The fall of Bernard Madoff and the beginning of the end of Cargo Cult Multiculturalis

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2013/10/30/former-madoff-trader-says-co-workers-helped-in-fraud/

Former Madoff trader says co-workers helped in fraud
By Rich Calder
October 30, 2013 | 6:01pm

A former supervisory trader for Bernie Madoff who pleaded guilty to committing securities and mortgage fraud told a Manhattan jury on Wednesday that he had a lot of help — fingering not only his imprisoned ex-boss, but two other co-workers who are on trial for profiting from the epic $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Cooperating government witness David Kugel testified in Manhattan federal court that he was aided in committing securities fraud by “others,” including former Madoff secretary Annette Bongiorno and office worker Joann Crupi.

When asked by Assistant US Attorney Matthew Schwartz if he also had help committing mortgage fraud, the 68-year-old Kugel again threw Crupi under the bus saying she, Madoff and “others” assisted him in breaking the law. He didn’t mention Bongiorno this time.

Kugel testified only briefly before Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the jury until Thursday morning, when the witness is expected to offer more vivid details of how business was conducted for decades under the radar at Madoff Securities.

His testimony is the first real strike by the government in the trial against Bongiorno, Crupi and three other ex-Madoff workers for fraud.

Kugel pleaded guilty in November 2011 to boosting the fraud by creating phony backdated trades beginning in the early 1970s and continuing until Madoff’s empire was busted by the feds in December 2008. His son, Craig Kugel, who worked in human resources for Madoff, has also pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2013/11/05/madoff-trader-believed-company-would-survive/

Madoff trader believed company would survive
By Josh Saul
November 5, 2013 | 5:38pm

Sure, it was a Ponzi scheme — but at least it was built on solid investments.

A shady Madoff trader who admitted he knew the firm’s dealings weren’t “kosher” testified Tuesday that he always remained confident in the company’s solvency.

Former Madoff supervisory trader David Kugel, 68, noted that Ponzi villain Bernie Madoff bought into stable investments such shopping centers, avoided rocketing Internet companies and was a wealthy man with interests in a foreign bank.

“Shopping centers gave you more confidence in Mr. Madoff and his firm?” defense lawyer Roland Riopelle asked Kugel in Manhattan Federal Court.

“Yes,” Kugel replied, adding, “We stayed away from the crazy Internet stocks.”

The cooperating government witness was testifying against five ex-Madoff staffers on trial.

When asked, “You were confident Madoff Securities wouldn’t go up in smoke over some crazy debt?” Kugel answered, “I had confidence, yes.’’

Kugel also said he believed that the sketchy firm could survive any roadblocks because Madoff handled high-profile clients such as Sandy Koufax and Fred Wilpon and the firm had withstood SEC audits.

“You were shocked when it all went up in smoke, right?” Riopelle asked.

“I was in shock,” Kugel answered.

The Madoff Securities veteran testified last week that Madoff had uneven math skills, noting, “He had trouble with long division.”

Kugel will continue his testimony Wednesday.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2013/11/13/ex-madoff-accountant-fingers-ponzi-honcho/

Ex-Madoff accountant fingers ‘Ponzi’ honcho
By Rich Calder
November 13, 2013 | 6:06am

David Friehling (here in 2009) testified in court Tuesday.

A former accountant for Bernie Madoff who pleaded guilty to rubber- stamping the Ponzi villain’s fake books to fool the IRS and state auditors told a Manhattan jury on Tuesday that he had plenty of help from Madoff’s ex-operations chief.

Accountant David Frieh*ling pointed a finger at Daniel Bonventre, one of five ex-Madoff staffers on trial in Manhattan federal court for allegedly profiting from the epic fraud.

He told jurors how Bonventre routinely supplied him — under Madoff’s directive — with falsified general ledgers and gross- receipt numbers so that he could provide state and federal auditors with fake earnings.

For instance, Friehling used the false information to tell auditors Madoff’s company reported $1.1 million in losses for 2002 when it actually saw a $27 million profit.

Friehling, who pleaded guilty in 2009, also testified that he, his children and many other family members lost $4.3 million investing with Madoff.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2013/12/05/madoff-loved-schtupping-clients-witness/

Madoff was ‘schtupping’ clients on holidays: witness
By Antonio Antenucci
December 5, 2013 | 8:25pm

Bernie Madoff was so good at screwing his clients that he had a special name for making them feel good about their bogus accounts during the holiday season: “schtupping.”

Frank DiPascali, a former Madoff top lieutenant turned star government witness, testified in Manhattan federal court that the firm used the term to describe fake trades entered between Christmas and New Year’s to falsely boost profits for some of Ponzi villian’s wealthiest clients. The process also referred to creating fake losses to help client’s reduce their tax liabilities.

