Lurking in the background of the blossoming Madoff scandal has been the name Harry Markopolos, a money manager and investment investigator who began pushing the SEC to investigate Madoff almost a decade ago. Tonight the Journal has a lengthy article out describing Markopolos's quest and -- even more interesting -- the documents Markopolos submitted to the SEC to show that Madoff's record of consistent low-double-digit returns simply couldn't be legit. Unfortunately, it's behind their fire wall. But if you've got a subscription, definitely take a look.

Late Update: You can see Markopolos's original filing with the SEC here.