A defense lawyer on Tuesday called Bernie Madoff’s right-hand man back to the stand in the fraud trial of five ex-co-workers, painting the government’s star witness as selfish and without remorse for victims of the epic Ponzi scheme.
Former Madoff CFO Frank DiPascali — who copped a plea in 2009 to fraud charges and has since been singing to the feds to lower a potential 125-year prison sentence – told jurors Tuesday that he exercised his Fifth Amendment rights three years later by refusing to answer questions about the scheme when deposed in June 2012 for a civil suit filed by cops and other municipal employees of Fairfield, Conn., who were bilked out of tens of millions dollars in pension money invested with Madoff.
DiPascali was forced to recite his evasive deposition testimony Tuesday after being recalled to the witness stand by Andrew Frisch, a lawyer for former Madoff operations chief Daniel Bonventre.
Among the few dozen questioned he dodged in the Connecticut court case were if he “helped perpetuate” Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, how it worked, if he had copped a plea, and even if he “knew” Madoff.
“On advice of counsel, I decline to answer and assert my Fifth Amendment privilege,” DiPascali said after each deposition question.
When asked by Frisch if he was aware he kept mum at the expense of Fairfield cops, firefighters and other workers bilked out of retirement money, DiPascali said “yes.”
DiPascali previously testified 17 days on the stand for the government.
Frisch was able to begin his case after the government rested its case Tuesday on a long trial that began in October.
Besides Bonventre, the others facing criminal charges are former Madoff secretary Annette Bongiorno, accounts manager Joann Crupi, and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez.