Prosecutors Hunting Millions In Additional Assets In Madoff Case

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking over $5 million in assets belonging to a former office supervisor for jailed financier Bernard Madoff.

The government said Tuesday that it has traced houses in Manhasset, N.Y., and Boca Raton, Fla., and other assets to the long-time Madoff employee, Annette Bongiorno. Prosecutors previously had traced $3 million in assets to her.

Bongiorno has not been criminally charged in the multi-billion-dollar fraud that resulted in a 150-year prison sentence for the 73-year-old Madoff.

Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Authorities say Madoff cheated thousands of investors of billions of dollars. He said their $20 billion investment had more than tripled when it actually was nearly worthless.

Comments

[QuietLightTraveler]

05:36 PM on 09/22/2010

This is what is wrong with our country. It continually wallows in its pig sty of materialism. A murderer gets 20 years and a thief gets 150 years. You go to court for something and the wealthy get a different kind of justice than the poor. You look at our government and corporations are allowed to buy influence with bags of money. Frankly, I don't feel that badly for the people Bernie Madoff robbed. They were just greedy bastards looking for a higher return than others could provide.

[2garen]

12:27 PM on 08/04/2010

Wife and kids go through every one of their assets with a fine tooth comb.
Have you noticed that Madoff turned himself in and there has not been 1 that is brought forth from federal investigations

[angrymanspokane]

10:25 AM on 08/04/2010

He's got a mountain of assets hidden somewhere. This is only remaining power and his last bargaining chip. I'm sure hell use it when the time is right.

[TC Mits]

09:47 AM on 08/04/2010

If hidden assets are found, then Bernie needs to be transfered from the nice facility he is in now to either Central Prison in Raleigh, NC or Angola in Louisiana. Either offers the type of incarceration he is due.

[USNDC]

09:36 AM on 08/04/2010

Start with his campaign contributions ... demand the politicians return the money.

[chiodo08]

08:49 AM on 08/04/2010

for who?...who gets these "millions"? the smirky clients of his that raked in a ridiculous 30% before he got capped?....who cares...ppppffftttt *wave off

[proudem]

11:29 AM on 08/04/2010

I actually agree with you. He did not defraud the little guy....the people that invested with him had to be recommended to him by other investors (the country club crowd). Any savvy investor knows that a 30-50% return is too good to be true and unrealistic...aaaahhhh but their greed prevailed over their common sense. They do not have my sympathies.

[mariusvinchi]

07:02 PM on 08/04/2010

Sorry, but you are dead wrong on this one. The vast majority of Madoff victims were in fact institutional investors. Retirement & pension funds, charities, museums, and municipalities.
The following is a link to the victim list filed with the US Bankruptcy Court.
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_madoff_victims_20081215.html

[jabreal00]

08:00 AM on 08/04/2010

It's ironic. Those who invested with Madoff thought they were in an elite club. Many knew there was shenanigans going on to make the yearly double digit interest but they looked the other way. They probably were smug when they saw others investing in 401K or worse mutual funds. Now what was too good to be true, is. It was all a mirage. Many lost everything.

I just try to stick to a simple but salient paragon, nothing in life comes easy. If someone is making money that easily, there are probably laws being broken.

[Vcubed]

12:23 PM on 08/04/2010

Sadly, thanks to criminals like the people in AIG, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, etc., 401ks and mutual funds were too good to be true as well. When are the really big slime balls going to get prison?

[hellboundtrain]

06:21 AM on 08/04/2010

Forget about the millions. Where is the $2.3 trillion that Donald Rumsfeld said that they couldn't find at the pentagon, or the $9 billion lost in Iraq, or the $5 billion in Afghanistan? You got the cat burglar.

[hellboundtrain]

06:24 AM on 08/04/2010

Rumsfeld made the statement 9/10/01.

[owlbreath]

06:06 AM on 08/04/2010

They need to call in Patty Hewes to investigate.

[owlbreath]

05:57 AM on 08/04/2010

They need Patty Hewes to send out her investigator.

[HailSinfonia]

02:36 AM on 08/04/2010

If Communism is a faith, a Devil-worshipping religion, then what are we to make of today's American Corporatism and Croney Capitalism? A generation of mammon drunken swine, debauching and prostrating themselves around a golden calf of greed, avarice, and Sociopathy. One can almost hear Edward G Robinson saying "Where's your Moses now?"

[PolitiDorks]

02:13 AM on 08/04/2010

He turned himself in to protect others. He's now 73. Track down every last one of the cohorts and hold them to account.

[mehitable]

12:51 AM on 08/04/2010

Madoff stole literally BILLIONS of dollars in the biggest private (non-government) Ponzi scheme we know of. Until we can find out what the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs have been doing at least.

BUT...he could not possibly have pulled off something like this by himself, nor with the help of an office manager. There had to be at least several people involved in this helping him to make these deals and cover up this information.

WHY HAS NO ONE ELSE BEEN PROSECUTED FOR THE MADOFF CRIMES?

[lazercat2008]

12:47 AM on 08/04/2010

Best way to punish the rich? Make them poor.

[Luca]

12:33 AM on 08/04/2010

I have heard that Bernie has made friends in prison with a guy named Ben Dover.