SEC Staffer Was Waved Off Madoff Probe

(NEWSER) - Investigators see yesterday's guilty plea of Bernard Madoff's right-hand man as a major breakthrough in their efforts to untangle the elaborate Ponzi scheme, BusinessWeek reports. Frank DiPascali, chief financial officer at Madoff's firm, has promised to cooperate with prosecutors and is expected to name other people involved in the scam and to help trace assets Madoff may have stashed around the world. More»

Source: Disgraced financier may get plenty of company during his century-and-half inside

(NEWSER) - At least ten more people are likely to be charged as the probe into Bernard Madoff's massive fraud continues, an insider tells AP. The only other person charged so far has been Madoff's accountant. The source declined to say whether the other people likely to face federal charges are relatives or former employees of the shamed financier, who was slapped with a 150-year sentence yesterday. More»

Funds address fraction of 9,000 claims: trustee

(NEWSER) - It's a start. Some of Bernie Madoff's clients will get back at least a portion of the money that he stole. Trustee Irving Picard says he expects to approve at least $100 million of investor claims—mere hundreds out of nearly 9,000 filed claims—by May 25, Bloomberg reports. Picard has recovered $1 billion and sued for another $10 billion from funds that withdrew money from Madoff accounts before his arrest. More»

(NEWSER) - Operators of so-called feeder funds withdrew $12 billion from Bernie Madoff's accounts in the year before his arrest, nearly half of it in the final three months, reports the New York Times. The analysis of financial records offers hope that defrauded investors will be able to recoup at least some of their money. The trustee handling the Madoff bankruptcy filed two lawsuits today to regain $6 billion from two funds that worked closely with the financier. More»

Ponzi schemer a Luddite who crawled on all fours to align rugs

(NEWSER) - "Neat freak" may be one of the more polite epithets used to describe Bernie Madoff, who comes off as an obsessive-compulsive nut in a Fortune profile by James Bandler and Nicholas Varchaver. In immaculately tailored suits, he dusted furniture and got down on hands and knees to straighten rugs. Madoff, now jailed, would startle female employees by dropping trou to ensure his shirt buttons were vertical. More»