The term is a misspelling of “schtup,” a Yiddish word for sexual intercourse.

DiPascali told the jury that former accounts manager Joann Crupi, one of five ex-Madoff honchos on trial, asked him to do some “schtupping” on her investment advisory account with the firm in 2003 by fabricating $15,000 in late-year losses so she could avoid paying thousands of dollars in taxes.

During his third day of testimony, DiPascali also blurted out on the witness stand that Madoff’s was “frantic lunatic” who talked too openly around the office about the epic fraud.

“I would cringe at times with things that came out of his mouth about this fraud,” he said.

DiPascali, who pleaded guilty to fraud in 2009, faces up to 125 years in prison, and defense lawyers have accused him of being a compulsive liar who would say anything to shorten the sentence he faces.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/01/22/bernie-madoff-suffers-heart-attack-in-prison/

Bernie Madoff suffers heart attack in prison
By Marketwatch.com
January 22, 2014 | 11:11am

Bernie Madoff has suffered a heart attack in federal prison, according to a report on CNBC.

Madoff is serving 150 years in prison for defrauding customers as part of a $17 billion Ponzi scheme over several decades.

The convicted felon is recovering from a heart attack and is back in prison after hospitalization in December.

Madoff, who is 75 years old, is said to be suffering from stage four kidney disease and is not on dialysis at this point, the report said.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/02/23/ex-madoff-employee-will-take-stand-in-her-own-defense/

Ex-Madoff employee will take stand in her own defense
By Rich Calder
February 23, 2014 | 4:53am

Annette Bongiorno was the longtime secretary of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff.
Photo: AP Photo/Seth Wenig


A longtime secretary and top confidante to Bernie Madoff accused of helping pull off his epic $17 billion Ponzi scheme plans to break her silence by testifying before a Manhattan federal jury about how she was duped by her “hero” boss like everyone else.

Annette Bongiorno notified the government and Judge Laura Taylor Swain in legal papers Saturday that she expects to take the witness stand in her defense as early as Monday.

Bongiorno, 65, pocketed more than $14 million in fraudulent profits and oversaw an investment- advisory unit at the center of Madoff’s scheme, prosecutors say.

She is one of five ex-Madoff staffers on trial for fraud. Another co-defendant — former operations chief Daniel Bonventre – already took the stand last week and denied any wrongdoing.

Bongiorno’s testimony is expected to be much juicier.

It will be aimed at trying to convince jurors how she was “star-struck” by a Wall Street “rock star” who fooled her the same way he did thousands of investors for decades, her lawyer, Roland Riopelle, told the Post.

“In order for the jury to understand this case, we need to show them who Ms. Bongiorno is,” he said.

Among the topics expected to come up is how Bongiorno thought of Madoff as her white knight.

During opening statements to jurors in October, Riopelle showed them a 1988 photo under the title “Bernie Madoff as Annette saw him.” It portrays the Ponzi king sitting regally atop a horse with wind blowing through his tousled hair.

For years, Bongiorno also kept a photo of Madoff by her desk with a notation “my hero” written on it. She asked a co-worker to get rid of it after Madoff was busted by the feds in December 2008.

Riopelle, however, said he doesn’t expect Bongiorno’s testimony to provide any dirty laundry about Madoff’s alleged sex-crazed office antics — including a bizarre “love triangle” that the feds claim he was enmeshed in with one of the co-defendants.

Prosecutors never named names. But, assuming Madoff’s lover isn’t a guy, Bongiorno and former accounts manager Joann Crupi are the only possible co-defendants on Bernie’s booty-call list.

Crupi has previously told the court she has a lesbian partner and two adopted sons.

Riopelle said he doesn’t intend to bring up the sex allegations made by the feds in August legal papers — and doesn’t expect prosecutors will either when they cross-examine Bongiorno.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/02/27/madoff-aide-never-heard-of-a-ponzi-scheme-until-boss-bust/

Madoff aide ‘never heard of a Ponzi scheme’ until boss’ bust
By Rich Calder
February 27, 2014 | 4:58pm

Madoff's former secretary, Annette Bongiorno.
Photo: Reuters/Carlo Allegri


Bernie Madoff sure liked ‘em clueless.

The notorious fraudster’s longtime secretary claimed ignorance on the witness stand Thursday, saying she “never heard of a Ponzi scheme” until it was described to her by a co-worker hours after Madoff was busted by the feds in December 2008.

