Metro

Prosecutor accuses Madoff staff of lying under oath

Bernie Madoff would be very impressed with his former underlings’ ability to lie, a Manhattan federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Kicking off closing arguments in what’s been a five-month fraud trial for five ex-Madoff staffers, Assistant US Attorney John Zach singled out former secretary Annette Bongiorno and operations chief Daniel Bonventre, both of who took the stand in their own defense.

He told a Manhattan federal jury the government believes they lied under oath by claiming they were duped by the Ponzi monster just as were thousands of investors.

“Without Daniel Bonventre and Annette Bongiorno, the fraud would never have been able to take place,” said Zach, adding both did not “tell the truth” to jurors.

The prosecutor called Bonventre the “beating heart” of an epic fraud that cost investors “$20 billion in real money” and “another $60 billion” in “imaginary funds” Madoff claimed to have invested for customers through his bogus investment advisory business.

He claimed Bonventre “cooked the books” to fool auditors and government regulators and oversaw an account that was “at the heart of the fraud” for decades.

Regarding Bongiorno, Zach said she also helped run an investment-advisory business “that did billions of dollars in fake trades since the 1970s.” He said Bongiorno made more than $18 million working 40 years at Madoff Securities and lied by telling jurors she didn’t “splurge” her money.

“She had a Bentley,” he said. “Anyone knows a Bentley is a splurge.”

Also on trial are former accounts manager Joann Crupi and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez.

Zach said Crupi’s wrongdoing included helping backdate phony trades, deceiving auditors and federal regulators, and placing “fake trading losses into her own” company investment account “to reduce her own tax burden.”

Perez and O’Hara are alleged to have developed computer programs to help Madoff manufacture false books and other records.

“They are the oil that made the fraud work,” the prosecutor said.

Zach is expected to continue his closing arguments Wednesday. After he’s finished, defense lawyers will sum up their cases, and the jury is expected to start deliberating sometime next week.