More confessions in the Madoff scandal:
The top financial aide to Ponzi scheme architect Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Tuesday to 10 charges including conspiracy, securities fraud, falsifying records and international money laundering.
Frank DiPascali, former chief financial officer for Madoff’s business, said the transactions were “all fake. It was all fictitious. It was wrong, and I knew it was wrong at the time.”
“I’m standing here today to tell you that from the early 1990s to 2008 I helped Bernie Madoff and other people carry out a fraud,” said DiPascali, 52, standing in Manhattan federal court in a dark suit and reading from a prepared statement.
He did not identify the other people, only the disgraced financier.
Each of the charges calls for five to 20 years in prison, and fines as high as $5 million, but a cooperation deal he signed will probably bring leniency.
I wonder if we will ever know how deep the corruption went. I still think his entire family had to know.
Keith G
With all else going on, hard for me to care about Bernie or the greedy gits he ripped off.
JK
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MattF
I’ve always assumed that the Madoff boys kept the FBI’s number in their back pockets, just in case.
anonevent
We won’t know how far it goes until all the papers from the Bush Administration are released.
Spiffy McBang
I don’t think it’s a given anyone not involved in the business would have known. Suspected, possibly, and understandably not questioned it. But when you’re talking about these sums of money, if you’re not learned in the art of how to earn- “earn”- so much, then it’s like the stuff appears by magic. I’d think it very reasonable, on a superficial level (since there’s no evidence to go on either way), to believe the guy’s family didn’t know he was a scammer.
Litlebritdifrnt
Just a nit pick, and I know you C&P from the original article John so I am not blaming you, it is PLEAD (pronounced like bled), not pleaded, you would think a professional journalist would know that. Being in the “business” so to speak it pisses me off to no end.
mai naem
I would just like to know where all the money went. He was giving I believe a nine percent return so you have to figure that some of the money went right back to the investor but that was an incredible amount of money for just Madoff and his family to spend. I know wealthy people have several expensive homes, yachts, vehicles and vacations and a bunch o f staff looking after their needs but even all that can’t cost more than a 25 million a year. That should have just come from simple interest on the investors money. So what happened to the rest of the money? Also too, isn’t it unusual to have that kind of money in a regular bank account/cd ? Shouldn’t that have raised some concerns at some bank somewhere?
Rosali
I’d like to know about his niece, the Madoff lawyer, and her ex-SEC husband.
linda
ruth and the boys knew.
r€nato
the wife knew.
the sons likely knew enough to know that they didn’t want to know any more, and that they should try very hard to keep things that way.
sparky
it may be that they all knew and the incarcerated one cut a deal to keep everyone else unindicted. impossible to know unless someone leaks the terms of the plea deal.
and yes, i could see the government taking that deal. they avoid a trial, where they might lose and for certain the SEC is going to look like an ostrich at best, and the possibility that if no one rolls over who are you going get testimony from?
the wildcard here was the judge, but again, i suspect the family was more important to madoff, and so they were willing to take that risk. his life was over either way, so what’s the difference versus keeping the rest of the family out?
Mr. Furious
Are they going to be lenient with everyone who rolls, until they get down to the nightwatchman?
Steeplejack
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I disagree. According to my dictionary, and at least two on-line dictionaries (www.m-w.com and http://www.dictionary.com) pleaded is given first, pled or plead is given as the second, “also” form.
I am a former journalist. Also.