Harry Markopolos, the Bernard Madoff whistleblower, ended his testimony about an hour ago. But before he did, he fleshed out his thoughts about Madoff’s ties to organized crime.
In a remarkable moment, Markopolos even addressed the mobsters directly, arguing — in an apparent effort to convince them not to go after him — that he was protecting them Madoff’s scheme.
Here’s the exchange with Rep. Gary Ackerman:
ACKERMAN: I’m talking about, when you talk about the Russian mob and organized crime, these are people who invested through European investors or European feeder funds?
MARKOPOLOS: Correct. And I didn’t fear of them, and I didn’t think they were going to come after me, I want to make this perfectly clear to all those Russian mobsters and Latin American drug cartels out there…
ACKERMAN: You’re talking directly to them.
MARKOPOLOS: I was acting on your behalf trying to stop him from zeroing out your accounts. I’m the good guy here. Just like to make that clear.
ACKERMAN: Uh, yeah I think we registered that.
Here’s the video:
