http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/135ae9f2-da92-11dd-8c28-000077b07658.html
Wall Street `red light' on Madoff By Henny Sender in New York Published: January 4 2009 23:31 | Last updated: January 4 2009 23:31 Large Wall Street firms privately harboured suspicions about Bernard Madoff's investment business, in some cases steering clients away from dealing with him, but were reluctant to share their concerns with regulators, according to US bankers. 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.