Annette Bongiorno also told a Manhattan federal jury that her biggest worry was she’d be hit with a huge income tax bill when she was ordered — a day before Madoff’s Dec. 11, 2008 arrest — to close out all of the company staffer and family members’ investment-advisory accounts with the firm.

“My first thought was, ‘What, am I going to have to pay all the taxes on it in one year?’ ” said Bongiorno, who then had $50 million in the account and is one of the five ex-staffers on trial for fraud.

“I didn’t know Madoff Securities was about to collapse. I had no clue,” she added when asked whether the odd request by Madoff and his CFO-turned-government informant Frank DiPascali raised any red flags.

DiPascali, who copped a plea to fraud charges and testified against Bongiorno and the other ex-staffers, would approach the secretary a day after Madoff’s arrest and say, “Don’t worry. I will protect you,” she recalled.

“I said, ‘Protect me from what? What are you protecting me from?!’ ” the pint-sized pepperpot exclaimed.

While being cross-examined by Assistant US Attorney John Zach, Bongiorno continued to contend that she was duped by a Wall Street “rock star” just as thousands of more educated and sophisticated people were for decades – and that any wrongdoings she might have committed were done blindly by following orders from a boss she knew and trusted for 40 years.

She claimed even not knowing simple terms in the securities industry like “treasury bonds,” “Dow Jones average” and “S&P 500.”

However, Zach put her on the spot when he poked at her previous testimony about living a modest lifestyle despite being a multimillionaire. He flashed photos of a Bentley sedan and a $6.5 million condo in Florida that she had purchased with her earnings.

“It was one of my cars, but the feds took it away,” Bongiorno said of the Bentley.

When asked if she had any others, she said, “Yeah, two Mercedes.”

Zach also confronted her about why she “didn’t tell” the feds during a January 2009 sitdown that she doctored three years worth of account statements for a now-defunct Florida firm, Avellino and Bienes, which was shut down in the early 1990s following a Securities and Exchange Commission probe. The firm – which Zach said came up during Bongiorno’s 2009 interview – had collected customer funds and invested it in Madoff’s scheme.

After he pointed to repeated paperwork showing her handwriting doctoring earlier account entries, he questioned how she could leave such a key fact out during the interview.

“[Madoff] told me what to do,” she said. “If I didn’t say [anything], it was because I forgot. I was scared!”

Although feisty most of the day, Bongiorno broke down in tears when she asked by her lawyer, Roland Riopelle, about a wedding she attended for a friend’s daughter only weeks after Madoff’s arrest. It was also attended by many investors who lost big bucks once the $17 billion Ponzi scheme was uncovered.

“I was totally uncomfortable,” she said “I felt so bad for them, and I was embarrassed.”

Prosecutors say Bongiorno pocketed more than $14 million in fraudulent profits through a scheme and oversaw the investment-advisory unit at the center of Madoff’s scheme.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/03/04/madoff-fraud-prevention-tip-video-shown-at-former-staffers-trial/

Madoff fraud-prevention video shown at former staffers’ trial
By Laurel Babcock and Rich Calder
March 4, 2014 | 2:33am

A video of Bernie Madoff was shown during his former staffer's trial on how to prevent fraud.


A Manhattan federal jury on Monday got an up-close and personal look at just how good a liar Bernie Madoff really is.

Eric Breslin, a lawyer for Joann Crupi — one of five former Madoff employees on trial in the $16 billion investor swindle — played jurors clips from an Oct. 20, 2007, round-table discussion titled “The Future of the Stock Market” — in which the notorious Ponzi schemer, incredibly, talked about how firms can avoid being victims of fraud.

Crupi was Madoff’s accounts manager. She and four other ex-co-workers on trial for fraud, believe the video shows how lying was second nature for Madoff — adding to their defense that they were duped by their former boss just as thousands of investors were.

In the video made a little more than a year before his arrest, a jovial Madoff says “so-called Chinese walls” must be established at firms “to keep” them “from taking advantage” of the market based on their knowledge of what their clients are trading.

Madoff said it’s always best “to take the human being out of the equation” and let computers handle certain aspects of a trade, so the firm doesn’t feel influenced one way or the other, based on the amount of money to be made.

“Maybe one day we can get the computer to commit fraud, but we haven’t gotten there yet,” he joked.

Unlike two other co-defendants who opted to testify in their defense — former Madoff secretary Annette Bongiorno and former operations chief Daniel Bonventre — Crupi and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez told Judge Laura Taylor Swain they would not be taking the witness stand.

Bongiorno finished up her fourth day of testimony, talking about how Madoff for many years provided her an additional perk of paying for her car service to and from work.

