A longtime secretary and top confidante to Bernie Madoff accused of helping pull off his epic $17 billion Ponzi scheme plans to break her silence by testifying before a Manhattan federal jury about how she was duped by her “hero” boss like everyone else.
Annette Bongiorno notified the government and Judge Laura Taylor Swain in legal papers Saturday that she expects to take the witness stand in her defense as early as Monday.
Bongiorno, 65, pocketed more than $14 million in fraudulent profits and oversaw an investment- advisory unit at the center of Madoff’s scheme, prosecutors say.
She is one of five ex-Madoff staffers on trial for fraud. Another co-defendant — former operations chief Daniel Bonventre – already took the stand last week and denied any wrongdoing.
Bongiorno’s testimony is expected to be much juicier.
It will be aimed at trying to convince jurors how she was “star-struck” by a Wall Street “rock star” who fooled her the same way he did thousands of investors for decades, her lawyer, Roland Riopelle, told the Post.
“In order for the jury to understand this case, we need to show them who Ms. Bongiorno is,” he said.
Among the topics expected to come up is how Bongiorno thought of Madoff as her white knight.
During opening statements to jurors in October, Riopelle showed them a 1988 photo under the title “Bernie Madoff as Annette saw him.” It portrays the Ponzi king sitting regally atop a horse with wind blowing through his tousled hair.
For years, Bongiorno also kept a photo of Madoff by her desk with a notation “my hero” written on it. She asked a co-worker to get rid of it after Madoff was busted by the feds in December 2008.
Riopelle, however, said he doesn’t expect Bongiorno’s testimony to provide any dirty laundry about Madoff’s alleged sex-crazed office antics — including a bizarre “love triangle” that the feds claim he was enmeshed in with one of the co-defendants.
Prosecutors never named names. But, assuming Madoff’s lover isn’t a guy, Bongiorno and former accounts manager Joann Crupi are the only possible co-defendants on Bernie’s booty-call list.
Crupi has previously told the court she has a lesbian partner and two adopted sons.
Riopelle said he doesn’t intend to bring up the sex allegations made by the feds in August legal papers — and doesn’t expect prosecutors will either when they cross-examine Bongiorno.