Every investor is looking for a good return. But it seems now that Bernard Madoff’s performance as an investment manager was too good to be true. A fraud of up to $50bn is alleged. That reflects badly on regulators, but badly, too, on the funds of funds that entrusted Madoff with their clients’ cash.

A regulatory backlash is certain: something went horribly wrong for a fraud on such a scale, so there will and must be blame, hand-wringing and rewritten rules, especially on the separation of front and back offices. Audit regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the funds of funds that were supposed to conduct due diligence on Madoff are only the most obvious people with questions to answer.