Prosecutors: Madoff fraud started in 1970s

Following the recent confession of Bernie Madoff’s brother, Peter, to charges of conspiracy and falsifying investment records, five other former Madoff employees face additional charges. Prosecuters say Daniel Bonventre, Annette Bongiorno, Joann Crupi, Jerome O’Hara and George Perez were all involved in operational aspects of Madoff’s scheme, from manipulating financial records to writing algorithms that concealed key elements of illegal transactions to creating false records related to Madoff’s individual tax returns. Of possibly greater weight, these new charges state that the most notorious Ponzi scheme in our country’s history began not in 1992, as stated in the initial charges, but at least as far back as the early 1970s.