Harry Markopolos, the man who unmasked Bernie Madoff, will present the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration's annual Ethics Lecture Sept. 15 at the Lied Center for Performing Art, 301 N. 12th St. The speech begins at 3:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

In his lecture, "Blowing the Whistle on Bernie Madoff: Gift Wrapping and Delivering the Truth about the Largest Ponzi Scheme Ever," Markopolos will walk listeners through the why and how of the world's largest Ponzi scheme. He testified before the U.S. Congress House Financial Services Committee's capital markets panel Feb. 4 and appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes on March 1, saying that he feared for his own and his family's safety until after Madoff's arrest. Diligence was finally rewarded when Madoff was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison.

Markopolos worked at Boston-based Rampart Investment Management Co. from 1991 through 2004, ultimately becoming its chief investment officer, and is a past president of Boston Security Analysts Society Inc. A chartered financial analyst and a certified fraud examiner, he now works as a forensic accounting analyst for attorneys who sue companies under the False Claims Act and other statutes, focusing on tips that lead to continuing investigations into medical billing, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Defense frauds. He has predicted major scandals soon to be revealed about the unregulated, $600 trillion, credit-default swap market. He said he uncovered Madoff's Ponzi scheme years earlier within 5 minutes of looking at the number of options Madoff claimed to have purchased with the number of options in existence.

Markopolos has a master's degree in finance from Boston College, and served in the Army National Guard and Army Reserves for 17 years. He is a past president of Boston Security Analysts Society. His talk is co-sponsored by the College of Business Administration and the University Program Council at UNL.