Madoff made me deceive investors’
The former controller for imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff blamed him for directing her to dupe clients, regulators and the Internal Revenue Service as she pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges.
“I did not know that Madoff and others were stealing investors’ money,” Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz said as she entered the plea yesterday at US District Court in Manhattan, becoming the sixth person to plead guilty and admit a role in a fraud that Madoff claimed he carried out alone.
“For that, I am terribly sorry,” she said.
Cotellessa-Pitz said she wanted investors and the public to know that she is cooperating fully with prosecutors. Besides conspiracy, she pleaded guilty to falsifying books, records and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The charges carry a potential of up to 50 years in prison for a woman who admitted a major role in the multi-decade fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of the roughly $20 billion.
Cotellessa-Pitz started working at Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1978 She was named controller in late 1998. She within months Madoff and others were directing her to put false entries in the company’s books to make it appear profitable trades were being made.
She said she also prepared reports for the SEC and annual reports that falsely represented Madoff’s business.
The massive Ponzi scheme was revealed in December 2008, when Madoff confessed.
He pleaded guilty a few months later and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. He insisted throughout that he acted alone in his crimes. Now 73, Madoff is imprisoned at a federal jail in North Carolina.
“I did not know that Madoff and others were stealing investors’ money,” Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz said as she entered the plea yesterday at US District Court in Manhattan, becoming the sixth person to plead guilty and admit a role in a fraud that Madoff claimed he carried out alone.
“For that, I am terribly sorry,” she said.
Cotellessa-Pitz said she wanted investors and the public to know that she is cooperating fully with prosecutors. Besides conspiracy, she pleaded guilty to falsifying books, records and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The charges carry a potential of up to 50 years in prison for a woman who admitted a major role in the multi-decade fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of the roughly $20 billion.
Cotellessa-Pitz started working at Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1978 She was named controller in late 1998. She within months Madoff and others were directing her to put false entries in the company’s books to make it appear profitable trades were being made.
She said she also prepared reports for the SEC and annual reports that falsely represented Madoff’s business.
The massive Ponzi scheme was revealed in December 2008, when Madoff confessed.
He pleaded guilty a few months later and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. He insisted throughout that he acted alone in his crimes. Now 73, Madoff is imprisoned at a federal jail in North Carolina.
