Ex-Madoff Operations Director Arrested by FBI
February 25th, 2010Via: CNBC:
A former executive for imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff’s firm was arrested Thursday and charged with concealing the scope of its multibillion dollar fraud and using at least $750 million of investor money to support the company’s trading arm.
The executive, Daniel Bonventre, was described by investigators as the director of operations of the Madoff firm from at least 1978 until its collapse in December 2008 when Madoff was arrested.
Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty last March to running Wall Street’s biggest investment fraud of as much as $65 billion and he is serving a 150-year prison sentence.
Investigators and the trustee winding down Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) have previously said the activity took place in the firm’s investment arm (IA), but the charges against Bonventre directly link the investment and proprietary trading operations.
U.S. prosecutors and the FBI said in a statement that Bonventre, 63, who started working for Madoff in 1968, had broad responsibility for the general ledger, financial statements, accounting records and supervising back office staff.
The statement said he supervised “the use and reconciliation of BLMIS bank accounts through which the market making, proprietary trading, and IA business operations were funded.” He also supervised “settlement and clearing of trades executed by the market making and proprietary trading operations.” Bonventre’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