The perk was offered after she complained decades ago of fainting on the train one summer “from heat exhaustion” while heading into the Manhattan office.

 

[Ensis]

Bernie Madoff fell because he stole from his fellow hose-noses. Had he only stole from we goyim, he'd still be raking in the dough...our dough.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/03/14/madoff-staff-knew-about-ponzi-fraud-prosecutor/

Madoff staff knew about Ponzi fraud: prosecutor
By Rich Calder
March 14, 2014 | 3:58am

Bernie Madoff’s firm was certainly no “Santa’s Factory,” and five of the Ponzi monster’s staffers who are on trial for allegedly helping him pull off his epic $17 billion fraud knew they were breaking the law while cashing in for decades, a Manhattan federal prosecutor said Thursday.

“The notion that the defendants could have engaged in all the [alleged criminal] activities while believing” that “Bernie Claus” wasn’t a crook “is ridiculous,” Assistant US Attorney Randall Jackson told jurors while delivering the government’s rebuttal to 20 hours of closing statements by defense lawyers.

“Madoff Securities was not Santa’s Factory,” he added. “The defendants were not children. During the decades they worked at Madoff Securities, they were adults.”

Defense lawyers called the arguments “inappropriate.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/25058362/5-madoff-ex-workers-convicted-in-cases-1st-trial

5 Madoff ex-workers convicted in case's 1st trial
Posted: Mar 24, 2014 3:00 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 24, 2014 2:21 PM EDT
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Five former employees of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff were convicted Monday at the end of a six-month trial that portrayed them as telling an elaborate web of lies to hide a fraud that enriched them and cheated investors out of billions of dollars.

The trial - one of the longest in the storied history of Manhattan federal court - was the first to result from the massive fraud revealed in December 2008 when Madoff ran out of money and was arrested. He pleaded guilty and is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

The case focused on five people who prosecutors said helped him carry out the fraud.

Each was convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, falsifying the books and records of a broker dealer. Prosecutors obtained convictions on all 33 charges, though only one defendant was charged in some counts.

Prosecutors unveiled hundreds of exhibits and showcased dozens of witnesses to try to prove charges against Annette Bongiorno, Madoff's longtime secretary; Daniel Bonventre, his director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers.

Bongiorno and Bonventre testified for several days in their own defense. They insisted they were victims of Madoff's fraud as well, losing millions of dollars they had invested with him because they believed in and trusted him.

Bongiorno, 65, told the jury he once asked how the firm was "making money when everyone else was losing money." He said Madoff told him they could make money in a down market by shorting stocks. Bongiorno said he believed him.

Clients lost nearly $20 billion. A court-appointed trustee has recovered much of the money by forcing those customers who received big payouts from Madoff to return the funds. When the fraud was revealed, Madoff admitted that the nearly $68 billion he claimed existed in accounts was actually only a few hundred million dollars.

The centerpiece of the prosecution's case was Frank DiPascali, Madoff's former finance chief, and five other insiders who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate.

At times, however, their testimony seemed to support the defendants' claims that they were kept in the dark.

DiPascali acknowledged that he lied to Perez and O'Hara "to trick them into working on the projects that he needed them to work on."

Larry Krantz, an attorney representing Perez, asked him if he was manipulating them so they could participate in the massive fraud without knowing it.

"Yes," DiPascali answered.

In their closing arguments, defense lawyers hammered at the notion that their clients were victims too, losing tens of millions of dollars they had entrusted to their boss.

Attorney Gordon Mehler said his client, O'Hara, was "used, abused, manipulated, lied to, snookered and bamboozled" by two of the greatest criminal masterminds in history.

Bongiorno's attorney, Roland Ripoelle, said Bongiorno "saw $50 million of what she thought was her own money but was really Bernie Madoff's monopoly money go up in smoke. ... Ms. Bongiorno relied on Mr. Madoff, and she was fooled by him."

Attorney Eric Breslin said his client, Crupi, was a victim of "the lies that they told her to her face, year after year."

The verdict was delivered after the jury deliberated for about 20 hours over a period of two weeks. The panel was down to 11 jurors after one juror became sick during deliberations and was dismissed.

The defendants were described by prosecutors as "necessary players" in Madoff's fraud. They said Bongiorno, hired in 1968, and Crupi, hired in 1983, used old stock tables to fabricate account statements and other fake records that kept the Securities and Exchange Commission in the dark. The government said they also rewarded themselves with tens of millions of dollars in salary and bonuses, including $2.5 million for a beach house for Crupi as the Ponzi scheme was falling apart.

Prosecutors said O'Hara and Perez developed a software program that automated the fraud, generating "information out of thin air," as one put it.

