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Madoff's Prison Number Wins NY Lottery

Mar 25, 2009 @ 11:12 AM By Kerry Massaro,

At least someone--other than the conman himself--- actually made money "investing in Madoff." The Daily News reported yesterday that a Queens construction worker used the swindler's prison number to play the lottery and won $1,500.

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Treasury Lacks Staff and Software To Run Toxic Asset Plan

Mar 24, 2009 @ 01:46 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

The U.S. Treasury’s unveiling of its toxic asset plan sent the stock market soaring yesterday as the government laid out its plan for selling off bad loans and other types of debt to unclog the credit markets.

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Madoff Accountant Arrested

Mar 19, 2009 @ 02:27 PM By Cristina McEachern,

It was only a matter of time before more people involved in the Bernard Madoff Investment Securities fraud would come out of the woodwork and now the dominoes might begin to fall.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged David Friehling, the accountant who audited Madoff’s firm, with fraud.

Friehling was the only auditor at the firm of Friehling & Horowitz, which the government says was responsible for auditing Madoff’s firm beginning in 1991.

According to a statement released by the Department of Justice, Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dessin, said, "Mr. Friehling is charged with crimes that represent a serious breach of the investing public's trust.”

He added, "Although Mr. Friehling is not charged with knowledge of the Madoff Ponzi scheme, he is charged with deceiving investors by falsely certifying that he audited the financial statements of Mr. Madoff's business. Mr. Friehling's deception helped foster the illusion that Mr. Madoff legitimately invested his clients' money."

The charges against Friehling include securities fraud, aiding and abetting investment advisor fraud and filing false audit reports with the SEC. If convinced Friehling could fact a maximum sentence of 105 years in prison.

According to the DoJ statement, Madoff’s firm paid Friehling between $12000 and $14500 per month for his services between 2004 and 2007.

This week the also saw the government’s intent to actively go after the assets of Madoff’s sons and wife.

According to a government filing on Tuesday, Madoff loaned sons Andrew and Mark more than $30 million since 2004. Reports say that the last of the loans – to Andrew for $4.3 million - occurred in October of 2008, two months before Madoff’s arrest.

Prosecutors have also indicated they are looking to seize Ruth Madoff’s jewelry collection which is valued at $2.6 million.

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Spitzer Weighs In on A.I.G.'s Payments to Trading Counterparties

Mar 19, 2009 @ 11:54 AM By Ivy Schmerken,

Along with the firestorm that has erupted over American International Group’s bonus payments to employees, former disgraced New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer spoke out against A.I.G. paying billions to its trading counterparties.

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The Morning Madoff Frenzy

Mar 12, 2009 @ 02:44 PM By Cristina McEachern,

It was obviously just speculation, but as soon as I got in this morning I started reading the blogs and news reports predicting the outcome of Madoff’s day in court. We've all been waiting for this right?

One was particularly foreboding - pointing out that Madoff entered the courthouse today without his usual jacket or overcoat. It was chilly this morning and so maybe Madoff knew his fate? Maybe he knew he was going to jail today and would not need a coat from here on out.

But then the blogs and preliminary hearing speculation also reported that there was no plea bargain arrangement with prosecutors in place. This guilty plea did not come with any stipulation that he cooperate with authorities or help in naming any co-conspirators. Interesting.

As the hearing got underway, the news flurry began with stories being updated and changed by the minute. Bernard Madoff has officially plead guilty to 11 charges relating to his $65 billion Ponzi scheme in U.S. District Court.

During the hearing today Madoff read from his 6-page plea allocution, which can be viewed in its entirety here.

Apparently there was applause. But still there was so much more that we all want to know.

This was the first time Madoff has spoken publicly about his crime since his arrest in December and although he did share some interesting details about his fraud, so many questions still remain.

We still don’t know who else, if anyone was involved, how they were involved and where exactly the money went. There is even still some discrepancy between how much the authorities think Madoff scammed and how much Madoff thinks he scammed.

But we do know that Madoff was lead away in handcuffs and will be in jail as he awaits sentencing on June 16th, most likely at the Manhattan Correctional Center according to published reports. But he may later be moved to another facility such as the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York.

I’m sure there will be more details to come and only time will tell the full depth of Madoff’s scheme and how it played out.

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Madoff's Guilty Plea: Did He Reveal Accomplices?

Mar 12, 2009 @ 11:22 AM By Ivy Schmerken,

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 criminal charges today in a Manhattan Federal Courthouse, in what is said to be the biggest Ponzi scheme is U.S. history. But will Madoff shed light on how he carried out the investment scam, who helped him and will he walk out a free man?

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Buzz On CCA Consortium Platforms: Announcement Imminent

Mar 5, 2009 @ 12:12 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

Once again there is buzz about a consortium of bulge-bracket brokers bringing out a consolidated platform for client commission agreements (CCAs). This week Integrity Research’s blog reported that a broker consortium is only weeks away from announcing a consolidated commission platform.

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