By Nicole Powers

Harry Markopolos has a way with numbers. It’s this innate ability that led him to uncover Bernie Madoff’s epic Ponzi scheme almost a decade before market forces ultimately leveraged a confession out of the spectacularly crooked investment fund manager.

In 1999, while working as a portfolio manager at Rampart, a Boston based investment management company, Markopolos had been asked to reverse engineer a fund offered by Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC so his firm could compete by offering a similar product. After studying Madoff’s marketing material for a mere 5 minutes, Markopolos realized that the results the fund claimed to achieve were highly improbable, a further 4 hours of mathematical modeling proved the stated returns were categorically impossible by legal means.

Smelling a rat, Markopolos assembled an informal investigative team to probe Madoff’s operation further. In May 2000, when Madoff’s scheme was only a $3 to $7 billion fraud, they submitted their first whistleblowing report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was summarily ignored. Frustrated but undeterred, Markopolos’ tenacious group, dubbed The Foxhounds, submitted numerous subsequent memos (in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008) offering even more evidence, to no avail. A 2005 missive had what one might consider to be an attention-grabbing title -“The World’s Largest Hedge Fund Is A Fraud” – but even this failed to get an appropriate response from those charged with policing Wall Street.

It was only following the crash of 2008, when Madoff’s investors were clamoring to liquidate their assets and he was unable to meet their demands, that the man responsible for the largest act of financial fraud in world history was forced to fess up. By then, Madoff’s “fund” had grown on paper to a value of $65 billion. In the following days, the complete and utter failure of the SEC came to light, as press outlets – who had also been alerted by Markopolos, but by and large had declined to report his findings before Madoff’s arrest – competed to interview the “Madoff whistleblower.” With egg on their faces, the government also sought out Markopolos’ knowledge and expertise, and on February 4, 2009 he delivered some riveting televised testimony in front of the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Subcommittee.

In March 2010, Markopolos published a book chronicling his investigations into Madoff and the utter incompetence he bore witness to during his dealings with the SEC. Called No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller, it became a New York Times bestseller. A new film, Chasing Madoff, based on the book is currently in cinemas. SuicideGirls caught up with Markopolos, who now works as a freelance investigative accountant exposing Fortune 500 wrongdoing, to talk about Madoff and the current state of play in our financial markets. We also asked him to focus his considerable financial acumen our nation’s balance sheet and assess the future prospects of our economy. Given Markopolos’ track record, his conclusions about America’s should-be junk status are indeed cause for concern, if not outright alarm.

Read our exclusive interview with Harry Markopolos on SuicideGirls.com.

By Fred Topel

Britt Robertson is starring on a new show, The Secret Circle. Based on the books by The Vampire Diaries’ L.J. Smith and produced by Kevin Williamson, who also worked on the vampiric show, Secret Circle already has a bewitching fan base before it’s even on air. Last week Robertson was driving to the set at 3 PM for an evening shoot. She had a new movie opening and wanted to get the word out, so through the crackle of her cell phone we got an interview.

The Family Tree is an edgy indie dramedy about the Burnett family. Robertson plays Kelly Burnett, a provocative teenager who uses profanity to push her mother’s buttons. She even takes off her shirt at the breakfast table, though classily this scene is filmed from behind. Mrs. Burnett has an accident that gives her amnesia, so while the family deals with that drama, Kelly also gets involved with a fellow student and teacher’s secret relationship.

Robertson has been playing teenagers for some time, even though she’s now 21. She’s got one of those faces that still passes for 16, which can be an asset in casting calls. Her most visible role has been as Lux Cassidy on The CW’s drama Life Unexpected, which lasted two years. She also had a cameo in this year’s Scream 4.

On The Secret Circle, she plays Cassie Blake, who moves to the town of Chance Harbor after her mom’s death. There, the children of the other five witch families try to expose her to the secret past from which her mother always tried to protect her. Five episodes into her new show, this is still a new world for Robertson, so after discussing her new movie we caught up on the witchcraft of The Secret Circle.