The Ponzi scheme nearly ran out of money at least twice since the early 1990s before finally collapsing during the 2008 financial crisis.

During jury selection, prospective jurors were told that they might hear references to big names like Steven Spielberg, Sandy Koufax, Kevin Bacon and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Hundreds of exhibits and thousands of pages of materials were put before jurors.

Also mentioned were Madoff's relatives, including his brother, wife and two sons. A third son committed suicide two years after the fraud was revealed.

Madoff, 75, is serving his sentence at a federal lockup in North Carolina.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/06/24/madoff-insider-takes-plea-deal-for-role-in-evil-ponzi-scheme/

Madoff insider takes plea deal for role in ‘evil Ponzi scheme’
By Rich Calder
June 24, 2014 | 8:05pm

Paul Konigsberg took a plea deal Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court.
Photo: Gregory P. Mango


A longtime accountant for some 300 of Bernie Madoff’s top investors pleaded guilty Tuesday to cooking the books — claiming he unwittingly played a key role in what he called Madoff’s “horrific and evil Ponzi scheme.”

Paul Konigsberg, 78, of Greenwich, Conn., entered the pleas in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy and two counts of falsifying books and records. He also agreed to forfeit $4.4 million in cash and property.

“I was not aware of Madoff’s horrific and evil Ponzi scheme, which has brought great suffering to so many, and many of my family members and close friends have suffered from what he and others did,” Konigsberg told Judge Laura Taylor Swain.

But he admitted that he knew some investors had their account statements altered through staffers at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities — and that he then used those altered statements when filing their taxes.

Konigsberg, a member of the Ponzi-schemer’s inner circle, is the 15th person to be brought to justice in a Madoff-related case, whether it was by a jury or through a guilty plea.

The plea agreement calls for Konigsberg to cooperate as a government witness, signaling that others could still face prosecution related to the epic $65 billion swindle. A six-year federal statute of limitations on tax crimes stemming from the Madoff case has not yet expired.

Konigsberg faces up to 30 years behind bars but due to his cooperation with the feds could avoid jail time when he’s sentenced Sept. 19.

Among Konigsberg’s assignments was one of Madoff’s “oldest and important customers” who “deposited and withdrew tens of billions” over the years from Madoff Securities, an indictment says.

Konigberg was paid $15,000 to $25,000 a month over a decade for specifically handling that client.

The indictment also alleges that Konigsberg, through his dealings with Madoff Securities, arranged for a relative to score a $20,000-a-year, no-show job at the firm with full benefits. The relative, listed as an unnamed co-conspirator, pocketed $320,000 plus health benefits from 1992 until December 2008 when the firm collapsed.

Five ex-BLMIS staffers were found guilty in March of helping Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence, pull off his scheme, which unraveled in late 2009.

But former Madoff operations chief Daniel Bonventre, secretary Annette Bongiorno, account manager Joann Crupi, and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez have demanded an acquittal or new trial, claiming they were railroaded by flawed jury deliberations and false testimony from government witnesses.

 

[sniffy]

This is more of a Holocaust then the one by Adolf Hitler. I have to look in my Perry Mason book and see if it is a case of the Jews cheating the Jews, or possibly theft from Wall street. How can you obey the law if you don't know what it is.

What about the Talmound (oh freak, I can't even spell that word) is it in there.

Maybe I should put this in my forum and let the people know what's going on.

http://climatehoax.ca/smf/index.php

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/09/03/bernie-madoffs-son-andrew-dead-at-48-after-cancer-battle/

Bernie Madoff’s son Andrew dead at 48 after cancer battle
By Bob Fredericks and Kevin Dugan
September 3, 2014 | 11:16am

Andrew Madoff in 2009
Photo: William Farrington


Fraudster Bernard Madoff’s only surviving son, Andrew, died Wednesday morning of lymphoma at age 48, CNBC reported.

His older brother, Mark, committed suicide in 2010.

Lawyers for Andrew and his brother’s estate had been trying to persuade a bankruptcy judge to toss a lawsuit by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee handling the convicted Ponzi schemer’s former hedge fund company.

Picard accused the two brothers of always knowing about their father’s investment scheme earlier this year, claiming they went as far as obstructing regulatory investigations.

Andrew claimed that he and his brother were first told of the plan by their father as it was collapsing, and then told the police.

“My father, what he did, was awful, he affected the lives of so many people, stole their dreams, their futures, us among them, and I’ll never forgive him for that,” he said on the “Today” show in 2011.

Investors lost more than $17 billion in the Ponzi scheme.

Bernie Madoff was convicted of committing fraud and is serving 150 years in a federal prison.

