BOSTON — Bernard Madoff coached a potential witness about fooling federal regulators, saying, “You don’t have to be too brilliant” to get away with it, according to a transcript of a 2005 telephone call.
The transcript was made public yesterday by Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, whose office reached a settlement with a Madoff feeder fund.
During the call, Madoff is preparing someone from the fund who was about to be interviewed by the SEC.
According to the transcript, Madoff began by saying, “Obviously, first of all, this call never took place.”
During the recorded call, Madoff was asked what to say if SEC investigators asked about how shares of a trade are distributed.
“You know, you don’t have to be too brilliant with these guys because you don’t have to be; you’re not supposed to have that knowledge and, you know, you wind up saying something which is either wrong or, you know, it’s just not something you have to do,” Madoff said.
At another point in the conversation, Madoff counsels, “You don’t want them to think you’re concerned about anything. You’re best off, you just be casual.”
Madoff dismissed an SEC probe as a “fishing expedition” and highlighted how investigators develop cozy relationships with firms they are supposed to regulate.
“The guys . . . ask a zillion different questions and we look at them sometimes and we laugh, and we say, ‘Are you guys writing a book?’ ” he said.
“These guys, they work for five years at the commission then they become a compliance manager at a hedge fund now.”