Tell me, Bernie: phone exchange between Madoff, top SEC official is illuminating

September 30th, 2009 SEC watchdog pushes changes after Madoff failureWASHINGTON — The watchdog of the Securities and Exchange Commission is recommending a new system for handling the thousands of tips and complaints the agency receives and other changes to prevent another breakdown like the one that allowed Bernard Madoff's massive fraud to go undetected for years. The proposals for the agency's enforcement and inspections operations from SEC Inspector General David Kotz also include making it easier for junior-level enforcement attorneys to bring their concerns to top managers.

September 9th, 2009 Madoff recorded coaching witness to outsmart SECBOSTON — Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff coached a potential witness about fooling federal regulators, saying "you don't have to be too brilliant" to get away with it, according to a newly released transcript of a 2005 telephone call. The transcript was made public Wednesday by Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, whose office reached an $8 million settlement this week with New York-based Fairfield Greenwich Advisors, a Madoff feeder fund, to fully refund state investors.

September 4th, 2009 SEC report shows repeated bungling of Madoff probeWASHINGTON — The official at the Securities and Exchange Commission who later would marry Bernard Madoff's niece told investigators this year that if he had carefully reviewed a complaint about the disgraced financier's business, he would have investigated more deeply, a new report shows. The admission by Eric Swanson, who was an SEC attorney and inspections official during a 2003-04 exam of Madoff's operations, is among a trove of revelations in the report by SEC inspector general David Kotz.

August 15th, 2009 Book: Madoff victim tells of secret 20-year affairNEW YORK — A new book says that an investor who claims she was devastated by Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme had a two-decade affair with the disgraced financier. The memoir, "Madoff's Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me," was written by Sheryl Weinstein, whose relationship with Madoff spanned more than 20 years while both were married, said John Murphy, a spokesman for publisher St.

July 15th, 2009 NY trustee sues offshore hedge fund in Madoff caseNEW YORK — The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's assets has sued a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands, claiming it should return $587 million it earned with Madoff to investors wiped out by the disgraced financier's colossal fraud. The complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan bankruptcy court against the Herald Fund also names HSBC Bank as a defendant.

July 8th, 2009 Head of SEC inspections office leaving in AugustWASHINGTON — The official who has headed a key division at the Securities and Exchange Commission since its creation in 1995 is leaving the agency. Lori Richards is director of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, which conducts inspections of brokerage firms, investment advisers, hedge fund managers, mutual funds and other entities.

July 6th, 2009 US, Britain join Austria in Madoff-related probesVIENNA — U.S. and British investigators have joined Austrian prosecutors in examining possible ties between a Vienna fund manager and disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, whose multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme wiped out thousands of investors and charities worldwide, an official said Monday.

July 2nd, 2009 Feds seize Madoff penthouse, wife must leaveNEW YORK — The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's $7 million Manhattan penthouse in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere.

July 1st, 2009 $231 million set aside for Madoff claimsNEW YORK — A court-appointed trustee unraveling Bernard Madoff's massive fraud so far has allotted $231 million from a securities industry fund that compensates victims — a record amount for the fund, but a mere fraction of what was lost. In a statement Wednesday, Trustee Irving Picard said to date he has processed 543 claims brought by Madoff's burned clients, and concluded they are owed nearly $3 billion.

June 29th, 2009 Bernie Madoff joins long white-collar prison rollA look at some other figures serving time for their involvement in high-profile financial scandals: — Jeffrey Skilling, 55, Enron's former chief executive, sentenced in October 2006 to more than 24 years in prison for role in company's collapse. The 5th U.S.

June 29th, 2009 Victims testify at Bernard Madoff's sentencingNEW YORK — Bernard Madoff's fraud victims are urging a stiff sentence for the mastermind of a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said Monday that the federal probation department recommends that Madoff get 50 years in prison.

June 24th, 2009 NY judge delays restitution order in Madoff caseNEW YORK — Financier Bernard Madoff will not be ordered to pay restitution at his sentencing next week, a judge said Wednesday, citing the complexity of the multibillion-dollar fraud. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said in an order that the sentencing will proceed as scheduled on Monday.

May 14th, 2009 Trustee: Nearly 9,000 claims in Madoff scamNEW YORK — The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's assets says he's received almost 9,000 claims from the disgraced financier's victims. Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard told reporters Thursday on a conference call that he's identified about $1 billion in assets that will be used to pay the claims.

May 8th, 2009 Madoff NY trustee sues fund managerNEW YORK — The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's assets sued a prominent hedge fund manager for more than $500 on Thursday, claiming he was aware the disgraced financier was a swindler. The complaint filed in bankruptcy court in Manhattan called J.

May 2nd, 2009 Money manager at top of Madoff speed dial is suedNEW YORK — As the first speed dial entry at Bernard Madoff's investment firm, longtime money manager and close friend Stanley Chais must have known about the disgraced financier's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, a complaint filed in Bankruptcy Court claims. But Chais has insisted he was a victim of Madoff.