Whistle-blower says a lot of Madoff money is gone

Bernard Madoff probably had large sums of money in offshore accounts that will never be recovered, whistle-blower Harry Markopolos said at a financial conference at Boston College tonight.

Markopolos, the now-famous financial investigator who tried unsuccessfully for 10 years to alert the Securities and Exchange Commission to Madoff’s fraud, said his study tracked Madoff’s investors around the world, particularly those in ‘‘feeder funds’’ in Europe.

Beyond the well-known funds like Fairfield Greenwich, Markopolos alleged, there are probably other large investors staying below the radar so they won’t be forced to repay the gains they reaped from investing with Madoff.

The trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy case is charged with recouping as much money as possible for the convicted Ponzi artist’s victims. As part of that effort, Markopolos said, it is fair for the trustee to go after large longtime investors, who were almost certainly paid profits from the funds of other investors.

‘‘The investors who took distributions for sometimes decades took a heck of a lot more out of this than they put in,’’ he said.

Fairfield Greenwich, Markopolos said, hired three auditors in three years in what he called ‘‘a clear case of auditor shopping.’’ Fairfield Greenwich has denied any wrongdoing.

Markopolos, who cut a stern figure when he testified before Congress earlier this year, appears to have become accustomed to his new role as a celebrity speaker. He walked easily through the audience in a chartreuse suit as he spoke, making jokes about regulators, lawyers, and his own paranoia during his long investigation of Madoff.

Markopolos said he is working on a book, a documentary, and a film. ‘‘I like chasing bad guys,’’ he said. ‘‘What doesn’t kill you makes you better.’’
(By Beth Healy, Globe staff)