FEATURES >>
THE VINDICATION OF NEIL CHELO
BY MARY K. PRATT
a tenacious effort to prove the case with federal officials. The initial response to their evidence provided a title for the book that he and Markopolos would later write: No One Would Listen. “It was amazing,” observes Chelo. “The SEC just blew us off.” Amid shock, frustration and disbelief, the pair persevered in bringing the truth to light. Their vindication came with Madoff’s arrest, in December 2008.
“I feel very proud of what we did,” says Chelo, now director of research at Benchmark Plus Management in Tacoma, Wash. “We not only highlighted a bad person who eventually got caught, but there were real changes in the law that are beneficial for everybody.” He points specifically to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program. Created in 2010 as part of the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, it establishes a formal process
20 | SPRING 2016
35385-16_MC.504.15 Bentley Mag_Spring16_UPDATE_TEXT_3.25.16 V2.indd 20
3/31/16 9:30 AM
PHOTO CREDIT FOR BOOK: WILEY
“I did an interview with one of the Madoff guys and summarized the phone call that way,” says Chelo, a finance professional who spoke with numerous Madoff colleagues and investors while collecting evidence of the fraud. He and Harry Markopolos discovered the scam when they were colleagues at Bostonbased Rampart Investment Management. When their own analysis showed that no one could honestly deliver the financial returns that Madoff was producing, the two began
PHOTO BY KEVIN CRUFF
“I am convinced more than ever that these guys are a fraud.” Neil Chelo ’93, MSF ’00 made that assessment after years of research — but well before Bernie Madoff’s arrest and conviction for running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.