So by now we all know that Bernie Madoff is going to the big house for 150 years (or, you know, for life, but it’s so much more impressive when you use the big number), that he wasn’t exaggerating when he told authorities he had swindled $50 billion back in December, he was underestimating — the real number is closer to $65 billion — and that the government has said they will seek $170 billion in forfeited assets from Madoff, which they think is around the amount of all the money that moved through Madoff’s accounts during the years of the fraud. (Which is kind of nuts but, you know, aim high, government.) But what we don’t yet know is what’s going to happen to the other players in the Madoff saga: the feeder funds who provided him with the funds to keep the Ponzi scheme rolling, and his family.
According to Lucinda Franks at the Daily Beast:
One source said that eventually, many members of MadoffÂ’s family will either be indicted by the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York or cop a plea. “There was an awesome amount of money going through that operation every day. There was so much going on. Don’t you think they talked to each other? Ruth was the bookkeeper, the sons Andrew and Mark were right there in the shop. If they didn’t know what was happening, they were not doing their job, and Madoff could count on them not doing their job. And if they were doing their job, they knew what was happening.”
The Journal also has a rundown of the players most likely to be slapped with the “aiding and abetting” charge that includes Madoff’s wife, Ruth, and his brother Peter.
Both stories note that Madoff hasn’t been particularly cooperative when it comes to revealing his family’s role. According to the Daily Beast: “‘He’s jerking everyone around,’ said the source. ‘Every day he changes his tune about where the money went and where it is. He’s trying to protect his family.’” And we guess he’ll probably keep doing that. After all, what are they going to do? Reduce his sentence to 75 years?
Prosecutors Keep Hunting for Aiders and Abettors [WSJ]
The Next Targets In the Madoff Case [Daily Beast]
