Four months after being sued on behalf of Madoff's scammed investors, Madoff himself has attacked JPMorgan.
In what is described as a "rambling" interview with the Financial Times, convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff says JPMorgan, the primary bank for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, should have known of his illegal activity before his arrest.
"JPMorgan doesn't have a chance in hell of not coming up with a big settlement, Madoff told the Financial Times, adding "JPMorgan got all the financial statements."
Madoff, who is currently serving a prison sentence of 150 years for running the largest recorded Ponzi scheme in history, says the bank had enough information to detect questionable behavior. More pointedly, he alleges, "senior people" at JPMorgan knew of the scheme and decided against saying anything.
In response, JPMorgan, which says they dutifully followed all laws and regulations, called Madoff's remarks "patently false," paying careful attention to dismiss the idea that any employees knew of Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Madoff's claims come months after Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of recouping losses for Madoff's scammed investors, sued JPMorgan for $6.4 billion. Picard's lawyer, David Sheehan, says the bank was "willfully blind" to Madoff's scheming and played a direct role in abetting Madoff's scheme by ignoring "red flags," while collecting fees and profits.
Madoff didn't only attack JPMorgan, however. He also told the Financial Times that HSBC and UBS, two additional banks being sued by Picard, will face "big problems." Citigroup, which Picard alleges knowingly passed Madoff's dirty money onto other banks, faces an additional $425 million lawsuit.
Madoff's Ponzi Scheme had a direct effect on thousands of investors and a host of charities and hedge funds. The collective investment of $36 billion in Madoff's scheme returned only $18 billion to investors before the financial collapse.
For more information, go to the Financial Times.