Two former computer programmers at Bernie Madoff’s firm were indicted on charges that they helped the Ponzi-scheme operator conceal a giant fraud from regulators. The three-count indictment was handed down Wednesday, and charges Jerome O’Hara, 47, and George Perez, 44, with “conspiracy, falsifying the books and records of a broker-dealer, and falsifying the books and records of an investment adviser.”
The men — who began working for Madoff in the early nineties — face up to twenty years in prison for creating the computer programs that Madoff utilized for his scheme. The duo plans to plead not guilty, though it’s not a particularly great sign when even your own lawyer seemingly has to remind himself that your guilt hasn’t officially been proven yet.
“He intends to plead not guilty,” Gordon Mehler, O’Hara’s lawyer, said. “Even though it’s been over four months since he’s been arrested, he’s still presumed innocent.”