Before his father’s scam was found out in 2008, Andrew was president of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization that sought to raise money to cure the disease.

 

[sniffy]

Madoff lawyers collect $700 million in fees
By Aaron Smith @AaronSmithCNN May 16, 2013: 7:36 AM ET

The law firm of Irving Picard, right, has reeled in hundreds of millions of dollars cleaning up the mess of Ponzi convict Bernard Madoff, left.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
It really does take money to make money. So far, lawyers and other consultants have racked up $701 million in fees as they work to recover the $17.5 billion lost to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

That's less than half of the $1.6 billion legal tab associated with the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy - the largest legal bill in history. But it's a considerable sum that's still growing as efforts to make Madoff investors whole drag on. To date, court-appointed trustee Irving Picard has collected $9.3 billion in cash and assets and repaid $5.4 billion of that to victims.

The bulk of the fees associated with the case, $384 million, have been paid to Picard's law firm, BakerHostetler. Another $292 million has been divided among dozens of other law firms, and $25 million went to "general administrative" costs. Funding these payouts is the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which collects dues from Wall Street firms that are used to restore lost assets to investors burned by bankruptcy or fraud.

The trustee files a bill every few months that must be approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge. Ten have been submitted so far and all have been approved. The latest tab, which covers a five-month billing period and comes to nearly $50 million, was filed last week. The total comes to 135,00 hours of legal services, which works out to about $364 per hour. Picard alone makes $890 per hour. He billed for 728 hours of work and earned a total of $648,000.

He and his colleagues spent about $8 million on various business expenses as they searched for the lost funds. That includes $400,000 for out-of-town travel, $67,000 in copying costs, $161,000 for online research, $1,206 on business meals, and $12.60 on faxes.

Related: Madoff destroyed thousands, including his son

Most of the money Picard's lawyers has collected came through settlements with former investors who withdrew more from Madoff's firm than they deposited. Even though many of these investors claim to have known nothing of the Ponzi scheme, the trustee is suing them for benefiting from it.

Forensic accountant Sam Rosenfarb, of Rosenfarb LLC, said that much of the fees were probably paid to accountants like himself, who can earn between $150 an hour and $700 an hour untangling a mess like the Madoff scam. Forensic accounting is the means by which the trustee determines which of the investors are net winners from investing in Madoff's firm.

"In order to take out more than you put in, you're really only taking that money from other victims, because Madoff didn't make any money," said Rosenfarb. "You're the beneficiary of other victims' losses. You're the beneficiary of the fraud."

Settlements have played a huge role in reclaiming the stolen money, as the trustee goes after individuals and companies that may have profited from the scheme. The largest settlement occurred in 2011, when the widow of Jeffry Picower, believed to be the biggest beneficiary of Madoff's schemes apart from the Madoffs, surrendered a whopping $5 billion from his estate.

In the pursuit of ill-gotten gains, the trustee has also sued various companies for allegedly profiting from the Ponzi scheme, but with mixed success. The trustee settled with Tremont Group Holdings, one of the largest groups of feeder funds in the Madoff case, for more than $1 billion in 2011. But suits totaling more than $20 billion against UBS (UBS) and JPMorgan (JPM) which are also accused of profiting from the scam, were tossed out by a federal judge in 2011.

Related: Breakdown of a Madoff legal bill

In 2012, a federal judge also threw out Picard's $20 billion suit against Italian bank UniCredit S.p.A (UNCFF). and Austrian banker Sonja Kohn. Both were accused of recruiting well-heeled European victims for Madoff's scheme. The judge rejected Picard's accusation that Kohn and UniCredit participated in organized crime.

Additionally, the trustee sued Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, who were also Madoff investors, seeking $1 billion. But Picard settled with Wilpon and Katz last year for just $67 million.

The trustee also sued the owners of the Mets, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, who were also Madoff investors, seeking $1 billion. But Picard settled with Wilpon and Katz last year for just $67 million.

Madoff's scheme came crashing down with his arrest on Dec. 11, 2008. He pleaded guilty three months later and was sentenced to 150 years. He is currently languishing in a federal prison in Butner, N.C.

His brother Peter recently began a 10-year sentence for helping to cover up the scheme.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/12/09/madoff-secretary-gets-6-years-after-judge-cites-small-stature/

Madoff secretary gets 6 years after judge cites ‘small stature’
By Rich Calder
December 9, 2014 | 1:35pm

Bernie Madoff's former secretary, Annette Bongiorno, leaves Manhattan federal court in February.
Photo: Reuters


She’s short — so she got a shorter jail sentence.

Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff’s diminutive, longtime former secretary dodged life in prison when a Manhattan federal judge sentenced her to a mere six years in the slammer – in part because she’s a mere 4-feet, 6-inches tall.

Not only that, (black) Judge Laura Taylor Swain – who is roughly 5 feet, 3 inches herself – gave Bongiorno, 66, less jail time than what even her own lawyer asked for.

“Her age and her unusually small stature might also put her in a vulnerable position in a prison facility,” Swain said.

Still, “Ms. Bongiorno chose to put her life, and put the lives of others, in the wrong hands,” Swain acknowledged. “She did so voluntarily, and in choosing to believe Madoff’s explanations instead of acknowledging the plain truth of her own actions and those of her co-workers, she committed despicable crimes.”

Annette Bongiorno, leaving federal court with her husband in 2013.
Photo: William Farrington


Annette Bongiorno – who received a court order from the same judge to sit in a smaller-sized chair during trial because regular chairs make her back hurt — was facing up to life in prison after being convicted on securities fraud and tax-evasion charges for helping her ex-boss pull off his epic, $17.5 billion fraud and profiting handsomely from it.

Her lawyer, Roland Riopelle, had asked Swain to sentence his client to no more than eight to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked Swain to throw the book at Bongiorno, saying she should get a harsher sentence than the 20-year prison term recommended by the US Probation Office.

The judge also ordered the convict to forfeit more than $155 billion in restitution to the government, a symbolic amount that essentially ensures Bongiorno will be broke for life. Bongiorno must also spend a year of supervised release after her prison sentence is over.

Swain said she believed Bongiorno was unaware of the Ponzi scheme but “willfully blinded” herself to the fact that she was assisting a crook.

Bongiorno — who the feds say backdated phony trades, deceived auditors and federal regulators and committed other crimes — claimed at trial that she was a naïve high school graduate who was duped by a slick-talking Wall Street “rock star” immediately after she began working for him nearly five decades ago.

Riopelle even showed jurors a 1988 photo under the title “Bernie Madoff as Annette saw him” that captured the Ponzi king sitting regally atop a horse with wind blowing through his tousled hair.

A teary-eyed Bongiorno apologized to Madoff’s victims, adding she was duped by him like they were.

She said her biggest mistake in life was to trust her ex-boss.

“He was my teacher and my superior,” Bongiorno told the judge. “I did what I was told. I did not know what was going on. He never confided in me. He never said I was breaking the law.”

“Madoff never asked my permission to use me the way he did,” Bongiorno added. “He knew I was not capable of figuring out his scheme on my own. He took advantage of that.

“I will be haunted by my shame for the rest of my life. I have lost so much.”

Bongiorno was found guilty in March by a federal jury in Manhattan, along with four other former Madoff cronies. Their five-month, white-collar trial was one of the longest in New York’s history.

Swain on Monday sentenced former Madoff operations chief Daniel Bonventre, 67, to 10 years in prison for his role in the epic fraud.

Computer programmer Jerome O’Hara, 51, was sentenced Tuesday to 2 ½ years behind bars.

Computer programmer George Perez, 48, will be sentenced Wednesday, and former Madoff account manager Joann Crupi, 53, is being sentenced Dec. 15.

Perez and O’Hara are alleged to have developed computer programs to help Madoff manufacture false books and other records.

The 11-person jury unanimously voted “guilty” on each of the 31 separate charges, some of which only applied to certain defendants. During the trial, they heard testimony from more than 40 witnesses and reviewed roughly 1,600 government exhibits.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the scheme in 2009 and has claimed he acted alone. The sentencings are taking place nearly six years to the day that Madoff surrendered to authorities on Dec. 11, 2008.

Eight other Madoff ex-staffers have pleaded guilty to assisting their crooked ex-boss, including former finance chief Frank DiPascali, who was the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case.

Former Madoff clients claim they lost more than $17 billion through the Ponzi scheme. A court-appointed trustee has recovered much of the money by forcing those customers who received big payouts from Madoff to return the funds.

After the fraud was revealed in December 2008, Madoff admitted that the nearly $68 billion he claimed then existed in his company accounts was actually only a few hundred million dollars.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2014/12/16/former-madoff-account-manager-sentenced-to-six-years/

Former Madoff account manager sentenced to six years
By Larry Neumeister
December 16, 2014 | 6:33am

JoAnn Crupi
Photo: Reuters


A former account manager for Bernard Madoff, JoAnn Crupi, was sentenced Monday to six years in prison.

Federal sentencing guidelines had called for life prison terms for Crupi and four others: Daniel Bonventre, 67, Madoff’s director of operations; Annette Bongiorno, 66, his longtime secretary; and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara, 51, and George Perez, 48.

