Thursday, November 18, 2010

Two Ex-Madoff Employees Face Criminal Charges

The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested two former employees of Bernard L. Madoff's investment firm and said charges against them in connection with the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme would be unsealed later Thursday.

Annette Bongiorno was arrested at her home in Boca Raton, Fla., and JoAnn "Jodi" Crupi was taken into custody at her Westfield, N.J. home, an FBI spokesman said.

No details of the pending charges were released.

In June, Federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed civil forfeiture complaints against Ms. Bongiorno and Ms. Crupi that accused them of knowingly assisting in Mr. Madoff's fraud. The prosecutors sought the seizure of $5 million in assets from the two women, including money, homes and cars, and amended their complaint against Ms. Bongiorno in August to ask for an additional $2 million.