dramatic, but on balance this book is worthwhile reading.

Honeymoon in Tehran

By Azadeh Moaveni Copyright 2009

The author of this book is an American of Iranian descent, and she is a writer for Time magazine. Her parents left Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979. She decided to visit Iran in the early 2000's and wrote a book called Lipstick Jihad. That book was (apparently) about young Iranians and their efforts to reform the country. After writing Lipstick Jihad, she returned to the United States.

This book, Honeymoon in Tehran, is about her return to Iran. This time she falls in love and gets married and has a baby. Her husband is from a wealthy family and they lived in North Tehran, which is the wealthier part of the city where the more educated people live. So her reporting about life in Iran generally doesn't seem to relate to the typical Iranian. Instead, her reports are about the life of westernized Iranians in Tehran who are educated and own property.

During her second stay in Iran, the politician Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of the country. He represented a return to a more militant and harsh form of fundamentalist Islam. His followers eventually began to crack down on secularist who wouldn't follow fundamentalist Muslim rules. Ms. Moaveni is a secularist and was intimidated by the crack down. At the end of the book she leaves the country with her husband and baby to live in London.

Her story covers many aspects of life in Iran. Among them are stories about how young people socialize and date and the structure of families, Iranian social class distinctions, dress requirements of women, including the requirement to always wear a headscarf in public, housing and living arrangements, food and entertainment, medical care, Internet access and satellite television, education, marriages and weddings, religion, Islam, pre-Islam religion in Persia, and Persian history and literature.

All these topics are covered in the context of her meeting, dating, and marrying her husband and having a baby. Along the way she discusses her status as a foreign journalist and her relationship with the government official who monitored her activities. She also discusses her American relatives, their stories, and their reaction to her decision to live in Iran.

This book is very interesting, but the story and the writing are too "wordy". About half the text could be eliminated without any loss to the story or details. The author tends to verbalize every feeling and thought in her head. She doesn't appreciate that once an idea is communicated there is really no need to keep repeating the same idea using alternative wording.

Another problem with the book is that Ms. Moaveni seems a slightly foolish woman. She reports how her family and friends warned her that living and marrying in Iran was a bad idea, but she ignored their advice. She wanted to believe that the country was on the cusp of being reborn as a free and modern society. It took her two years and 350 pages to realize that it's not happening yet and that she prefers living in a democratic country with more political freedoms. No duh!

However, this book is worthwhile reading, but an abridged version of it would be better.