Saca los colores

[poli]

Does anyone know what this may mean? I was in a headline about the
Wall Street embezzler Madoff. "Madoff saca los colores al reguladores."

[cmon]

shows his true colors? just guessing

[Rusty]

Madoff embarrasses the regulators.
Sacarle los colores = to embarrass someone

[poli]

OK.In Spanish it's: Leaves their faces pale as opposed to turns their faces red which we are more likely to use. Thank you.

[Rusty]

One of the many meanings of sacar is to bring out, so it means to bring out the colors.

[Tomisimo]

It would be interesting to know the etymology of this phrase.