Courts Madoff Aide Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Fraud Help
Bernard Madoff’s former teenage secretary, who went on to run the investment-advisory business at the center of a $17.5 billion fraud, was sentenced to six years behind bars by a New York judge, less than half what prosecutors sought and four years shy of what her own lawyer suggested.
Annette Bongiorno, 66, still lived with her parents when she joined the con man’s firm in 1968 at the age of 19. Jurors who convicted her and four ex-colleagues in March for their roles in the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history rejected her claim that she was blind to wrongdoing as she rose to power in the company.
The sentence balances Bongiorno’s integral role in the fraud with her advanced age, health problems and the four years of home confinement she has already served, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said yesterday. Swain on Dec. 8 sentenced Daniel Bonventre, who ran Madoff’s broker-dealer unit for almost four decades, to 10 years in prison.
Bongiorno was ordered yesterday to forfeit $155 billion, a sum the judge said she’s jointly liable for with Madoff, Madoff’s brother Peter, as well as her co-defendants in the scheme and others who pleaded guilty.
Jerome O’Hara, a former computer programmer convicted in March of conspiring to aid Bernard Madoff’s $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme, also was sentenced yesterday. Swain imposed a sentence of 2 1/2 years for his role in the fraud.
O’Hara, 51, was accused of helping automate the fraud, allowing the scam to expand rapidly in the 1990s.
Swain said O’Hara was a knowing participant in the fraud by at least 2006, when he confronted Madoff in the con man’s office about the fraudulent computer programs.
The sentence is “serious and significant,” while taking into account his limited role in the fraud and the shorter amount of time he was a knowing participant, Swain said.
The shorter sentence will also save his wife and children from undue hardship and allow O’Hara to begin working again sooner to help repay victims, according to the judge.
The other defendants are Joann Crupi, 54, who managed large accounts, and computer programmer George Perez, 48.
Madoff pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Peter Madoff, who also worked for the company, pleaded guilty and is serving a 10-year term.
The case is U.S. v. O’Hara, 10-cr-00228, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
