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| Five former Bernie Madoff aides found guilty of concealing Ponzi scheme | Five former Bernie Madoff aides found guilty of concealing Ponzi scheme |
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| Five former employees of Bernie Madoff were found guilty of conspiracy on Monday as a jury ruled they had for years helped conceal his massive Ponzi scheme. | Five former employees of Bernie Madoff were found guilty of conspiracy on Monday as a jury ruled they had for years helped conceal his massive Ponzi scheme. |
| The verdicts are the first jury convictions since Madoff’s $20bn scam was exposed six years ago, and come after a trial that lasted nearly six months. | The verdicts are the first jury convictions since Madoff’s $20bn scam was exposed six years ago, and come after a trial that lasted nearly six months. |
| Prosecutors argued that the defendants enriched themselves while they helped Madoff cheat investors and dupe government regulators. The decades-long scam came to an end in December 2008 when Madoff ran out of money and was arrested. | Prosecutors argued that the defendants enriched themselves while they helped Madoff cheat investors and dupe government regulators. The decades-long scam came to an end in December 2008 when Madoff ran out of money and was arrested. |
| Madoff has argued that he acted alone. Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, said the convictions proved that the Ponzi scheme “could not have been the work of one person”. He said the trial proved Madoff’s fraud began at least as far back as the early 1970s, “decades before it came to light”. | |
| “These defendants each played an important role in carrying out the charade, propping it up, and concealing it from regulators, auditors, taxing authorities, lenders, and investors,” he said. | |
| The defendants – Daniel Bonventre, a Madoff accountant and director of operations, 67; Annette Bongiorno, 65, who handled the financier's top clients; JoAnn Crupi, 52, who oversaw the company's bank account; and former Madoff computer programmers Jerome O'Hara, 50, and George Perez, 48 – had all pleaded innocent. | The defendants – Daniel Bonventre, a Madoff accountant and director of operations, 67; Annette Bongiorno, 65, who handled the financier's top clients; JoAnn Crupi, 52, who oversaw the company's bank account; and former Madoff computer programmers Jerome O'Hara, 50, and George Perez, 48 – had all pleaded innocent. |
| Their lawyers argued they had been hoodwinked by Madoff and his lieutenant, Frank DiPascali. DiPascali was the prosecution’s star witness against the former Madoff employees. | Their lawyers argued they had been hoodwinked by Madoff and his lieutenant, Frank DiPascali. DiPascali was the prosecution’s star witness against the former Madoff employees. |
| One defendant, Annette Bongiorno, worked for Madoff for 40 years as his secretary and at one point had as much as $50m in her accounts. Bongiorno had multi-million dollar homes in Long Island and Florida and drive a Mercedes worth $100,000. | |
| Bongiorno along with the other defendants – Daniel Bonventre, a Madoff accountant and director of operations, 67; Joann Crupi, 52, who oversaw the company's bank account; and former Madoff computer programmers Jerome O'Hara, 50, and George Perez, 48 – had all pleaded innocent. In an unusual move Bonventre and Bongiorno took the witness stand to plead their innocence. Bongiorno said she had “no clue” that Madoff was running a scam right up to the collapse. | |
| Their lawyers argued they had been hoodwinked by Madoff and his lieutenant, Frank DiPascal, who was the prosecution’s star witness against the former Madoff employees. | |
| The panel, made up of nine women and three men, came to their decision a week after trial jury. Last Monday they asked US district court judge Laura Taylor Swain to review DiPascali’s testimony. DiPascali was one of Madoff’s closest associates and and specifically linked each defendant to the fraud. | |
| In one incident, he told how O’Hara, Perez and Crupi doctored documents that had been hastily printed for outside auditor KPMG by putting them in the freezer and then throwing them around to make them look older. | |
| DiPascali pleaded guilty in 2009 to 10 criminal charges including conspiracy, securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and perjury. He faces a maximum 125-year prison term. He may now receive a lighter sentence in return for his co-operation with federal prosecutors. | DiPascali pleaded guilty in 2009 to 10 criminal charges including conspiracy, securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and perjury. He faces a maximum 125-year prison term. He may now receive a lighter sentence in return for his co-operation with federal prosecutors. |
| At the trial, the defence team characterized DiPascali as a convicted perjurer who would do anything to lighten his sentence. Defence lawyer Larry Katz called him a “conman's conman" who hid the truth from his clients. He said his clients were “used, abused and manipulated by two of the greatest criminal masterminds of all time: Bernard Madoff and Frank DiPascali." Prosecutors said DiPascali would face additional criminal charges and prison time if he lied on the witness stand. | At the trial, the defence team characterized DiPascali as a convicted perjurer who would do anything to lighten his sentence. Defence lawyer Larry Katz called him a “conman's conman" who hid the truth from his clients. He said his clients were “used, abused and manipulated by two of the greatest criminal masterminds of all time: Bernard Madoff and Frank DiPascali." Prosecutors said DiPascali would face additional criminal charges and prison time if he lied on the witness stand. |
| The trial is the first Madoff-related case to be weighed by a jury. Madoff pleaded guilty without standing trial and is now serving a 150-year prison term at a federal penitentiary in North Carolina. | The trial is the first Madoff-related case to be weighed by a jury. Madoff pleaded guilty without standing trial and is now serving a 150-year prison term at a federal penitentiary in North Carolina. |
| Before the verdict, the judge instructed the jury on the concept of "conscious avoidance," which she defined as someone deliberately closing their eyes "to what would otherwise be obvious to him or her." | Before the verdict, the judge instructed the jury on the concept of "conscious avoidance," which she defined as someone deliberately closing their eyes "to what would otherwise be obvious to him or her." |
| John Coffee, the Adolf A Berle professor of law at Columbia law school said: “There was some testimony that they were poor simple fools who did not know what was going on. Cross examination explored that and frankly to anyone with an IQ above room temperature the constant backdating of documents, particularly on brokerage trading slips, has got to raise red flags.” |