By: E&P Staff The key "whistleblower" in the Bernard Madoff fraud case, Harry Markopolos, testified today before Congress, alleging among other things that he approached the Wall Street Journal on the story more than three years ago, and the newspaper ultimately did nothing.
A Journal reporter in Washington, John Wilke, became a "friend" and was given the scoop, and wanted to pursue the case, but was never allowed by Journal editors, Markopolos claimed.
Calls to former Journal editors Paul Steiger and Marcus Brauchli were not immediately returned.
Markopolos testified that Pat Burns, communications director at Taxpayers Against Fraud, "put me in contact with John Wilke, senior investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau. Mr. Wilke and I would become friends over the next three years.
"Unfortunately, as eager as Mr. Wilke was to investigate the Madoff story, it appears that the Wall Street Journal's editors never gave him approval to start investigating. As you will see from my extensive e-mail correspondence with him over the next several months, there were several points in time in which he was getting ready to book air travel to start the story and then would get called off at the last minute. I never determined if the senior editors at the Wall Street Journal failed to authorize this investigation."
Markopolos also said, "Unfortunately neither the Wall Street Journal nor SEC were inclined to even pick up a phone and dial any of the leads I provided to them."
Later, under questioning, Markopolos added that he believed "that senior editors of the Journal respected and feared Mr. Madoff" and wouldn't let Wilke "get on the plane" and meet with Madoff for questioning.
More, no doubt, TK.
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