(25 Mar 2014) Five former employees of imprisoned US financier Bernard Madoff were convicted on Monday at the end of a six-month trial that cast them as the long arms of their boss, telling an elaborate web of lies to hide a fraud that enriched them and cheated investors out of (b) billions of (US) 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.
When the fraud was revealed, Madoff admitted that the nearly 68 (b) billion US dollars he claimed existed in accounts was actually only a few hundred (m) million dollars.
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 unveiled hundreds of exhibits and showcased dozens of witnesses to try to prove charges against Annette Bongiorno, Madoff’s long-time secretary; Daniel Bonventre, his director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O’Hara and George Perez, computer programmers.
The maximum potential sentences range from 78 years to 220 years in prison when the charges for each defendant are stacked up, but the actual sentences are likely to be far below that once the judge takes into consideration prior records and other facts unique to each defendant.
After sentencings were set for the last week of July and US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain rejected requests that the defendants be immediately detained, the defendants emerged from court with their lawyers.
They declined to comment as they passed reporters.
Bongiorno’s lawyer Roland Ripoelle said he was very disappointed with the outcome of the trial.
"I really felt that we made the most of the evidence that is in our favour at the trial and we were hoping for a much better outcome," he said.
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