Bernie Madoff was so good at screwing his clients that he had a special name for making them feel good about their bogus accounts during the holiday season: “schtupping.”
Frank DiPascali, a former Madoff top lieutenant turned star government witness, testified in Manhattan federal court that the firm used the term to describe fake trades entered between Christmas and New Year’s to falsely boost profits for some of Ponzi villian’s wealthiest clients. The process also referred to creating fake losses to help client’s reduce their tax liabilities.
The term is a misspelling of “schtup,” a Yiddish word for sexual intercourse.
DiPascali told the jury that former accounts manager Joann Crupi, one of five ex-Madoff honchos on trial, asked him to do some “schtupping” on her investment advisory account with the firm in 2003 by fabricating $15,000 in late-year losses so she could avoid paying thousands of dollars in taxes.
During his third day of testimony, DiPascali also blurted out on the witness stand that Madoff’s was “frantic lunatic” who talked too openly around the office about the epic fraud.
“I would cringe at times with things that came out of his mouth about this fraud,” he said.
DiPascali, who pleaded guilty to fraud in 2009, faces up to 125 years in prison, and defense lawyers have accused him of being a compulsive liar who would say anything to shorten the sentence he faces.