Harry Markolpolos Submits 21-Page Memo to SEC Concluding that Bernard Madoff Hedge Fund is a Fraud

Despite no action from the SEC since he first began writing them memos in 2000, this one (PDF) details more than two-dozen red flags about Madoff and is titled, "The World's Biggest Hedge Fund is a Fraud."

"When he wrote that letter and I read it, I said: 'Oh my God, they're going to be on this. ... You're giving them everything," recalls Markopolos'former colleague Frank Casey.

And by now, the fall of 2005, there were other letters being sent to the SEC about Madoff.

The culmination of his analysis was a memo Markopolos sent to regulators in 2005 that he titled "The World's Largest Hedge Fund Is a Fraud." It outlined his suspicions in more detail and invited officials to check his theories.

"I felt like I was an army of one," Markopolos said recently. "I was a $50 billion failure. I wasn't good enough or smart enough to outmaneuver the SEC, the press wasn't listening to me, and I had no other avenue."