Eh, somebody in their spare time figured out Bernie Madoff's scheme in the 90's and wrote them an explanation such that ignorance was no excuse. The SEC regulator marrying Madoff's daughter seems relevant.
Not to support GP's point, but he's probably referring to Shana Madoff, Bernie's niece, who was a compliance officer at the firm and married an SEC regulator. I'm not aware of any report "exposing" the Ponzi before it actually happened, but Shana met her husband during an SEC investigation into allegations of front-running by Madoff's fund.