How do we avoid suffering these big financial scams? Like the Bernie Madoff ripoff. People ask me that all the time.
Our regulators failed to protect us, they point out. They certainly did. They were armed with volumes of laws and regulations. They audited Madoff, and Stanford, and others who bilked investors. And they missed everything.
If the scammers outwitted the regulators, how do we stop the next group of crooks?
Maybe we could learn a lesson from something that takes place on a Dutch island in the Caribbean.
A few men with polished shoes, wearing ties and carrying brief cases walk down the street. News of their approach flies ahead of them at the speed of light. Everyone knows, these guys must be tax officials from Holland. They are the only ones who dress this way on this island of shorts and sandals.
Locals fear them because they are not local. They come from Europe. They cannot be bribed as easily as local tax officials. They don’t care if your cousin is related to a senior government official. They just want to check your books and bank records, period.
We might create the same effect by asking French security officials to do some of the work our SEC people do. We could return the favor and send our SEC guys to do the French investigations. The Brits could send officials to Germany. The Germans could send sleuths to Canada. The Canadians could check into matters in Britain.
