The former director of operations for Wall Street scammer Bernie Madoff was arrested by FBI agents today as part of its fraud probe of the Ponzi scheme, authorities said.
Daniel Bonventre, 63, who worked for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC, was busted at his East 79th Street home and was charged in Manhattan federal court this afternoon with helping to cook the books.
The feds charged Bonventre — the sixth person the feds have gone after since Madoff was arrested — with conspiracy to commit fraud for falsifying records in 2005 and 2006, according to the 32-page criminal complaint.
The Manhattan US Attorney’s office also alleged that Bonventre helped Madoff by committing securities fraud, filing fake SEC records that showed fictitious trades, and for failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income to the IRS as late as 2007.
Madoff, 71, is currently serving a 150-year prison term after pleading guilty last year to running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme that started in 1991.
Bonventre was also charged in a separate civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission with falsifying accounting records.
Bonventre said nothing to reporters after making his court appearance. He was freed on $5 million bond, secured by $2 million in assets.
His lawyer, Andrew Frisch, declined to comment outside the courthouse.
The arrest is the latest chapter in the Madoff saga.
David Friehling, Madoff’s former accountant and auditor, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges last November. Also charged last year with bilking investors was J. Ezra Merkin, a money manager who funneled $2.4 billion from universities and nonprofit organizations into Madoff’s firm.
Among those hosed by Madoff and his associates were charities tied to Mets-owning brothers-in-law Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz.
The $8 million losses, according to tax records released earlier this year, came after the nonprofits posted several years of eye-popping returns on their investments with Madoff — as much as 65 percent in Wilpon’s case, according to the filings.