This is an Accepted Article that has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication in the Contemporary Accounting Research, but has yet to undergo copy-editing and proof correction. Please cite this article as an “Accepted Article”; doi: 10.1111/1911-3846.12039 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Article Type : Original Article The construction of a trustworthy investment opportunity: Insights from the Madoff fraud * HERVE STOLOWY, HEC Paris MARTIN MESSNER, University of Innsbruck THOMAS JEANJEAN, ESSEC Business School C. RICHARD BAKER, Adelphi University and Rouen Business School Correspondence: stolowy@hec.fr * Accepted by Yves Gendron. The authors express their gratitude to all their interview partners and, especially, to Madoff’s investors who accepted, despite their pain and often financially distressed situation, to be interviewed for this research. The authors gratefully acknowledge comments by Diane-Laure Arjaliès, Thierry Foucault, Yves Gendron (Editor), Chris Humphrey, Lambert Jerman, Nancy Leo, Sabina du Rietz, two anonymous reviewers, participants at the EAA Annual Meeting (Rome, April 2011) and AFC Annual Meeting (Montpellier, May 2011), and workshop participants at York University (October 2010), Paris Dauphine University (February 2011), the University of Manchester (February 2011) and the University of Bristol (March 2011). Responsibility for the ideas expressed, or for any errors, remains entirely with the authors. Thomas Jeanjean and Hervé Stolowy acknowledge the financial support of the European Commission (INTACCT project, contract No. MRTN- CT-2006-035850). Hervé Stolowy is a member of the GREGHEC, CNRS Unit, UMR 2959. ABSTRACT In this paper, we use the investment fraud of Bernard Madoff to inquire into the production of trust in the context of financial markets. Drawing upon empirical data related to U.S. individual investors (interviews and letters) as well as documentary material, we investigate