'No One Would Listen' to Harry Markopolos- Including the Media

James Picerno submits: Harry Markopolos spent nearly a decade telling the Securities and Exchange Commission that Bernie Madoff's returns were too good to be true. The SEC more or less ignored Markopolos, a securities analyst and forensic accountant. The greatest Ponzi scheme in history, as a result, rolled on for years, ultimately stealing billions of dollars from investors, large and small, before it all came crashing down in 2008.

By Philip Mause: Unlike the party atmosphere which pervaded the iconic movie, "Weekend at Bernie's", the end of the month atmosphere in Bernie Madoff's office was probably hectic and grim as a small group of dedicated insiders labored to generate bogus trading records justifying that month's predetermined positive return. The story of how all of this came to be is fascinating, revealing and ultimately disillusioning.

David Merkel submits:

The 11-count criminal complaint against Bernie Madoff is a satisfactory document on one level, because it is now very obvious that the shtunk is going to jail for the rest of his life. Hopefully prosecutors will get Madoff thrown immediately in the can when he pleads guilty tomorrow, so that the spectacle of his "penthouse confinement" will come to an end.

Gary Weiss submits: The always-entertaining Overstock.com (OSTK) has an unconventional (and unintentionally humorous) "risk factor" in the