Read our exclusive interview with Britt Robertson on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

This October 18th a number of SuicideGirls will be appearing on an episode of CSI: NY. This kind of acceptance from such a mainstream narrative television series on a major network truly proves that SuicideGirls has become a significant part of pop culture. The episode truly focuses on the positive aspects of SuicideGirls. They aren’t just in the background while the main characters are showcased. The SuicideGirls are integral to the storyline which makes for a very unique and exciting episode. I had a chance to talk with the creator of all the CSI shows, Anthony E. Zuiker.

Read our exclusive interview with Anthony E. Zuiker on SuicideGirls.com.

by Steven-Elliot Altman (SG Member: Steven_Altman)

Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World…

By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.

Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.

When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.

(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see parts ONE, TWO, THREE, and FOUR – then continue reading after the jump…)

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by Blogbot

This Sunday, September 4th, SG Radio’s in-studio guests will be Bravo TV’s Millionaire Matchmakers, Destin Pfaff and Rachel Federoff. Now in its 5th season, the highly addictive reality show follows the romance fortunes of members of the infamous Millionaire’s Club, a Los Angeles-based matchmaking service strictly for those with extremely desirable bank balances (this last week’s ‘The Prince and The Geek’ episode was a classic!). Destin and Rachel will be offering up dating advice worth its weigh in gold, and will also be talking about Destin’s new movie, Sushi Girl (which he co-produced and co-wrote –– see trailer), a killer thriller which stars Sonny Chiba (Street Fighter), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Noah Hathaway (Neverending Story), and newcomer Cortney Palm in the title role.

Tune in to SG Radio this Sunday September 4th (10 PM til midnight) for two hours of dating advice and movie talk – and don’t let your moma listen in!

Listen to SG Radio live Sunday night from 10 PM til Midnight on Indie1031.com

Got questions? Then dial our studio hotline digits this Sunday between 10 PM and midnight PST: 877-900-1031

Busy on Sunday? Then find all our podcasts on iTunes and listen at your leisure.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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by Daniel Robert Epstein

It was truly an honor to get to talk with Chi Cheng of the Deftones. I have been a fan of theirs for many years. The Deftones may be hanging out with the kids on the Family Values Tour, but that hasn’’t made them any less awesome.

Read our exclusive interview with Chi Cheng of the Deftones on SuicideGirls.com.

By Damon Martin

It’s a known fact that outside of some Ewok problems in Return of the Jedi, the original Star Wars series was always thought of by nerds, geeks and fans alike as the perfect movie trilogy.

A great set up and beginning with Star Wars IV: A New Hope to the ultimate downer ending with The Empire Strikes Back, all the way to Darth Vader’s redemption in Return of the Jedi.

Well, creator George Lucas apparently can’t learn to just leave well alone. As if he hadn’t altered the Star Wars universe enough with past revisions when the trilogy was re-released in theaters a few years back, not to mention the prequel trilogy, he’s gone and messed with perfection once again.

With the Star Wars films set to be released on Blu-Ray on Sept 16, Lucas has made what seems like a minor change that pretty much every fan boy and girl will react with harsh criticism, no doubt along similar lines to this article.

In the final scenes – where Emperor Palpatine is electrocuting Luke Skywalker, and his father turned evil minion Darth Vader finally steps back into daddy mode, lifting his boss over his head and tossing him down a giant well –– will now include one extra part.

Like Wyatt Earp in the film Tombstone, Vader will now bellow out the word ‘Noooo!’ just as he lifts the Emperor in the air and tosses him to his final grave. The addition echoes the final scenes in Revenge of the Sith where Vader first takes form and screams a smililar ‘Noooo!’ when he finds out his lovely Padme is no more.

It’s one thing to add to Vader’s humanity, but when it’s as cheesy as the scene looks and sounds now, the world’s ultimate badass loses just a bit of his luster.

Check out the scene and see if you say “Yes, George Lucas should have absolutely added this in, it’s vital.” Or if you just wanted to scream ‘Noooo!‘