It seems that one of the red flags to be used as a tip-off that an investment firm isn’t on the up and up is having a small auditor. Apparently Madoff did the same thing.

This is what I don’t get: “Michael Zarich, the company’s senior investment officer, told authorities he didn’t know where 90 percent of Stanford’s portfolio was invested.” ? How does someone in that position NOT know where the money is?

I especially liked his comment; “If that (telling investors that Sanford did business with this small auditor because the larger firms wouldn’t work with him 25 years ago.) didn’t work, he said, he told clients that using a name-brand firm “would erode the yields.” LOLOLOL That’s certainly true; a real auditor would FIND OUT IT WAS A SCAM and then there would be NO yields for the scammers. :>)