[Liz]

Madoff will likely accept life in prison hoping to help his wife Ruth and son Andrew (above) avoid a criminal rap. Ruth withdrew $15.5 million right before her husband's Dec. 11 arrest, and is now trying to protect $69 million of assets in her name from being attached by thousands of claimants. "Where does Mrs. Madoff get millions of dollars from? Mrs. Madoff was not known as the genius of Wall Street independently," a lawyer for some of Bernie's customers, told Reuters. "What did she do to earn that money?"

AND THEN THERE'S BERNIE'S BROTHER. Whistleblower Harry Markopolos says Madoff’s Brother Audited Firm’s Investments and that ONLY Peter Madoff was "authorized to audit" fund performance "for reasons of secrecy".

Among other things, Peter Madoff was a Chief Compliance Officer at his brother Bernie's firm. Peter was also a director of several securities associations and exchanges. Peter's daughter Shana, was Bernie' firm's compliance officer.

Here's Peter Madoff's house.

As the No. 2 executive at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Peter Madoff worked side by side with his older brother Bernard for nearly 40 years. Peter was viewed as Bernie's heir apparent so the brothers tried to avoid flying together when they went on skiing trips together. Now, they are keeping their distance. Peter has stopped coming into the office and isn't talking publicly about his role at the securities firm, where he headed trading operations. Peter's daughter also joined the family business. She worked primarily as a "compliance lawyer" at Madoff Securities' market-making arm at the time of her uncle's arrest.

[Dante3]

bttt

[freespirited]

A longtime aide to disgraced financier Bernard Madoff instructed two assistants to generate trading tickets, now believed to be bogus, for Madoff's investing clients, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing to information the assistants gave the government in the investigation.

Phony trading tickets come under the jurisdiction of not just the SEC but the supposed self-regulatory body of the securities industry, long known as NASD (and now called FINRA).

Obama picked the longtime head of FINRA as the new head of the SEC. When Congress asked her why FINRA hadn't spotted the Madoff scam, she claimed it was beyond FINRA's jurisdiction because it didn't involve trading.

This is a good example of why the people who supposedly protect us little guy investors from the Madoffs of the world have never impressed me as particularly competent or honest.

[PGalt]

Madoff will likely accept life in prison hoping to help his wife Ruth and son Andrew (above) avoid a criminal rap.

Thanks for posting, Liz. ANY and ALL co-conspirators should be prosecuted and their assets seized.

[CutePuppy]

Ruth Madoff Gets A New Lawyer

Ruth Madoof, the wife of accused Wall Street scammer Bernard Madoff, will get her own counsel, according to Ira Sorkin, defense attorney for Mr. Madoff.

Sorkin has been representing both Mrs. Madoff and her husband Bernie. Mr. Madoff confessed to authorities on Dec. 11 to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Sorkin said Mrs. Madoff decided to get her own lawyer as she has been sued in a number of civil cases.

Recently, Sorkin said Mrs. Madoff intended to fight prosecutors to claim $70 million in assets as hers alone. ...

[kcvl]

Madoff Key Aide Bongiorno Recruited Her Neighbors as Investors

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ako.FblVLClw