Now that he's behind bars, Bernard Madoff is apparently starting to spill his guts about his decades-long $65 billion Ponzi scheme, and it looks like his revelations will mean more headaches for everyone involved. Wednesday, it came out that even Madoff was baffled by the Securities and Exchanges Commission's inability to sniff out his fraud. And Thursday
Reuters is reporting that Joseph Cotchett, the lawyer who obtained the lengthy interview with Madoff in jail, may amend his lawsuit to possibly include several feeder fund managers.
Although Madoff's already imprisoned for the next 150 years, Cotchett's decision to go after the fraudster's wife, Ruth Madoff, and his sons with lawsuits prompted him to start divulging details that have thuscfar eluded or not been released by investigators.
Now armed with a full picture of how Madoff ran the Ponzi scheme, Cotchett said, "What we have come up with is a whole bunch of names that we are going to have to make decisions on as to whether a reasonable person can conclude ... they knew what he was doing. Some of these people have not yet been sued or even connected to the Madoff fraud."
Even if Ruth Madoff escapes Cotchett, she still faces
lawsuits from other investors led by the trustee winding down Madoff's former firm, who sued Ruth Madoff on Wednesday for at least $44 million that he claims she received through fraudulent transactions from her husband's firm. -
George White
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It turns out there is no honor among thieves as Madoff drags as many under the bus with him as he can.