Testifying on the five-year anniversary of the day Madoff was arrested and the scam collapsed, Frank DiPascali was grilled by the first defense team member representing five former co-workers charged with aiding the $17.3 billion scam that victimized thousands of ordinary investors, celebrities, charities and others.
The cross-examination came after DiPascali, the star prosecution witness, described hurried document-destruction and secret financial transactions that marked the final days before Madoff's operation imploded.
FIVE YEARS LATER: Trial shows extent of Madoff's scam
WITNESS: Madoff workers deceived auditors
Attorney Larry Krantz, representing former Madoff computer programmer George Perez, asked DiPascali if he manipulated and lied to Robert Cardile, his brother-in-law and co-worker, "to get him to do the tasks you needed him to do" to help operate the fraud scheme.
"I did," said DiPascali.
Defense lawyers are trying to prove their contention that the five co-workers had no knowledge of the scam and, like thousands of Madoff customers, were fooled by the now-imprisoned and disgraced financier. In part, the legal effort involves trying to discredit DiPascali as a liar who would say anything to avoid the brunt of the maximum 125-year prison sentence he faces.
During at times contentious exchanges, Krantz highlighted earlier testimony in which DiPascali testified he'd known since the 1970s that Madoff never made any of the many stock trades promised to investors. But the ex-Madoff lieutenant identified the time period as "at least the early 1990s" in sworn testimony during his 2009 guilty plea.
"It was not a discrepancy in my mind," said DiPascali.
Similarly, he sparred with the defense lawyer about whether the five-bedroom, five-bath! room, seven-acre $2 million-plus New Jersey home he financed with scam proceeds could be characterized accurately as "lavish." Federal marshals ultimately seized and sold the house, along with DiPascali's 61-foot sport fishing boat, family jewelry and other possessions.
Hot Insurance Stocks For 2014
Asked to try placing his many lies in context with the millions of dollars in salary, cash gifts and other benefits he received from the scam, DiPascali responded: "I don't know what the rate per lie would be."
During earlier questioning by a federal prosecutor, DiPascali recounted a Dec. 3, 2008, meeting in which a weeping Madoff told him his firm was broke and outlined a plan in which the mastermind would tell his family and surrender to authorities after the year-end holidays.
TRIAL: Bernie Madoff sweated scam's intricate details
Madoff warned that decades of falsified business records were "damning," and initially suggested that DiPascali burn them in his New Jersey backyard fire pit. Told that would be impractical, Madoff told DiPascali to box up the records in preparation for shredding by the boss' private driver. DiPascali said he later learned the driver had "consummated" the project.
Over the next few days, DiPascali said Madoff made plans to distribute the roughly $200 million left in the company's bank account to relatives, employees and friends. The boss had him print a spreadsheet identifying employees and their relatives who had Madoff investment accounts, DiPascali testified.
Unaware of the impending collapse, other investors continued to wire funds to Madoff, while some received what proved to be the firm's final disbursements.
The end came earlier than the boss had planned, said DiPascali. Madoff called his cellphone on Dec. 11, and announced that FBI agents were in his Manhattan offices.
No comments:
Post a Comment