Banks were sceptical that Mr Madoff could deliver the consistently high returns that he reported, and they were also put off by a lack of transparency at his investment firm. For these reasons, big Wall Street firms are notably absent from the long list of victims of Mr Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.Fabio Savoldelli, chief investment officer of Merrill Lynch Investment Management prior to its 2006 merger with BlackRock, sounded the warning internally years ago. One of Merrill's financial advisers, who deals with clients worth tens of millions of dollars, recalled Mr Savoldelli's suspicions of Mr Madoff's returns eight years ago. Two years ago, an internal Merrill report drawn up in connection with Merrill's European fund of funds group, concluded the group should not deal with Mr Madoff, the financial adviser said. "We had a red light on doing business with him. There was no transparency." However, a fear of alienating clients who had invested with Mr Madoff prevented many Merrill executives from voicing their concerns too loudly.
Fabio Savoldelli, chief investment officer of Merrill Lynch Investment Management prior to its 2006 merger with BlackRock, sounded the warning internally years ago. One of Merrill's financial advisers, who deals with clients worth tens of millions of dollars, recalled Mr Savoldelli's suspicions of Mr Madoff's returns eight years ago.
Two years ago, an internal Merrill report drawn up in connection with Merrill's European fund of funds group, concluded the group should not deal with Mr Madoff, the financial adviser said. "We had a red light on doing business with him. There was no transparency."
However, a fear of alienating clients who had invested with Mr Madoff prevented many Merrill executives from voicing their concerns too loudly.
