In the latest twist surrounding Bernard Madoff, his longtime accountant surrendered to authorities Wednesday charged with six counts of securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, and for filing false statements with the SEC.
The accountant, David G. Friehling, 49, who became Mr. Madoff’s primary auditor in the early 1990s when his father-in-law retired and he took over the two-man firm of Friehling & Horowitz, faces a statutory maximum sentence of 105 years in prison.
“Mr Friehling is charged with crimes that represent a serious breach of the investing public’s trust,” said Mr Dassin.
“Although Mr Friehling is not charged with knowledge of the Madoff Ponzi scheme, he is charged with deceiving investors by falsely certifying that he audited the financial statements of the Madoff business.”
Court Complaint Against Madoff Accountant David Friehling
Madoff told last week’s court hearing that he was “deeply sorry and ashamed” for his actions, which he said had started in the early 1990s.
“I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done,” he said.
Investigators reiterated again today that their investigation is continuing, despite their arrest of Friehling. Madoff’s sons and wife Ruth were all put on guard earlier this week when prosecutors made it clear they intend to seize money and assets from the entire Madoff family. Neither son, nor Ruth, has been ruled out by investigators as possible accomplices in the scheme, though Madoff continues to insist he worked alone.
Court filings last week estimated Madoff’s personal worth at $823 million. Investigators have recovered nearly $1 billion in cash and securities from the company which is still far away from the estimated $50 to $65 billion which investigators estimated Madoff to have scammed out of investors.
Image by red-carlisle under Creative Commons.
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Its unconscionable to me that both Madoff’s sons and brother worked in the company and they didnt know about the scam? They should be prosecuted along with Bernie Madoff and every dollar they scammed should be seized to pay back the victims.
Maybe the prosecutors think Madoff’s sons deserved this money just like the AIG executives deserved their bonuses!
The prosecutors should start doing their job and arresting the entire top management team that had to know and be part of that ponzi scheme.
Are we to believe that the management team at Madoff’s firm didnt know that stock was never purchased? Would you also like to buy a bridge?
The way this case is going is an insult to the public after the initial insult by the SEC