But prosecutors recommended Crupi, O’Hara and Perez get fewer years for lesser roles.

All of them received lighter punishments because Judge Laura Taylor Swain found they had not known the extent of Madoff’s Ponzi fraud.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2015/02/20/judge-allows-madoff-secretary-to-drive-to-prison-instead-of-flying/

Judge allows Madoff secretary to drive to prison instead of flying
By Rich Calder
February 20, 2015 | 12:55pm

Bernie Madoff's former secretary, Annette Bongiorno.
Photo: Reuters


Judge Laura Taylor Swain on Friday granted Annette Bongiorno’s request to have her ankle bracelet removed a day early, so her husband can drive Bernie Madoff’s former secretary to her future home — a Florida prison — instead of jetting there.

Bongiorno — who was convicted in March with five other co-workers of assisting Madoff in pulling off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history — must report to the federal lockup in Coleman, Fla., by March 5. Her ankle monitor will now be removed Feb. 27.

“I realize that I am asking to leave earlier than I might be leaving if I was flying, but I’m so afraid of flying, and I would prefer to drive, because surrendering to begin my sentence is already very stressful for me,” Bongiorno, 66, recently wrote to her pretrial services officer.

Swain noted in her ruling that the government didn’t object to the request.

Citing Bongiorno’s diminutive 4-foot, 6-inch stature, the judge in December sentenced her to a mere six years in jail when she faced life behind bars.

“Her age and her unusually small stature might … put her in a vulnerable position in a prison facility,” the 5-foot-1 Swain said at the time.

 

[Smedley Butler]

Edgar J. Steel was a Honorably discharged Vietnam veteran U.S.C.G. officer, and just before his troubles started he had to have emergency open heart surgery and was in an induced coma for 30 days, he almost died, and though he never harmed any one nor stole a dime from any one, plus being an MBA, and a lawyer received no mercy from the court due to his writing a truthful book on race IMO. Edgar J. Steele was a very frail man when he was sentenced to 40 years isolation.

No ordinary White man gets to go to a prison like the she is. This swindling con artist women is going to a prison where they are not subject to rape, beating or murder which means for White men in regular regime prisons end up in solitary for protection IMO. :barf9:

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2015/05/10/ex-employee-who-ratted-out-bernie-madoff-dies/

Ex-employee who ratted out Bernie Madoff dies
By David K. Li
May 10, 2015 | 10:50am

Frank DiPascali Jr. (left) was Bernie Madoff's right-hand man before he turned on his former boss.
Photo: Gregory P. Mango, EPA


The notorious con-man-turned-cooperator who ratted out his former boss Bernie Madoff – has died, his lawyer said.

Frank DiPascali Jr., the former CFO of Bernard L. Madoff Invest Securities LLC was 58 when he passed away from cancer on Thursday, lawyer Marc L. Mukasey told Forbes magazine.

“He was proud of the work he had done to make amends,” Mukasey told the mag. “The family requests privacy at this time.”

DiPascali was diagnosed with cancer just two months ago, sparking a rapid physical deterioration, according to Forbes.

The admitted cheat’s cooperation helped a jury last March convict five of his former colleagues-George Perez, Joann Crupi, Daniel Bonventre, Annette Bongiorno, and Jerome O’Hara — of multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud in March 2014.

“Although his crimes were inexcusable and caused many people to suffer, I have rarely seen someone commit so completely to cooperating with the government. DiPascali provided a roadmap to the fraud at Madoff Securities that led to the convictions of 15 people and the recovery of billions of dollars. None of that makes up for his role in Madoff’s historic fraud, but it does provide some small measure of redemption,” former Madoff prosecutor Matthew Schwartz told Forbes.

DiPascali was widely seen as Madoff’s right-hand man in pulling off the $65 billion fraud — or as US District Court Judge Taylor Swain once described it, “the biggest Ponzi scheme known to man.”

The white-collar rat was finally going to be sentenced for his role in the massive scheme this month but that was put off until September due to his failing health.

He had pleaded guilty to securities fraud, tax evasion, perjury and other charges.

A former prosecutor in the case said DiPascali’s cooperation was vital.

“I was deeply saddened to hear that Frank DiPascali has passed away,” said Schwartz, now in private practice, told Forbes.

Madoff victim Helen Chaitman said DiPascali’s death is a bitter pill to swallow — he died without having to pay the price for financially ruining thousands of unsuspecting investors.

“In terms of carrying out the fraud, he was primarily responsible for it,” Chaitman told The Post on Sunday. “The fact he was not put in prison was an injustice.”