An ex director of operations for Madoff’s firm was served a 10-year prison sentence early this week for aiding a Ponzi schemer to carrying out one of the largest financial frauds in the country’s history.
Daniel Bonventre, who was responsible for spearheading Madoff’s business for nearly 40 years, is the first of several ex-employees to be convicted in assisting and hiding the scheme this week. Early this year, a federal jury in Manhattan found Bonventre guilty in creating false records for Madoff.
Bonventre was asked to forfeit a portion of the $155 billion of funds he solicited and were eventually invested in the firm.
Several Madoff defendants were guilty of conspiracy to defraud investors and securities fraud. Two of them were trading managers while the other two were computer programmers.
Bonventre’s thorough bookkeeping and careful watch allowed him to carry out one of them most effective schemes for the past several decades.