The lawyer for one of five key Bernie Madoff employees on trial for aiding the epic $17 billion fraud compared the co-defendants to the unwitting co-worker of Lee Harvey Oswald, and warned that they are all victims of guilt by association.
Eric Breslin, a lawyer for former Madoff account manager Joann Crupi, likened his client and her former co-workers to Buell Wesley Frazier, who drove Oswald to work on the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, unaware of Oswald’s intention to kill President John F. Kennedy.
Breslin told a jury it is “fitting” that the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s death occurred during the five-month trial, adding Crupi and the other co-defendants have a unique connection with Frazier in that they have been victims of guilt by association.
Following the late president’s slaying, authorities tried – but failed — to get Frazier to confess to being an accomplice. He was never charged with a crime but was vilified for decades for believing Oswald’s claim that a package he carried into the car contained curtain rods – and not the rifle that killed JFK.
“[Frazier] was used as a tool by Lee Harvey Oswald and it scarred him for life,” Breslin said while delivering closing arguments.
“People were furious, angry and they wanted someone to punish,” he added. “Do not let your very natural reaction to the Madoff fraud tar all the people who were there.”
Both Breslin and Larry Krantz, a lawyer for former Madoff computer programmer George Perez, poked holes at the government’s star witness, Madoff’s top lieutenant Frank DiPascali, saying he’s as big a liar as his ex-boss and should not be trusted.
Krantz said DiPascali brings “devastating baggage” that should be ignored since he copped a 2009 plea to a host of charges, including securities fraud and previously perjuring himself to federal regulators.
“As jurors, you have to see this for what it is: Frank DiPascali is a completely unreliable witness,” said Krantz.
He accused the former finance chief of fabricating wild lies on the stand – such as that Perez and another co-defendant, computer programmer Jerome O’Hara, once asked him to be paid bonuses in diamonds to avoid being scrutinized.
The defense lawyers for the other co-defendants will get their last crack at persuading the jury next week when they give their closing arguments.