Another Bernard Madoff associate is making headlines. Yesterday, said CNN, David G. Friehling, 49, Madoff’s “long-time accountant” pleaded guilty and agreed to a nine-count plea. The admission included securities and investment advisor fraud, making false filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and tax law violations, said CNN.

“I am truly sorry for the suffering of all my victims,” Friehling told the court, quoted CNN, which noted the accountant’s family lost about a-half million dollars with the disgraced financier. Friehling argued that he “committed these crimes as an independent auditor,” not as part of Madoff’s historic and massive Ponzi scheme, said CNN. (more…)

To date, more than $534 million has been paid out 1,368 victims of the massive Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that has been making headlines for about one year. Boston.com said the monies were paid out of a national fund.

The fund insures against failed brokerage firms, said Irving Picard, the trustee charged to recover investor assets swindled by the disgraced financier, said Boston.com. Speaking with reporters via a conference call, Picard announced that he identified so-called “allowable claims” totaling $4.43 billion and continues to work on the thousands of victim claims as a result of Madoff scam, said Boston.com. Picard has identified some 2,335 accounts with total losses of over $21 billion. (more…)

Philanthropist, attorney, and long-time Bernard Madoff associate and friend, Jeffry M. Picower (67), has died. Picower was accused of making more than $7 billion from the massive Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the now-imprisoned Madoff, said the Associated Press (AP).

The disgraced financier and former New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) chairman is spending 150 years in prison for orchestrating the historic scam estimated to have cost duped investors an incomprehensible $65 billion. With the death of Picower, financial experts fear that the many and growing financial complexities involved in locating the defrauded funds will only increase, said the AP. (more…)

Two of Bernard Madoff’s victims have filed suit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for alleged negligence, CNN reported.

Madoff is now spending 150 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scam estimated to have cost duped investors an incomprehensible $65 billion. As for the SEC, the regulator has come under fire for apparently missing warnings that something was amiss with Madoff’s investment advisory business. (more…)

The court-appointed trustee charged with liquidating Bernard Madoff’s business is seeking to recuperate $245 million from bogus profits in his lawsuit against Cohmad Securities Corporation, said Bloomberg.com. The figure represents an increase from $213 million, said Bloomberg.com, which noted that Cohmad Securities shared office space with Madoff.

Madoff, 71, was sentenced to 150 years in prison for running a massive Ponzi scheme that is estimated to be the largest in history and which has allegedly cost investors as much as $65 billion. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities is the investment firm that served as a ”front” for the scam, noted CNN previously. Irving Picard is the trustee spearheading the investigation and continues to work to determine how much Madoff stole because. Although the disgraced financier claimed to have $65 billion, the figure was based on false investment statements, said CNN in a prior report. The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York said the losses suffered by Madoff’s 2,336 victims exceeded $13 billion, at last count, said CNN recently. (more…)

It seems everyone has been awaiting word on when the court-appointed trustee—Irving Picard—in the historic Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme would go after other members of Bernard’s family. Duped investors, investigators, and virtually anyone who has read about the massive financial swindle has long believed that Madoff’s family members were involved in the scam that stripped countless investors of their life savings.

CNN is now reporting that Picard intends on suing four more of Bernard’s family members for about $200 million this week, citing a CBS “60 Minutes” broadcast report. Picard will be suing both of Madoff’s sons, Mark and Andrew; Bernard’s brother, Peter; and Bernard’s niece, Shana for a combined total of $198 million, said CNN. (more…)

In the ongoing Ponzi scheme scandal that originated with imprisoned scammer, Bernard Madoff, a new lawsuit has been announced. California Attorney General Jerry Brown initiated a lawsuit earlier this week against prominent Beverly Hills financial advisor Stanley Chais in a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, said the LA Times. The lawsuit is looking for no less than $25 million in restitution for Madoff victims.

Disgraced financier, Bernard Madoff is now spending 150 years in prison for orchestrating an historically massive Ponzi scam that is estimated to have cost duped investors an incomprehensible $65 billion. (more…)

In addition to bilking countless investors out of their life savings, the massive Ponzi scheme, orchestrated by imprisoned, disgraced financier, Bernard Madoff, has also thrust some Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) weaknesses into the spotlight.

Madoff is now spending 150 years in prison for orchestrating a Ponzi scam that is estimated to have cost duped investors an incomprehensible $65 billion. And, recently, the SEC has come under fire for apparently missing warnings that something was terribly amiss with Madoff’s investment advisory business. (more…)

One hedge fund has agreed to reimburse its investors who were swindled in the historic Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the disgraced, now jailed, financier, Bernard Madoff. The hedge fund—Fairfield Greenwich Advisors—apparently moved money to Madoff, said Boston.com, and will now reimburse its Massachusetts investors for some $8 million to cover losses. The agreement was reached Wednesday with Secretary of State William F. Galvin, said Boston.com,

Galvin, said Fairfield Greenwich, did not conduct the “rigorous” due diligence of Madoff it told its investors in Massachusetts it had, reported Boston.com. Galvin hopes that this agreement “will become a template for other resolutions’’ in the massive Ponzi scandal, quoted Boston.com. (more…)

In an odd twist, some relatives of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement official, entrusted about $2 million to what it believed to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history. The relatives of the SEC official whose unit was involved, received a tip in 2005 about Bernard Madoff and his massive Ponzi scheme, reported Bloomberg.com

The tip, which was received anonymously by the Office of Internet Enforcement via email, was one of no less than six “substantive complaints” that went uninvestigated over 16 years, according to Inspector General H. David Kotz, said Bloomberg. Kotz made the statement in a report released last week in advance of his testimony before the Senate, reported Bloomberg.com. The investments, which were made by two of the SEC official’s family, were indicated as a footnote in the report—numbered at some 457 pages—and does not disclose the official or the losses, added Bloomberg.com. Katz said that the official involved was not part of the investigation into Madoff’s activities. (more…)