A longtime accountant for some 300 of Bernie Madoff’s top investors pleaded guilty Tuesday to cooking the books — claiming he unwittingly played a key role in what he called Madoff’s “horrific and evil Ponzi scheme.”
Paul Konigsberg, 78, of Greenwich, Conn., entered the pleas in Manhattan federal court to conspiracy and two counts of falsifying books and records. He also agreed to forfeit $4.4 million in cash and property.
“I was not aware of Madoff’s horrific and evil Ponzi scheme, which has brought great suffering to so many, and many of my family members and close friends have suffered from what he and others did,” Konigsberg told Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
But he admitted that he knew some investors had their account statements altered through staffers at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities — and that he then used those altered statements when filing their taxes.
Konigsberg, a member of the Ponzi-schemer’s inner circle, is the 15th person to be brought to justice in a Madoff-related case, whether it was by a jury or through a guilty plea.
The plea agreement calls for Konigsberg to cooperate as a government witness, signaling that others could still face prosecution related to the epic $65 billion swindle. A six-year federal statute of limitations on tax crimes stemming from the Madoff case has not yet expired.
Konigsberg faces up to 30 years behind bars but due to his cooperation with the feds could avoid jail time when he’s sentenced Sept. 19.
Among Konigsberg’s assignments was one of Madoff’s “oldest and important customers” who “deposited and withdrew tens of billions” over the years from Madoff Securities, an indictment says.
Konigberg was paid $15,000 to $25,000 a month over a decade for specifically handling that client.
The indictment also alleges that Konigsberg, through his dealings with Madoff Securities, arranged for a relative to score a $20,000-a-year, no-show job at the firm with full benefits. The relative, listed as an unnamed co-conspirator, pocketed $320,000 plus health benefits from 1992 until December 2008 when the firm collapsed.
Five ex-BLMIS staffers were found guilty in March of helping Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence, pull off his scheme, which unraveled in late 2009.
But former Madoff operations chief Daniel Bonventre, secretary Annette Bongiorno, account manager Joann Crupi, and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez have demanded an acquittal or new trial, claiming they were railroaded by flawed jury deliberations and false testimony from government witnesses.