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A Manhattan jury found five former employees guilty of their participation in the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. The scheme, which valued at $65 billion, was discovered and investigated by the federal government, which ended in the conviction of its creator Bernie Madoff. He was found guilty in 2009 and sentenced to 150 years in prison.

 

Now, a jury has concluded that the defendants “played crucial roles in constructing and maintaining the house of cards that was the Madoff investment fraud,” said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

 

The trial proved that Madoff’s scams dated back to the early 1970s, and the five – Daniel Bonventre, Annette Bongiorno, Joann Crupi, Jerome O’Hara and George Perez – “each played an important role in carrying out the charade, propping it up, and concealing it from regulators, auditors, taxing authorities, lenders, and investors,” Bharara said.

 

“The scheme these defendants helped perpetrate cost innumerable investors their life savings.”

 

Federal authorities say the five employees cooked the books. They falsified security tradings and lied to auditors. The quintet also assisted in ripping off investors and helped Madoff escape $240 million in taxes. The scheme is believed to have started in the 1970’s. Madoff and his conspirators spent nearly 40 years ripping off investors.

 

All five defendants face a maximum of 58 to 211 years in federal prison.

 

 

Source: NY Daily News