BetaBeat – One of the reason that Bernie Madoff was able to stay undetected for so long was that he could alternatelycharm and intimidate the young SEC staffers sent to investigate his firm.
In the wake of that scandal, reports the Wall Street Journal, the SEC has developed a computer system that analyses performance from thousands of hedge funds and looks for unusually good performance year over year that, like Mr. Madoff, seem too good to be true.